Installing Photoshop CS6 on Windows 10

I paid for it once, therefore I should be allowed to keep it running forever. Thus spake my sense of entitlement. My sense wasn't wrong, but it sure didn't know what suffering was ahead.

First, in order to run the installer, you have to turn off the Program Compatibility Assistant. Win+R → services.msc → scroll down to Program Compatibility Assistant → right click and select Stop.

The installer will have copied itself to C:\Users\USERID\AppData\Local\Adobe\OOBE\PDApp\core\PDApp.exe. Rename it to PDAp.exe, and look in the C:\Users\USERID\AppData\Local\Temp directory for PDApp.log. Open it. At the end you'll see a line that looks like this:

1/2/2024 12:34:56 [INFO] Setup - TimeLog: PDApp launched with command "C:\Users​\USERID​\AppData​\Local​\Adobe​\OOBE​\PDApp​\core​\PDApp.exe" --media="path to CS6 folder" --appletID="DWA_UI" --appletVersion="2.0" --requiredSize=101794. Waiting for PDApp window to come

Start a command prompt and change into C:\Users\USERID\AppData\Local\Adobe\OOBE\PDApp\core. Then run PDAp.exe with the parameters from the log line, for example --media="path to CS6 folder" --appletID="DWA_UI" --appletVersion="2.0" --requiredSize=101794.

The installation completed OK. But just as I'm about to pop the metaphorical champagne while starting Photoshop I get a dialog box saying that Adobe Application Manager, required to start your trial, is missing or damaged. followed by a link that has probably been dead for very long. After a little while I realize it's missing the PDApp.exe that I renamed.

Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\OOBE\PDApp\core and rename PDAp.exe back to PDApp.exe.

At this point you may still get a program compatibility error when starting Photoshop. You have to go to Settings → Update & Security → Windows Security → Device security → Core isolation details and turn off Memory integrity. When you turn it off you'll be prompted to reboot. If, after rebooting, you find that the setting has mysteriously turned itself on again, try enabling Hyper-V.​[1]

With memory Integrity off, you should be able to start Photoshop and register / activate the product.

Footnotes