We are aware of an issue where Photoshop 22.3.1 is not properly detecting the GPU, and have a fix that will be available soon; thank you for your patience.

An earlier version of Photoshop may be installed and used for the time being, or 22.3.1 should work fine for most features, since there are CPU fallbacks for everything except 3D features and the Oil Paint filter on Mac.

Again, thanks for your patience as we stabilize GPU usage. This will ultimately be an important step forward to boost performance across the application.

What causes the error ‘Photoshop has encountered a problem with the display driver’?

This error message only occurs when Photoshop is unable to access your graphics resources for its operations. The reasons why it is unable to access can vary computer to computer. Some of the causes are:

Before we start with the workarounds, make sure that you are logged in as an administrator on your computer and have an open internet access.

Solution 1: Disabling ‘sniffer.exe’

The executable ‘sniffer.exe’ is an application which detects the graphics modules installed on your computer. It detects your graphics resource and passes the information on to the application so the resource can be utilized. The sniffer can sometimes go into an error state which might cause Photoshop not to detect any hardware. We can try moving/rename it and see if this fixes the problem at hand.

1. Navigate to the directory where Photoshop is installed. The default directory is:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC 2015.

2. Once in the directory, search for the executable ‘sniffer_gpu.exe’. Cut it and paste it to some other location (such as the desktop).

3. Now restart your computer and try accessing Photoshop. Check if the error is resolved.

Solution 2: Disabling onboard graphics (if dedicated graphics installed)

Another workaround which was reported by users was disabling onboard graphics if dedicated graphics (such as AMD or NVIDIA) are installed on your computer. It seems that Photoshop has issues when two graphics options are available and it fails to make a choice which one to use for its rendering and operations. Before following the steps, you should verify that your third-party graphics card is functioning properly.

1. Press Windows + R, type “devmgmt.msc” in the dialogue box and press Enter.
2. 
3. Once in the Device Manager, navigate to the entry “Display adapters”, right-click on the onboard graphics and select Disable device.

3. Now try accessing Photoshop and check if the error message is resolved.

Solution 3: Changing directory of Adobe Photoshop

Another hiccup which Photoshop faces are the permissions if it is installed on another directory. Whenever an application is installed in program files (the driver where the OS is installed), it gains all the basic permissions automatically. If your Photoshop is in another directory, we can try changing its directory and see if this fixes the issue. If simply changing the directory doesn’t work, you might need to reinstall the application to the targeted directory.

1. Press Windows + E to launch Windows Explorer. Once in the explorer, navigate to the directory where you installed Photoshop. Right-click on the folder and select Copy.

2. Now navigate to the driver where your OS is installed (by default, it is Local Disk C), and open your Program files. Paste the application there.