Photoshop Could Not Complete Your Request

The following article aims to provide users with solutions for the “Photoshop could not complete your request because of a program error” issue.

Photoshop Could Not Complete Your Request Because of a Program Error

We have received several complaints from avid Photoshop users lately regarding an issue that seems to be occurring every so often.The error message that appears reads:

Photoshop could not complete your request because of a program error.

You can see this message whenever you are trying to open a PSD file. And while this issue isn’t uncommon, it is a tricky one due to the fact that it can appear for a variety of reasons. For instance, the simplest explanation could be that the file is corrupt and therefore the program can’t open it. Another possibility may just have to do with the application’s preferences.

You might also notice that the error message only pops up when you try to open one specific image file. And in other cases, the issue may persist with multiple files. Either way, we will do our best to explore each of the most common scenarios in our guide below. And hopefully one of the fixes we provide will resolve the problem for you. Please don’t forget to drop us a line in the comment section to let us know how these worked out in your case!

Fix 1:

1. Locate the image that you are trying to open in Photoshop and right-click on it.
2. Select Rename.
   
3. Change the extension of the file to .jpeg or .png, and hit Enter on your keyboard.
   
   
4. Try to open the file again with Photoshop. If the issue persists, then the image was most likely corrupt and you will have to use a backup if you have one, otherwise you will just have to give it up.

 Fix 2:

1. Open the Adobe Photoshop program and go to Edit.
2. This will open a drop-down menu where you will have to select Preferences.
3. Next, go to Plug-Ins and untick the box beside Enable Generator.
4. Click OK and restart Photoshop to see if the issue persists.

Fix 3:

If even after the above fixes the error still appears, you may have to reset the Photoshop Preferences. Although it’s more of a last resort, this solution is most likely to do the job and clear the issue with the file you’re having trouble with.

For macOS users:

1. Head over to the ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop CSx Settings/ directory.
2. Locate the CS6 Prefs.psp file to your Desktop. If you are using a different version of Adobe Photoshop, then locate that respective Prefs.psp file and do the same.
3. Check to see if the issue still persists.

For Windows users:

1. Press the following key combination at the same time: Windows Key + R.
2. This will open the Run dialogue box where you will have to type in %AppData%.
   
   
3. Press Enter on your keyboard, which will open the AppData directory.
4. Once there, go to the following directory: Roaming/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CSx/Adobe Photoshop Settings/
5. Find the Adobe Photoshop CS6 Prefs.psp and Adobe Photoshop CS6 X64 Prefs.psp files and move them both to your Desktop. (Or the respective files of the version of Adobe Photoshop that you are using.)
   
   
6. Restart the Photoshop application and see if the problem was fixed.