Question

Could not complete your request because of a program error.

Answer 1

This error message may be seen when you try to open a file but there is not a definite cause for this problem. We can talk about a variety of situations that Photoshop users came across and probably, each situation has a different cause. One of the following topics may cause to receive this error message;

• corrupted Photoshop preferences file
• some internet connection problem
• problems related with printer issues;
  • a communication problem with the printer that is set as the default printer
  • out-of-date, incompatible or damaged drivers
  • conflicting permissions or other issues with your network connection
• reading problem of metadata information (only for PsCS2 and Lightroom)
• corrupted font cache

First of all, reinstalling Photoshop or OS won't help to solve this problem. So, if you don't want to waste your time, do not reinstall Ps or OS. Hope that one of the following solutions will work for your situation.
 

Re-createing preferences file:

1. Hold down Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Command+Option+Shift in Mac) while starting up Ps
2. Click Yes to the message, "Delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings file?" (this will reset your Ps preferences to default)

Disconnecting the internet connection:

• Disconnect from modem or disconnect the ethernet cable from your computer

Printer issues (generally for Windows): You may try one of the following options;

• Update your printer drivers (this is important if you are running Windows Vista)
• Change the default printer;
  • Choose Start > Control Panel > Printers and Faxes (Windows XP) or Start > Control Panel > Printers (Windows Vista).
  • Right-click on printer icon that is connected to your computer locally (not via a network), or right-click on the icon for a document printer, such as Adobe PDF or then Microsoft XPS Document Writer. If no local printer or document printer is available, try next option below.
  • In the menu, select Set As Default Printer.
• Install a dummy local printer (if no local printer or document printer is available in the Control Panel)

Metadata issues (only for PsCS2 and Lightroom): You have again a few options;

• Update to CS4 or CS5
• Copy and paste the document from Lightroom in to a new Photoshop document
• Remove the problematic entry in Ps;
  • Choose File > File Info
  • Click the Advanced option
  • Select the group of http://ns.adobe.com/camera-raw-settings/1.0/ entry
  • Click Delete button
• Use Jeffrey's Metadata Wrangler for Lightroom;
  • Download the plugin
  • Install it using the instructions

Font cache issue (generally for MAC):

• Uninstall the extra fonts (if you can find the corrupted or duplicated font, just remove that one)

Comments

I was getting a program error when trying to use layer styles (under "Layers").  The solution above: "Re-createing preferences file:" worked for me! Whoever posted that, Thanks!