Windows 11 no longer runs Photoshop CS4!

[g__day]

So I just found out today Windows 11 won't let Photoshop CS4 run - it boots fine and then shutsdown with no warning 5 seconds later! I am informed the Adobe authentication servers are now switched off and Microsoft declares it an unsupported / incompatible product.


That is a pain in the bum as it suited me fine and it wasn't a monthly subscription fee product!

I wonder if anyone has got it to work - or what do you use - the latest Photoshop and pay $20 a month for it?

What are my options I wonder - as I seldom process photos nowadays. I can keep an old PC on Windows 10 just so I can use CS4 still - but what advice would folk give about a better path to use for my situation?

Thanks, Matt

[Outcast]

Try right clicking on it & Win11 should permit you to run it in an 'older' version of windows... IE: it can emulate windows xp/7/8

[ronson]

Hi Matt,
These days there is plenty pixel processing software choice that does not require subscription. It really depends what processing you do. Even image viewers can do basic processing.

Here are few options:
1. Photoshop Elements. This is probably the easiest to transition, if you are familiar with Photoshop already. It’s paid.
2. Affinity Photo. This one requires a bit of learning, but is very powerful. It’s paid, competitively priced, when on sale is a bargain.
3. GIMP. Requires learning, pretty powerful and is free.

[Crater101]

I shouldn't be surprised... :rolleyes:


If you can find a copy of Photoshop CS6, you might try that. I've been running that for some time and it still seems to work.


If you're shooting in digital negative - DNG - there's a free program, Adobe Digital Negative converter https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/digital-negative.html that will let you convert your DNG files so that they'll work on most older versions of photoshop. I say most - I don't think PS2 or anything before that is supported.


Hope it helps.

[g__day]

Nope - that was the first thing I tried!

Is Photoshop CS6 a purchase once use forever product - I just don't like monthly subscription software when I am only a very occasional, light user!

[Crater101]

It is...it's the last of their Photoshop line of products that was standalone. You may find a copy on eBay or similar. It still requires internet access as a once-off to activate it, but after that you're good.

[Merlin66]

You may be lucky and find a copy of CS5.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEX87jDwLSQ

[g__day]

An astronomers youtube talk about freeware Siril from Siril.org appeared on my feed today - and first glance this looks amazing for what I want!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFDwGnUwOh8

[AdamJL]

Siril was the second program I tried, after StarTools, before I ended up using PixInsight.
Siril is a great program! Definitely covers the big ticket items easily. Out of the four I have (PI, Siril, Photoshop, StarTools), it's second to PI for me.

[g__day]

The GHS stretch tool looks amazing - trying to find how do you reset the dark point - so far it looks like that is done by running multiple Asinh transformations and turning the dark point right up...

Think I will have to read a few tutorials!

[g__day]

So I went down another free, and perhaps more creative path. Since my main PC is so powerful I just decided to add VMWare player 17 and create a VM that will run Windows 10 with CS4 installed on that.

So whenever I want to run Photshop CS I will just load that VM image and launch CS4.

The VMWare player is free. I already have a licence for Windows and CS4 - so it should be brain dead easy - wish me luck. I simply youtube how to set up VMWare player 17 and launch Windows 10 - and its very, very simple!


First time I have ever created a VM at home - but I sense now it won't be the last!

[g__day]

Well I had to switch off hypervisor and core isolation - that lifted performance from pathetic to flying, then for Windows 10 download VMWare tools and then download another patch to get network shares working - so the VM could see the rest of my drives I wanted it to see, then I re-installed Photoshop CS4 with Astronomy tools (actions) add on and voila - its all there.



I find this almost magical - you can store an image of any machine set up you wish - Linux variants, Windows variants basically anything you imagine - they just appears as virtual machines in your VMware player - until you want to start one up. Click a button and 30 seconds later you have a new machine with its own operating system operating in a window on your PC. So now I have Photoshop CS4 under a VM running Windows 10 working perfectly!



Very pleased for my first home usage. Must say youtube was brilliant for watching how to videos that explained it all perfectly!

[Crater101]

As someone who still runs CS6 (and isn't keen to pay for a subscription for the rest of my life) this has been really informative, and somthing I'll have to consider for the future.

Cheers!

[Astromaniac]

G'Day Matt,

I use CS4 (legit) on Windows11 with no issues. Like you I'm not going to pay monthly fees. I used to have CS6 (again legit) as well on another pc, then that pc with CS6 crashed and lost everything. Adobe didn't want to know about it even after they discovered all my details where there but different email address from my original registration. Couldn't do a thing!

Cheers,

John

[Sitt]

I'm sorry but you guys are complaining about an unsupported product that was released back in 2008! This is IT, times change, operating systems change, if you can't get CS4 to work which is understandable due to its age then use a free software such as GIMP

[g__day]

Simon so of my software and hardware is way older than that - forward compatability is a desirable option - and forcing users who bought expensive commerical software onto a pay by the month option rankles those who are infrequent users. Equally does running a Windows comaptability checker before upgrading - but not being told CS4 was deaded by the new UI Win 11 sports.

Given I spent years learning CS4 - don't feel like re-learning something that works well for me just becuase someone wants to force users to switch - so a VM approach is painless. This coming from someone who wrote software for 45 years. When you move money in Australia - there is about a one in four chance it is on software or systems I designed - and guess what - it still works, every time, is reilable and bullet proof as hell. Many banks have prettied teh front end but at the back end its all my tech - it was far better designed and robust than many moder designs that came out today.

I do woodwork occassionally - I have both modern tools and gear over 100 years old - and the old stuff really does what it was designed to do well!

Forced modrnisation for commercial benefits to a firms shareholders isn't always a great think - and some freeware is truly great - I just generally loathe subscription models that don't fit my use cases...

[dikman]

Mathew, I also despise being forced into a subscription service for something that I only use occasionally. I also like stand-alone software and avoid using cloud-based systems (yes, I'm olde-school and proud of it ;)).

I wonder how many have gone down the "pirate path" because of this trend?

[g__day]

Richard - I would subscribe to a minimal pay for access - like $1 per month or less plus pay for use model - its the mis-alignment between paying for the potential to use their product versus paying for the actual usage. If I could buy say 10 hours at a time subscriptions that don't expire and were decently priced - well I might be tempted!

[Merlin66]

When I asked, some time ago, I was told the commercial model for the software was based on the customer business needs. They need and can afford to pay the prices asked.
We are in a niche area of astronomy where - for whatever reason have developed software like PS to dominate our thoughts for image processing. We probably represent less than 0.00001% of the global user base.


I started with PaintShopPro many many, years ago - when it WAS a paint program but over the years (and being purchased by Corel) it has significantly changed to meet the needs of professional photographs who need the bells and whistles to compete. The screen layout and capabilities now mirror PS but (as yet) they have not changed from a one off (reasonable) payment.
If I have a need to tweak images I now use PSP2022 (comes with added 64 and 32 bit options to allow some astro plug-ins to work)
See: https://au.pcmag.com/photo-editing/4882/corel-paintshop-pro


All I'm saying is there are many other great image processing software packages which may be more cost effective to the amateur astronomer.