I’ve just switched out my gfx card from a 9060xt to a 5070 Ti and now Photolab 9 won’t start. It loads the splash screen and then just closes immediately. I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling photolab, ensuring I downloaded the latest photolab. I also removed all trace of photolab from my computer (deleting the folders in programdata, user/appdata/local and roaming) before reinstalling.
System details:
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 6-Core Processor (4.70 GHz)
Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.7 GB usable)
Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 25H2
Installed on 06/05/2025
OS build 26200.8246
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.297.0
Well I’ve managed to get it running. Sort of.
First I tried removing the nvidia drivers - no change.
Then I tried running it in compatibility mode - it ran but CPU only - however, if I put the Windows ML Acceleration to Compatibility mode. I can quit out, bring the app out of compatibility mode and then it runs fine.
Maybe it has to do with various caches used by Windows (??). See recent post about using DISM SFC, a common cure suggested by Microsoft for very different problems.
I’ve seen recently similar reports with many other apps.
Just few days ago I had a similar issue with Nikon NX Studio 1.10.1 (latest, released on Dec 2025, rarely used by me). Each time it started, thumbnails and main image were shown but few seconds later NX Studio would crash with a minidump. I fixed it by reinstallation, but it worked only after enabling ‘reset settings’ (or something similar) in the (re)installation “fix” menu, and then restoring manually my previous settings. Could be a different story, though. Current software is very much like early aeroplanes…
First thing I did was clear all caches - I also ran an sfc /scannow and a DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth. This was before uninstalling and then reinstalling Photolab - uninstalling to such an extent that I ensured there was no trace of DXO on the system either folders or registry entries.
The problem is that if the ML is set to Maximum performance, Photolab doesn’t get past the splash screen before closing. I finally managed to get the software to run by running it in Windows 8 compatibility mode. This then allowed me to set the ML to compatible. I then quit out. Dropped it back out of running in compatibility mode and then ran again and it’s been fine since, albeit with the Windows ML Acceleration stuck in compatibility mode. (Turning it back to Max performance and it returns to not opening again).
Further exploration shows that:
2026-02 Windows ML Runtime NVIDIA TensorRT-RTX Execution Provider Update (KB5079257)
and
2026-01 Windows ML Runtime Intel OpenVINO Execution Provider Update (KB5077525)
are not being installed in spite of Windows 11 being fully patched and up to date.
Yep. It’s not installing any - there’s only
2026-03 Windows ML Runtime AMD GPU Execution Provider Update (KB5083461)
Successfully installed on 27/03/2026
and
2026-01 Windows ML Runtime AMD GPU Execution Provider Update (KB5077527)
Successfully installed on 18/03/2026
in the AI section of my update history. If I run Get-AppxPackage MicrosoftCorporationII.WinML.* in terminal, it only shows MicrosoftCorporationII.WinML.AMD.GPU.EP.1.8 - and it won’t let me remove it.
Annoyingly, none of the ML EPs are available in the microsoft catalog so there’s no way to manually install. I’ve just tried an over-the-top install of Windows and that made no difference so next up is a clean install.
Nope. In fact it’s just installed yet another ML update for the non-existent AMD GPU.
I even used DDU to scrub all traces of the previous card from the system before shutting down and putting in the new card.
2026-04 Windows ML Runtime AMD GPU Execution Provider Update (KB5089167)
Successfully installed on 18/04/2026
Nope. There’s no uninstall. I’m starting the long process of reinstalling my system clean. Windows is installed, video drivers installed but annoyingly, Windows Update still isn’t provisioning the ML downloads for me
Just got to installing DXO and this time, when I ran it and put my serial in, it triggered a whole new process of downloading the AI EPs and now it’s optimising - something it never did before. Looks like a change of GPU is not being properly detected by Photolab and it’s not doing this process on anything other than a completely clean install.
All is now good with Photolab. Now I just need to get all the rest of my software installed!
Still, batch processing 481 61mpixel raw files with Deep Prime X3d went from 33 minutes down to 26 minutes. That’s going to add up over time.
Hopefully my experience will help others - or at least DXO can look into why changing videocards from an AMD GPU to an Nvidia one didn’t trigger the ML EP download.
It should have done it the first time I ran Photolab. If not then, then certainly when I uninstalled and then reinstalled it.
I’m not speaking on behalf of DxO here, of course, but my observations are based on the following:
PL seems to retrieve information about the detected and installed GPU from the system. Based on this information, DxO (the execution provider) installs a module that, in the next update step, requests the installation of the corresponding Windows ML module … (something like that).
However, my new graphics card was already installed in the computer when I upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11 – so the case is not entirely comparable to yours.
In any case, I’m glad it worked out and you can now enjoy the improved speed and stability.
