Error reading machine specific preferences

[Benjeeeman]

whenever I open Photoshop it gives me an error message saying "error reading machine specific preferences. They will be reset to defaults". sure enough, they are, why does it keep giving me this error message and how can I fix it.

• Photoshop General Discussion

[cryptoj0e]

I'm having this same issue, on a PC.  Along with this issue, my PS freezes every time I try to resize an image.  These two issues started on the same day.

[Akash Sharma · Accepted solution]

Hi cryptoj0e,

It seems that your startup Photoshop preferences are corrupt. It could be beacuse you've had upgraded to this version from a previous version of Photoshop or you have some 3'rd party plugins preventing the app to launch.

Please restore your preferences to default following this article Preferences in Photoshop  and let us know if that helps.

Thanks,

Akash

[Benjeeeman]

Thanks for the help, it really did work.

[aliseb46003780]

Same answer on two forum posts... So this is a known issue?  To be fair, I'm running 2021 and literally (not figuratively, I know the damn difference and I'm mad!) just got this issue.

Going to delete and reset my preferences (again!)  Thank goodness I save an actual Preferences Text File.  Although, I do have a lot of crashes because apparently measuring in Inches on Canvas Size, Points on Text Size, Zoom Resizing Window, Non-Flick Panning, not Scaling Images/Smart Object on Place, and about six other things irritating to re-initialize — made worse by keyboard preferances being a wimpy text doc.

This conversation is 5+ years old and this bug is coming back??

And y'all wonder why people were so reluctant to go towards cloud programing & software support in the first place.  Too bad you can't go back to creating a software with serious patches every six months instead of every week ... or more!  Yeah technology changes weekly, but Adobe software is supposed to be a bastion of reliability.

Should have taken the hint after Flash was replaced by HTML5.

[theterkaniansh0w]

I did what mr. Sharma said, but the error keeps coming back. I've also tried uninstalling and reinstalling Photoshop once, but the error kept coming back.

[AndrewThe1st]

@theterkaniansh0w Yep. This has been plaguing me for a while too. If it is data corruption, its not because of our system. It is because adobe needs to step up their preferences management system.

[Khamsa Graphix]

How can i open preferences when photoshop is not opening?

[nevermind71]

I have the same error, I have the restored the preferences, did not work. The same error again and again

[Samir Alhubaishi]

This error occurs when you don't have enough space on your hard drive. Clear at least 15 GB off your hard drive and it should work fine.

[Mr Mouse]

I have this same problem and I'm pretty sure that 1.1 TB is enough storage space.

[hansolocambo]

15GB to save the preferences file.... All right. That sounds very logical. Thanks so much for this enlightened opinion. 

[rdllngr]

It worked for me to free up space on the SSD. With 16GB free the error message did not appear again.

[AndrewThe1st]

@Samir AlhubaishiThat is not at all true. Please don't share false information with the community. It may have been the case fo you, but it is not the case for all, ergo should not be stated as fact.

For me, it seems that shutting windows down with photoshop still open caused this.
It prevented my shutdown, and I ended up needing to close the open files anyway. And yet that was the last thing that happened on my PC photoshop related, so for me is the likely cause.

[tomjscott]

Andrew..... what if..........your computer auto boots, thereby forcing it to close photoshop without exiting properly?
I have my "Adobe auto updates" turned off for this reason, but SOMEHOW, it forced an update, and then rebooted my computer........

I've not been able to get into photoshop for over 2 weeks now because of this, and none of the forums I've posted to can help.

I realllllllly don't want it to "reset to defaults"........... especially if that means losing all my presets/actions/filters/brushes, etc..

thoughts?
|Michelle Scott

[tomjscott]

Oh, and I also have 1.19tb free on my hd.

[rdllngr]

Thank you, your tip HELPED ME. I simply freed up space (I had only 10GB free, I deleted old files and deleted the TEMP folder) and the error message did not reappear. I didn't have to restart the computer.

[Enrico Guerri Photography]

Good day, I have the same issue that happens often at PS startup.

I read about the file preferences, but why it happens often?

The space available in hdd is more or less 300GB.

[AndrewThe1st]

This happens regularly, and on more than one computer. Different hardware, yet every few days or so, my preferences reset.
Even after a reformat. Today was the first time I noticed the message.

[AndrewThe1st]

I should also add, that it happens not every few days, but for sure happens on every payment anniversary date.
I am behind a firewall, so I manually connect it when I need to.
I am thinking this is some kind of software protection thing. And it is really annoying.

[Jerry237302558v4h]

I'm having this same issue, on a PC. I am A Photo Editer and I'm Editing Pics Of TIG Welding Helmets. But Now Error Reading Machin.

[pjy86534130]

well its feb 2025 and now I have it. checked c drive and I've 122GB space free