Photos app is the default photo viewer app in Windows 10. It supports all image formats available which include PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, and others.
Sometimes you’re in a situation when Photos app fails to open your photos and show an error message which reads
We can’t open this file.
If you’re reading this blog post, then there’s no doubt that you also see the same error message. You can check out the following workaround to fix the issue in no second.
Fix: We Can’t Open This File Error In Windows 10 Photos
In upcoming lines, you will read about all the possible workarounds and ways to get rid of the same error message in the Photos app. Let’s start with the first workaround:
Check if the Photo is corrupted
Most of the time, the Photos app displays the same error message when the picture file you’re opening is corrupted. You can do following a confirmation test to check if the picture file is corrupted or not. Here’s what you need to do:
Head over to picture which displaying the error message. Make a right-click on the same picture file and select ‘Open with‘ and then select Paint.
If the picture file opens in the Paint app without giving you an error message then it confirms that the picture file is fine and the issue is with the Photo app.
Check if Picture file format is supported by Photos app
Before doing anything else, it is very important to find out if the picture file format is supported by the Photos app. We have already discussed in the post above that the Photos app supports all the major image formats.
If the picture file format is new, then in this situation you can try third-party Photo viewers.
Reset and Repair Photos app
If you’re sure that your picture file is not corrupted and it has file format that is supported by Windows 10 Photos app, then there’s no doubt that the issue is with Photos app.
Fortunately, Microsoft added an option to repair and reset all the apps that come out of the box in Windows 10 including Photos app. Here’s how you can reset and repair the Photos app.
Launch Settings > Apps > Apps & feature. Here, you need to scroll down to Microsoft Photos.
Next, you need to click on the Advanced options. Here on this screen, you need head over to Reset section under this you will find two options: Repair and Reset.
You can first click on the Repair button, this will start repairing the photos app. During the process, your data will not be affected.
If the Repair process fails to fix the issue, then you can click on the Reset button to reset the Photos app. During the process, the application will be reinstalled and revert to its default settings.
Manually Reinstalled the Photos app
Most of the time, the methods discussed above will fix any issues related to the Photos app in Windows 10. In case, the Photos app still shows you the error message, then the last resort is to manually re-install the Photos app. Here’s how you can do it:
Launch elevated Windows Powershell. For that, search the app using Start menu search bar and when it appears in the search result, right-click and select Run as administrator.
In the Window, you need to type or paste the following command:
Get-AppxPackage *photo* | Remove-AppxPackage
And then press the Enter to execute the command.
After that, Reboot your computer and then launch Windows 10 Store app and then search the same Microsoft Photos app and then download and install the same app.
Does any workaround discuss in this blog post help you in fixing “We Can’t Open This File” error in Windows 10 Photos app? Let us know in the comments.
Source – Into Windows