OpenGL error rises from the dead ... again!

Question

Unfortunately, I have a brand new iMac (M1 chip) and newly installed Photoshop - nothing was installed from a backup - and everything was working fine. Until I installed the newest PS update (v 23.0). PS crashed once after that install, and immediately after a restart, trying to use the Rotate tool (which I'm highly dependant on) triggered the dreaded 'Could not complete your request because it only works with OpenGL enabled document windows'.

This occurred on my older iMac, and was ultimately fixed by an update to MacOS, but I have no idea when that might happen this time, or if that's even the culprit. I'll post this separately to see if anyone has any thoughts. It's *very* difficult for me to do detailed reconstruction work without being able to rotate.

1. Version of PS: 23.0

2. macOS Monterey 12.0.1

3. Any attempt to use the Rotate tool will cause this error to appear: 'Could not complete your request because it only works with OpenGL enabled document windows'

4. Expected result: being able to use the Rotate tool to rotate the canvas. Actual result: just the error message, no ability to rotate canvas.

This seems to happen to people a lot, and it's something to do with PS versions and macOS versions conflicting with one another. What's surprising is that this is a brand new iMac. I do a ton of historical sculpture restoration work (including restoration of polychromy), and I use the rotate tool constantly. It's very difficult to do the detail work without rotating the canvas. HELP.

Chapps-LA · Accepted Answer

Ahh ... so I think I've solved it, hopefully permanently. Here are the steps I took to eliminate the error (specific to a Mac, but maybe it would work on a PC):

1. Close PS and any other Adobe apps (important!) - make sure to export any custom brushes before you do this, as you may lose them. Adobe sometimes saves them, sometimes not.

2. Uninstall PC *and* other Adobe apps - they share some libraries, I think

3. When the uninstall asks whether you want to keep any preferences, say NO. You want to clean everything out

4. After uninstall is finished for all apps, shut down the computer

5. Restart computer

6. Re-install PS and any other Adobe apps you use

When I opened this clean install of PS, I was able to use the Rotate tool, with no OpenGL error messages. I think this error was due to one or more preferences or files getting toasted after the update. Better to always do a clean install - which means deleting any previous preferences. Obviously the OpenGL error isn't always about the graphics card, and I wish Adobe reps wouldn't always use that as the only suggestion (buy a new graphics card/computer!). The answer also shouldn't necessarily disabling certain graphics card preferences. I'd suggest a full uninstall and clean install first.

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