Fixing Photoshop CS3 Crashes When Saving Files

Top 3 Products & Services

1.
2.
3.

Dated: Aug. 20, 2010

Related Categories

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a quick I had discovered on the internet that would allow Photoshop CS3 to be installed under Windows XP SP1 (CS3 will normally abort the installation unless SP2 is in place) using a registry hack. I initially thought that CS3 was working perfectly, but ultimately found a few unexpected problems of the large variety.

First, I found that Bridge CS3 would stall and get sluggish....but that didn't worry me too much as Adobe, on their own website, has official knowledge base papers reporting the problems with Bridge CS3 and very large files, such as the ones I tend to have. I just used Bridge CS2, which has never given me a problem generating thumbnails from large files. Again, I was sure this had nothing to do with the aforementioned 'trick' installation, as the problem was reported on the internet as well as receiving official Adobe mention.

Photoshop Crash Error However, I soon discovered that Photoshop CS3 would freeze and crash the system whenever I attempted to save a file, even though it would function perfectly normally in every other way. I would have reported this as a blog post to 'rebut' the installation trick, except that it made absolutely no sense that the problem should be related to the installation and, additionally, I had received messages from others that had used the registry hack to successfully install CS3 under XP SP1 and were having no problems.

After wasting a good bit of time trying to figure out what was wrong, I initially uninstalled CS3. However, after spending another good bit of time Googling the problem, I discovered that I was far from the only person with this rather 'fatal' problem.....and those other folks had not done the installation hack. This was a reported problem under both Windows and Mac for some people.

But the fix was so simple that just thinking about the time previously spent was maddening. I reinstalled CS3, did the 1 second fix......and......it works perfectly. No more problem with saving files.

So what is the fix? Apparently there can be problems on both Windows and Mac with the new form of Version Cue. If you want to use Version Cue to allow multiple workgroups to work on a file, I did find a somewhat complicated fix, which can be found . However, unless you use Version Cue (which few people seemingly do), the easy fix is simply to disable Version Cue in the Photoshop CS3 Preferences dialogue.

Yup, that's it. I simply unchecked the 'Enable Version Cue' option in the preferences and no more problems whatsoever! I don't know if anyone reading this will also have this problem, but I thought that posting the fix somewhere searchable, such as this blog, was worthwhile if it helped someone else resolve what is truly a very frustrating problem.

Now that you've gotten free know-how on this topic, try to grow your skills even faster with online video training. Then finally, put these skills to the test and make a name for yourself by offering these skills to others by becoming a freelancer. There are literally 2000+ new projects that are posted every single freakin' day, no lie!

Previous Article

Next Article

Patricia's Comment

Hi Niku,One thing that you might want to consider is that with Canon dtigial cameras, you must use lenses designed expressly for Canon dtigial. Now, I'm not 100% sure about this but that's what I've read. Perhaps newer models will allow mounting older lenses designed for film but I think they have different mounts.The D300 and other higher-end Nikons (but maybe not all check the specs) work with older lenses because they have the same F-mount that Nikon has used since the 1950s. If you have older, non-digital lenses (Nikon calls them non-CPU lenses), you can save up to ten (on the D300) focal length/maximum aperture combinations onto the camera's memory. When you mount a non-CPU lens, you just select its specs from the list you've created and this causes the camera's metering system to compensate for the lens' optics and the camera records the focal length and aperture settings in the image's Exif metadata.There are lots of great new lenses out there but if your lens budget is limited, and you have a Nikon, you can pick up some nice old glass used at your local camera shop or on-line. On the other hand, if you have loads of cash, you could get yourself some phenomenal exotic optics that has been discontinued (like the legendary Nikkor 13mm f/5.6 for about $20,000!).I have a Nikon 500mm mirror lens that was made sometime around 1982 and it works great on my Nikon D300. I also have a 50mm f/1.2 that is non-CPU (manufactured in 2009) that also works like a charm except that most dtigial cameras' focussing screens are not optimized for the critical manual focus that is required when shooting anywhere near f/1.2.Canon dtigials, I am lead to believe, offer much better choice in the focussing screen department.If you need high resolution in a full-frame dtigial, Canon sells their 21 MP 5D Mark II for $2900 (here in Canada) where Nikon's similarly-priced D700 gives you only 12 MP for $2600. If you want to go above 20 MP in Nikon's line, you'll have to spend $8000 on a 24.5 MP D3X the same price you'd pay here for a 21 MP Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III.I own a APS-C sensor 12.5 MP Nikon D300, and I think it's great. I'd love to get my hands on a full-frame 24.5 MP D3X, but don't foresee having that kind of cash anytime soon, so I'll just have to make do!Hope this helps and doesn't confuse!

10 Thu Jan 2013

Report Abuse

Admin's Reply:

Paul Bell's Comment

Perfect fix, was driving me nuts.

18 Wed Jan 2012

Report Abuse

Admin's Reply:

Thank you Paul. good to know that :)

Sarah J's Comment

Worked for me too, THANK YOU!!!

20 Tue Dec 2011