Dreamweaver CS3 won’t start in Windows 7
I’m still using Dreamweaver CS3 for some web stuff. It does all I need it to do, or at least it did until it suddenly just decided to not load anymore!
I tried rebooting, tried running as admin, tried running in compatibility mode etc.
Finally I found that there now appears to be a some kind of issue with Windows Aero, on my laptop at least.
So, after much frustration I finally got it to work.
If your Dreamweaver CS3 has stopped loading in Windows 7 you can get it to work by just changing these settings …
1. Right click the Dreamweaver shortcut and then click “Properties”.
2. Click the “Compatability” tab.
3. Under the “Settings” section:
Tick “Disable visual themes” and “Disable desktop composition”
(It does seem to work without ticking “Disable visual themes”, but a couple of times it didn’t start so I left mine ticked just in case.)
You’ll notice that you lose your nice aero transparency / colours etc but at least you can now use Dreamweaver CS3 on Windows 7 again!
You could disable Windows Aero completely, or just the Aero Peek feature, but seems overkill to change the entire OS appearance just for the sake of one misbehaving application.
If this helped you please tweet me (@alanhart) or comment below to let me know!