FIX: Photoshop has encountered a problem with your display driver.
If you face the error "Photoshop has encountered a problem with your display driver" when trying to open Adobe Photoshop, continue reading below to fix the problem.
When Photoshop starts up, it checks the display adapter and the display driver and if it finds a problem, it displays the following error: "Photoshop has encountered a problem with the display driver, and has temporarily disabled enhancements which use the graphics hardware". The result of this error is that Photoshop crashes when you try to open, save or create a new project.
Since the mentioned above Photoshop error can be caused by various reasons, in this tutorial you will find several methods to correct the problem.
How to FIX: Photoshop has encountered a problem with your display driver.
Method 1. Disable Sniffer.EXE Program.
When Photoshop starts, it uses the SNIFFER.EXE program to identify any problems with the graphics adapter. Sometimes the sniffer cannot detect the graphics adapter correctly and causes Photoshop to crash. So try to prevent the "SNIFFER.EXE" program from running when you start Photoshop by following these steps:
1. Navigate to the folder where Photoshop is installed.*
* e.g. if you own the Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 go this location:
-
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC 2018
2. Locate the sniffer.exe program and drag it to your desktop.
3. Start Photoshop to see if the error has been resolved. If yes, go to Photoshop's Preferences > Performance and check the Use Graphics Processor option. Then restart Photoshop to verify that the problem is gone.
Method 2. Reset Photoshop Preferences.
To restore the default preferences in Adobe Photoshop, use one of the following ways:
Way 1:
1. Open Photoshop and go to Edit > Preferences > General
2. Click Reset Preferences On Quit
3. Click OK in the dialog that asks "Are you sure you want to reset preferences when quitting Photoshop?".
4. Restart Photoshop
Way 2:
1. Close Photoshop.
2. Hold down the CTRL + ALT + SHIFT keys and launch Photoshop.
3. Click Yes in the dialog "Delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings file?"
Way 3:
1. Navigate to the following folder:
- C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop version\Adobe Photoshop version Settings
2. Rename the "Adobe Photoshop version Settings" folder to "Adobe Photoshop version Settings.OLD"
3. Launch Photoshop.
Method 3. Install Latest Display Drivers.
The error "Photoshop encountered a problem with the display driver" may be due to an outdated graphics adapter driver. So, the first solution to solve the problem is to perform a clean installation of the graphics adapter driver. To do that:
Step 1. Download Latest Display Driver.
1. Depending on the model of your graphics adapter, proceed to download the latest driver from the card manufacturer's website:
- NVIDIA drivers
- AMD drivers
- Intel drivers
Step 2. Uninstall Display Adapter Software.
1. Navigate to Control Panel and open Programs and features, or..
1. Press simultaneously the Windows
+ R keys to open the run command box.
2. Type: appwiz.cpl and click OK.
2. In Programs and Features, uninstall all the software from your graphics adapter..
3. When the uninstallation is complete, restart your PC.
Step 3. Install Graphics Driver.
1. Double click at the downloaded driver file (from step-1), to install the latest display driver on your PC.
2. When the installation is complete, restart your PC,
3. Launch Photoshop and If you don't receive any error at startup, go to Photoshop's Edit menu > Preferences > Performance and check the Use Graphics Processor option. Then restart Photoshop to verify that the problem is gone.
Method 4. Disable Onboard Graphics Card. *
* Note: This method works only for laptops with two Display Adapters.
Some users reported that the error with the display driver in Photoshop is resolved after disabling the onboard graphics adapter. For example, if you own a laptop with an Intel and an NVIDIA (or an AMD) display adapter, proceed and disable the onboard INTEL graphic adapter in device manager.
1. Navigate to Device Manager. To do that:
1. Press Windows 
+ R keys to open the run command box.
2. In the "Open" box, type: devmgmt.msc & click OK.
2. Expand Display Adapters.
3. Right click on the Intel Display adapter and select Disable.
4. Launch Photoshop and see if the error persists.
Method 5. Change Cache Levels setting.
1. From Photoshop's Edit menu select Preferences > Performance
2. Set the Cache Levels to 4.
3. Restart Photoshop.
Method 6. Set Drawing Mode to Basic
1. From Photoshop's Edit menu select Preferences > Performance
2. In Performance options click Advanced Settings.
3. Set the Drawing Mode to Basic.
4. Restart Photoshop.
Other things to try:
If you cannot resolve the "Photoshop encountered a problem with the display driver" error using the above methods, try the following:
1. Rollback your display driver, or install an oldest driver for your Display Adapter.
2. Remove and install Photoshop again on your System C: drive and at the default location. (under "C:\Program Files\" folder").
3. Replace your Graphics Card,
That’s all folks! Did it work for you?
Please leave a comment in the comment section below or even better: like and share this blog post in the social networks to help spread the word about this solution.
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