"No more virtual tiles can be allocated" error message

[_steve_marshall_]

This posting was made in April of last year but I can't reply to it so I'll post it all over again.

I just installed CS3 and I get the error message "No more virtual tiles can be allocated" when I try to run certain filters like most of the "sketch" ones.

I've tried to increase the memory usage to 1380MB (80%), Cache levels to 8 and I still get the error.

What's a virtual tile and how can I allocate more?

[_steve_marshall_]

I just heard another guy in my department gets the same error. I'd consider getting IT to deal with it but they don't support anything but Word, Excel and Outlook.

[_Phos_four_dots_]

http://xrl.us/bfjox (Link to www.experts-exchange.com)

[_steve_marshall_]

I've been trying to make this work. I've logged in as the administrator and tried to change things but it just won't work. How do I change the scratch disk. That's what that webby, Phosfour dots linked me to, said to try in the "solution" paragraph. It also bugs me that my computer appears to pass the minimum requirements for CS3 so there should be no reason why this won't work.

[Guest]

> I've logged in as the administrator and tried to change things but it just won't work.

What won't work?

You change the scratch disk allocation in Photoshop preferences.

[_steve_marshall_]

I've gone to the scratch disks setting in Edit > Preferences > Performance but I can't change anything in it. Today it says there is 8.88GB free on the C drive for the scratch disk. Other days it'll say a little more, sometimes less. The up/down arrows next to it don't do anything, double-clicking anything does nothing, right-clicking does nothing.

I'm sure there's some setting somewhere that I just don't know about yet. It's also probably really obvious or extremely complicated.

[Guest]

How many hard drives are there in your computer?

[_steve_marshall_]

One local hard drive (C:). I'm also networked to some servers in the IT department.

[_Mona_K__]

Where can I find the root directory of my scratch disk so that I can delete it? I am still getting the "No More Virtual Tiles Can Be Allocated" error.

[Guest]

I haven't got time to write all that you need to know about the Photoshop scratch disk concept, but you could make a start by typing "scratch disk" into the search box in Photoshop Help.

Then come back with your questions.

[Guest]

There's also more good stuff in the Adobe Knowledge Base.

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/microsites/microsite.do?msid=MS_Customer

[_steve_marshall_]

I've been to the Photoshop Help and the Adobe Knowledge Base and systematically went through every single possible solution. The only thing that works on my computer is getting the IT department to give my user account the administrator privileges. Now I don't get the virtual tiles error.
Although I've been trying to get the privileges since mid March. I've been at different companies and all the IT departments are the same. They want to control your computer and give you nothing. Does Adobe realize this or did I just work at bad places? It'd be great if Photoshop could find something else to use memory to do its effects.

[_Curvemeister_]

Though it's always possible there is a bug, Photoshop runs without admin
privileges. Is it possible that your scratch disk permissions requires
admin privileges?

[_steve_marshall_]

I can use Photoshop without rights except for some effects like the photocopy one. It could be that my company specifically requires admin rights for the scratch disk only.
This is why I'm suggesting that Adobe might want to consider trying to not use special areas of the hard drive that some companies might not allow rights to.
Everyone else in my department is now working on getting admin rights, which IT doesn't like.

[_Curvemeister_]

If Photoshop starts at all, then you have write privileges on the scratch
disk. So that's not it.

Just thinking about possibilities here, another possibility is quotas -
your admin folks may be able to solve the problem by bumping everyone's
quota on the scratch disk.

[Sean from Evoke]

I had this on my Win 7 x64 machine. Just found a solution/workaround.

This machine had a single partition/logical drive C: and so was the swap location. The problem was circumvented by running in Admin mode but this causes other issues with registry and the IT team if you have to listen to one.

I stopped the error.

But all I did was shrink my main partition and add a small partition so I have two local physical drives.

Now understand I did NOT tell PS to use that drive for anything. But it does create a temp file on the new logical drive call "300017921_MVM_0.tmp" when I do a distort lens correction.

Very interesting. It NEEDS a second drive, and uses it without being told.

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=ca&returnurl=http://forums.adobe.com/adobe_log...

[Ron_Q_Smith]

This problem is often associated wtih running in WIndows 7 or Windows Vista with a single drive partition.  The reason is that Photoshop sometimes (e.g., with some filters) wants to create a scratch file.  It tries to do this in the root directory (e.g., C:\ ).  Vista and Windows 7 do not allow creating scratch files in the root directory by default.

I know of three workarounds none of which would be necessary if Photoshop would just use the temp directory as well-behaved programs are supposed to.  I'd love to hear of a way to configure where Photoshop puts its scratch files so these workarounds aren't necessary.  The workarounds are:

1.  Instead of double-clicking on Photoshop, right-click and select "Run as administrator."  Of course, I always forget to do this until I hit the problem.  There is a small security risk if there is a bug in Photoshop or a bad 3rd-party add-on.

2.  Change the permissions on the root directory of your drive to allow anyone to create and modify files there.   This is a potential security risk as it makes it possible for malware to change your system files.

3.  Create another partition.  Apparently Photoshop will try other hard drives after failing on the first one.  Vista and Windows 7 do not protect the root directories of other hard drives.

[Sean from Evoke]

Thanks Ron.

You can modify the shortcut to always run as Administrator. It is under the compatibility tab on the shortcut properties.

It still prompts you for confirmation but you wont forget.

But this is a dangerous way to do and I am happy with the other partiition.

Of course Everyone will tell you you should have a scratch disk anyway. I do have a RAM Card drive for scratch on my main work PC.

[Ron_Q_Smith]

Thanks, Sean.

I do know about changing the shortcut, but I agree that it is dangerous.

Right now, I only run into the problem once in a while. If I start to use

those features all the time, I'll create a separate partition.

I just wish Adobe would use the Temp directory like they are supposed to.

Ron

[Chris Cox]

I just wish Adobe would use the Temp directory like they are supposed to.

We should be, but a bug crept in, and wasn't noticed (due to permissions, running as admin, etc.).

We're looking into it.

[Ron_Q_Smith]

Thanks so much. That's wonderful.

I really appreciate the response.

The problem is easy enough to deal with now that I know what to do. I'll just hope to get a fix in the next version.

Ron Smith

[dmaung]

Still active in CS5.  As a workaround on Windows 7, I use:

1. Go to command prompt

2. Type "subst p: c:\temp" Where p is some unused drive letter.