Avoid 'networked home' hang on Photoshop 7 launch

Jul 10, '06 07:30:01AM

Contributed by: awkohr

Here's how a user that is running off of a networked home directory can fix the Adobe Photoshop 7 startup freeze/hang when it tries to autoupdate with the following window:

"Updating Adobe Online Componenets from Adobe.com.
Downloading: File 2 of 2...
No personal informaiton is being transmited.
File: AWEDBFiles4.awe
To MacintoshHD:Library:App...ion Support:Adobe:Web:"

Other sources say that it is a sporatic problem with Adobe's autoupdate server. Unfortunately this problem keeps the program from launching, and the odds of Adobe updating version 7 to 7.0.2 is nill, so why check?

My fix will also work for users of non-networked Home directories as well, but they can work around it by disconecting from the network and launching Photoshop then reconnecting. Not a choice for those whose prefrences reside on the network, as this will also cause a hang on launch. As a note for those with local home directories that might stumble accross this, to easily turn this off after you have launched off the network, read this thread on Adobe's forums (Adobe login required).

Actual Instructions:

  1. Go into your networked home directory, then into Library/Preferences and open adobeonlineprefs in your favorite text editor (vi, zilch, emacs, BBEdit, etc.). You should see something like this line:
     1 0 1 2 10 1152111283 "Path:to:Homedir:Desktop" ...
  2. Change the third number from 1, 2, or 3 to 0. So you should now see:
     1 0 1 2 10 1152111283 "Path:to:Homedir:Desktop" ...
  3. Save the file with the same name, and then close it and quit the editor.
Launch Photoshop, and all should work. If for some reason the above-file does not exist, then use your text editor to create the file with the name and location as above. For the contents of the file, type in 1 0 0 (the gaps are just spaces). That is really all you need -- Photoshop will put in the rest itself if you edit the settings later and it needs them.

Save the File as a text file (not a .rtf or a .doc) called adobeonlineprefs (all lower case) in the Library/Preferences folder of the user's home directory. Launch Adobe Photoshop, and it should work again.

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