Photoshop could not Complete your Request because of a Program Error

The ‘Photoshop could not complete your request because of a program error’ error message is often caused by the generator plugin or the settings of Photoshop along with the file extension of the image files. The error message appears when you are trying to open a PSD file. The said error message, in rare situations, can be very difficult to solve as the application throws the said error message whenever something or anything is wrong. This could refer to the preferences of the application, or maybe even some corruption in the image file.

In some scenarios, the error message can be restricted to only a specific image file while other image files load perfectly fine. Nonetheless, we will be discussing the various causes of the said error message in detail down below. So let us get into it. 

What causes the ‘Photoshop could not Complete your Request because of a Program Error’ Error Message?

Since the error message is arbitrary, it can often be caused due to the following factors: 

Now that we are done with that, let us get into the solutions and get your issue resolved. 

Solution 1: Change the Extension of the Image File

Before we get into the more technical stuff, the first thing you should try out is changing the extension of the image file. This is suggested, as we have mentioned earlier when the error message pops up on a specific image file. If all of the other image files load smoothly, you should try changing the extension of the troublesome image file to .jpeg or .png. These formats are pretty generic and usually, pictures are saved in this format. 

If manually changing the extension does not fix the issue, you can try using the Export option in Adobe Photoshop. Before hitting save, make sure that the file format is either .jpeg or .png, and then hit Save. 

If the issue persists even after changing the image format, then that means the image file is corrupt and you will have to give it up or use a backup copy if it is important. 

Solution 2: Disabling Graphics Processor Option

This option might make your Photoshop work and render photos a little bit slower than usual because you are basically disabling Hardware acceleration for Photoshop however most people have reported that it can fix this problem.

1. 1. Open Adobe Photoshop.
   2. Once Adobe Photoshop is opened, press the “Control + K” keys together to open Preferences.
   3. Head over to the “Performance” section and Untick option “Use Graphics Processor”

      

   4. Now restart your Adobe Photoshop and you should be good to go. If the issue still persists check out the other solutions.

Solution 3: Disable Generator 

The next step to solving the issue would be disabling the generator plugin which is found in the Preferences window. This has reportedly fixed the issue for a few users. Here’s how to do it: 

1. Open up Adobe Photoshop.
2. Click on the Edit drop-down menu and then choose Preferences. 
3. Switch to the Plug–ins tab and uncheck the ‘Enable Generator’ checkbox.

   

4. Once you have done that, click OK.
5. Restart Photoshop and see if it fixes the issue. 

Solution 4: Unlock the Library Folder

A locked Library folder can also cause the error message to appear. In such a scenario, you will have to unlock the Library folder. This can be done pretty easily. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open up the Finder and then navigate to your user directory. You can do this by searching for ~/Library/ in the search box.
2. Once you see the Library folder, right-click on it or just hold the Ctrl key while clicking on the folder to show the drop-down menu.
3. Click on the Get Info option.
4. Uncheck the ‘Locked’ option under folder details.

   

5. See if this fixes the issue for you.

Solution 5: Reset Photoshop Preferences

If the above solutions do not work for you, then, you will have to reset the Preferences of the Photoshop application as a final resort. Resetting the Preferences usually fix weird issues with the application so this is very likely to solve the issue for you as well. Doing this manually is suggested as it does not affect your color and workspace settings. However, if you reset the Preferences using the keystrokes method, that will reset the color and workspace settings along with a few more as well. 

Therefore, the manual way is the way to go. Here’s how to do it: 

If you are using macOS, this is pretty simple: 

1. Just navigate to the ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop CSx Settings/ directory. 
2. Once you are there, move the CS6 Prefs.psp file to your Desktop. Here, CS6 is the version so it might be different in your case but you get the idea.

   

3. That’s it.

For Windows users, do the following:

1. Press the Windows Key + R to open up the Run dialogue box.
2. Type in %AppData% and hit Enter. This will take you to the AppData directory.
3. There, navigate to Roaming/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CSx/Adobe Photoshop Settings/ directory.
4. Once you are there, move both the Adobe Photoshop CS6 Prefs.psp and Adobe Photoshop CS6 X64 Prefs.psp files to your Desktop.

   

Once you have done that, run Adobe Photoshop again and see if your issue has been solved.