Could not use the color settings because an unexpected <a/ @3158 end-of-file> was encountered.

I installed Adobe Photoshop Elements 2 on an eMac running Mac OS X 10.2.8, and everything works fine when I am logged in as root.

If I log in as a standard user, everything works fine the first time I run it too. However, on the second run, I get an error message: "Could not use the color settings because an unexpected <a/ @3158 end-of-file> was encountered. The default color settings are being used."

Subsequent runs as a standard user give the same error dialog box on launch until I delete the Color Settings file from the standard users home directory\Library\Preferences\Photoshop Elements 2.0 Prefs. Running Photoshop Elements twice more reproduces the error.

I assume this is a permissions problem since I do not get the error message when logged in as root. Does anyone know what directory I need to make writeable to get rid of this annoying error message?

Cheers,
Mark

PS: sorry, the @3158 should read @31058

After you installed Elements, did you run Repair Permissions?

Yes - it made no difference unfortunately.

Since this hasn't generated any responses (that are worthwhile), I suggest you post this question on the Apple forum. We only have a couple of Mac people here who are really good at troubleshooting system issues, and neither of them seem to be around. I've never seen this problem posted before, and I don't think it's really an Elements issue. If you do get it resolved, posting back would be useful in case it comes up again. Good luck.

Actually, this error usually indicates some kind of damage, either a corrupt file or a problem with a directory. I would try Disk Warrior, Mark, since it's obviously not just a corrupt document here.

You could also try a reinstall.

It works when logged in as root + does not work properly as standard user with networked home directory != problem with a corrupt file. I suspect this is permissions related. The problem persists across reinstalls, and on a fresh Mac.

I was hoping someone knowledgable at Adobe would be reading these forums and be able to suggest which areas of the volume I need to give standard users write access to.

Well, Rich Coencas is our local Adobe guy and he has been posting here the past couple of days. Maybe he just missed this topic.

I'm here. Honestly I've never seen this one before. What I think is happening is that the standard user is being prohibited from writing the color settings pref, and that Mark is correct that it is a permissions issue. If repairing permissions hasn't worked, you might try creating a new user with admin privelges and reinstalling as that user.

Rich

tried that, no difference. In the end, using text edit to create a file with the same name, and changing the extension, then putting that into the default user template seems to have done the trick. I'll hopefully find out during testing rather than once it goes into active use in the lab it is licensed for.

My thanks to everyone that replied.