2 days ago i upgraded (reinstalled) Win7 and Photoshop cs4 could not be started anymore.
i reinstalled Ps. with the same result again.

Yesterday, i reinstalled Win7 again and then Ps. again.
same result.

every time i try to start Ps. a notice says: Photoshop was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b).

i looked that kind of error on the Internet and there are many answers, both complicated and simple ones.
One of them said that most probably the reason was in component services/services (local) there was a badly configured service.
I reviewed all the services and think they're ok.
then i uninstalled Ps. and cleaned up everything in the registry that pertained to Ps, as also on C drive.

then i reinstalled Ps, but i still can't use it.

the only thing left for me to do is to wipe C drive and reinstall W7 and all my programs; something i don't like to do;

does anyone have a solution to make that Ps. work?

Is that version compatible with 7?

I hear that when you play a Windows disk backwards, you hear Satan.
However, even more scary is that if you play it forward.... it installs Windows.

Seriously though.
Could be a 32 bit vs. 64 bit issue. Which versions do you have?
Also is it a legit version? A buddy of mine had issues with cracked 64 bit Ps and had to 'purchase' the 32 bit version for his 64 bit OS.

both Win7 and Ps are 64 bit versions and they worked well together (for more than a year) until 2 days ago when i reinstalled W7.

When you re install an OS, even the same version from the same CD, you are often likely to upgrade drivers that may have otherwise been left at an old version. Perhaps it is not so much Windows itself but a new, less compatible, version of a driver. Video card being the first I would check. You could try rolling back any possible suspects.

That's all I will make uneducated guesses at. Some experts will show up soon.

Did you install all the updates for Photoshop?

yes, i have installed the latest update for Ps, quite a long time ago.

But you've reinstalled Photoshop since installing the updates?

How would you update it if you can't open the program?

it's easy, i install Photoshop and after that i install the Ps. update.
it's when i try to open it that it does not work.

Would trying "Run as Administrator" work? I HIGHLY doubt it, but maybe worth a try...

J.B., check out this thread that addresses that error code. The OP corrected their problem by using a program called Dependency Walker.

I'll keep looking.

More great advice on this page. Specifically the second last message by Roahn Lou whom is a moderator.

Or these two - 1 (Adobe Photoshop support search results on error 0xc000007b) or 2 (great info and tools).

From the research I've done, it seems to be related to the computers registry.

Did you go through the activation process any point after the install or does it fail before it gets to that point? If yes, then I'd try uninstalling and deleting all traces, then reinstall but DO NOT run any updates until you've tried launching it first. I've had problems in the past where a freshly installed and updated app would not work. Launching and activating prior to updates seemed to alleviate that.

will try those 2 programs and see.

thanks a lot. :-)

If you do end up uninstalling and reinstalling PS, I strongly recommend you use third party software like Revo Uninstaller , and then run a registry cleaner like CCleaner . I use both those programs whenever I uninstall something.

I've been using the AdobeCreativeSuiteCleanerTool and ccleaner and also checked the registry to be sure nothing was left of the old installation before installing a new time.

I will see what can be done with all the suggestions you gave me and see what tomorrow will bring; i understand nothing about the Revo Uninstaller and as to the Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7, it works with .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and my installation has version 4.

i'm far from being knowledgeable with these, and i would not be surprised if i decide to reinstall everything anew; i will then install Ps right after i've done Win7 without any updates, as pmbuko suggested.

right now, my brain is getting overload...
will be back another day.

for the great help so far, i'm super grateful. :-D

Hey, got some good news...
today i started SuperAntiSpyware scan and it found 41 instances of "Security.hijack(Image file execution options)" in the registry;
it was blocking Nero, Ps, Canon scan, and Superantispyware.

The not-so-good news: got rid of the little pests and now the programs work ok,
except for Ps.
so i'll reinstall it tomorrow and see.
if it still does not work right, then i'll do a clean install for everything.

you might want to run some other spyware programs, as they don't all clean everything; spybot, malwarebytes and for antivirus I love Avast over AVG and the other free products out there.

good idea, will do that. thanks.

J.B., I also use Avast for real time protection and Malwarebytes for use on occasion.

after getting rid of the malware, i reinstalled Ps. and now all's working ok. Yay!!! :-D

thanks all for the help; i'll give all of you a raise, if you want it...

FYI it's never a bad thing to run a different manual malware scanner than what you'd using to monitor in realtime, if you suspect you are infected. My manual scanner of choice is Trend Micro.

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

thanks for the tip. :-)

Give it a shot of DDT for good measure. That stuff kills just about everything...