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Inspiring
September 12, 2024

Could not open "Filename.ARW" because of a program error - HAS THIS BEEN RESOLVED?

  • September 12, 2024
  • 14 replies
  • 1309 views

I see messages regarding this error dating back over a year now. Is there any universal resolution? The error message is accompanied by a "Learn how to fix" button, which brings me to the Photoshop troubleshhoting web site, which in turn lists 7 recommendations to resolve program errors while opening files in Photoshop. I have done all of them - multiple times - except for the 7th one, which is to roll back to a previous version of Photoshop. I am running PS v 25.12, ACR v 16.5.1, my PC exceeds Photoshop's minimum requirements, my GPU (NVIDIA GeForce RTX2060) is compatible and also exceeds PS's requirements, and has been fully updated, I have unchecked "Enable Generator" in Preferences, I have deleted Photoshop preferences multiple times, and finally, I completely disabled the GPU in Photoshop. This error still manifests itself after opening and editing, one by one, anywhere from 1 to 6 RAW images. It allows me to work on the images in ACR and in Photoshop without errors and to save the results as jpgs. But when I go to open a 2nd or a 7th or whatever random number, I get the error message. During one editing session, I could be closing Photoshop and re-opening it 20 times, and it's very frustrating. This is happening on both my PC (Windows 10) and my laptop (Windows 11). Any advice beyond what I've already tried would be welcomed. Thanks very much.

14 replies

Inspiring
September 13, 2024

@Kevin Stohlmeyer Oh, now you're asking a question that is above my level of expertise. On my laptop, it's only one drive, what I call the C: drive. (My son hates it when I use the letters because he says they're just randomly assigned.) My main PC has an SSD boot drive where Photoshop the actual program resides (the C: drive). The PC also has two internal storage drives, one of which (I call it E:) is another SSD, and that's the drive where the images reside when I open and edit them in Photoshop. Once the images are year old, I transfer them to a second internal drive (I call it J:) that is NOT an SSD (I don't know what a spinning hard drive is technically called), but I rarely, if ever, open/edit any images from that drive in Photoshop. The PC also has a 😧 drive which is called the "System Reserved" drive which I do not use at all. Thank you fopr taking the time to help me!

Kevin Stohlmeyer
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 13, 2024

Is this a partition or the main HD - same as the software, desktop, etc?

Inspiring
September 13, 2024

On a local internal hard drive.

Kevin Stohlmeyer
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 12, 2024

@Dori Wagner Eldridge where are the files stored? Local HD, external, server, etc?