Image Trace in Illustrator causing "the operation cannot complete because of unknown error [PARM]"

Hi @Ibera26320278hevd,

We're sorry to hear about the issues you're experiencing with the Image Trace feature in Illustrator. From what you've described, it sounds like you've tried a number of troubleshooting steps already without success.

I hope the issue is resolved with the suggestion shared by Bill & Anubhav. If not, would you mind confirming if the image files are embedded or linked? Also, please share the image with us so we can investigate the issue further and provide you with the appropriate solutions. Additionally, please confirm the OS & Ai version as well.

Kindly update the discussion if you still need assistance with it. We'd be happy to help.

Thanks,

Anshul Saini

Hello @Ibera26320278hevd,

We understand that encountering technical issues can be frustrating. I hope the suggestions shared by Bill helped resolve the problem. If not, we will need to troubleshoot this on a live session. Please head here (https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html?rghtup=autoOpen) and select the chat button in the lower-right corner of the page. We can help troubleshoot faster that way.

Thanks,

Anubhav

There have been reported instances of the PARM error happening with files that are going between the US and China. One suggestion that I've seen is to change the language of your app from English to Chinese or vice versa if it is already set to Chinese. Instructions on doing this can be found at https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/change-install-language.html. 

You also said that you had uninstalled and reinstalled but you didn't mention whether you had reset your Illustrator preferences when you did so. This process will reset the program back to its defaults. Given that you said that this is now happening with new documents it is possible that resetting the program to it defults might help. I would do this before changing the language of your version of the program.

To reset preferences:

For Macintosh Users: The User Library folder in which Illustrator’s preferences are stored is hidden by default on most Macintoshes. To access it make sure that Illustrator is closed and click on the desktop to launch a Finder Window (Command-N).With this window in column view follow the path User>Home folder (it’s the folder with an icon that looks like a house—it may have the user’s name rather than “Home”) and click on the Home folder. With the Option Key pressed choose Library from the Finder Go Menu. “Library” will now appear within the Home folder. Within the Library folder find the folder called Preferences and within it find the folder called “Adobe Illustrator <Version #> Settings” (earlier versions of Illustrator might just say “Adobe Illustrator”) and the file called “com.adobe.Illustrator.plist” and delete both that folder and that file. When Illustrator is next launched it will create new preference files and the program will be restored to its defaults.

For Windows Users: You can try the quick way of resetting on a PC which is to hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift when launching Illustrator and respond affirmatively when asked if you want to reset. There have been some recent reports that the window asking if you want to reset is not popping up but that the prefs are being reset anyway. If this works great but if it doesn’t you may have to manually delete them.

To do so: On Windows 7 and above the preference files are hidden. To find them go to the Control Panel and open Folder Options and then click the View tab. Then select “Show hidden files and folders” or “Show hidden files, folders or drive options” in Advanced Settings. Then delete (or rename) the folder at the end of this path: C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator [version number]\ Settings\<Language>. Make sure that Illustrator is closed when you do this. When you relaunch the program it will create new preference files and the program will be at its default settings.

The advantage of manually deleting preference files is that after you’ve reset up the program (make sure that no document window is open) to your liking, you can create copies of your personalized “mint” preference files (make sure that you quit the program before copying them—that finalizes your customization) and use them in the future to replace any corrupt versions you may need to delete.