Scratch files lokced

I cannot open Elements8. It says that the scratch files are locked. I placed them at an external harddisk. How can I unlock them ??
Jan

Hi Chris,
Thank you. The ctr-alt-shift did it,
Best
Jan
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:53:49 -0600
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Scratch files lokced
Hi Jan,
I assume you're talking about Photoshop Elements. I'd like to suggest reposting this question on the http://forums.adobe.com/community/photoshop_elements, but you might also try holding down ctrlaltshift (or cmdaltshift) when launching Elements to reset your preferences. Depending on where you're starting, this might need to be done when you click the "Edit" button to start Elements. This should allow the scratch disk location to be reset to the default.
Thanks and good luck!
Chris
>

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I am trying to import developed images from LightRoom 5 in o Photoshop 6. I am receiving this message and the images will not open.....'Could not open scratch file because the file is locked, you do not have necessary access permissions or another progra

I am trying to import developed images from LightRoom 5 Photoshop 6 for further editing. I am receiving this message and the images will not open.....'Could not open scratch file because the file is locked, or you do not have necessary access permissions or another program is using the file. Use the 'Properties' command in the Windows Explorer to unlock the file. How do I fix this? I would greatly appreciate it if you would respond with terms and procedures that a computer ignorant user, such as me, will understand. Thanks.

Have you tried restoring the Preferences yet?

Could not open scratch file

When I try and open Photoshop, I get the following error "Could not open a scratch file because you do not have the necessary access privileges" followed by "could not initialize Photoshop because you do not have the necessary access privileges". As a result, Photoshop fails o open.
I have tried repairing Disk permissions, I have deleted the Photoshop Settings file, and I have tried Resetting Home Folder Permissions.
I am the primary user, and it's only my user account that has the problem. When I try and Reset Home Folder Permissions for my account, the process never completes. When I perform the reset for the other users, it takes seconds.
I've tried reinstalling Photshop, but still get the same error and Photshop fails to start.
I concerned this is the beginning of a worsening problem with OSX LION.
Any suggestions???

Hi,
having the same problem here. We have 10 Mac Pro machines with OSX 10.6.8 and CS5 Photoshop 12.0.4. By now five of these machines have given the same error: "could not open scratch file because disc is not available" and "could not save ... because of a program error".
The scratch disk is the same one which has the system and it hasn't been touched.
I have repaired the disk permissions.
This just started two days ago and haven't noticed it before. Any clues what could be causing this?
Thanks,
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Unable to start Photoshop CS6 - could not open a scratch file because the file is locked (Windows)

When I first installed Adobe Photoshop CS6 I was unable to run Photoshop or Bridge CS6. Photoshop would give me an error about "could not open a scratch file because the file is locked. If I ran either of these programs as an administrator they would run without issue, this led me to believe that there was a permission issue somewhere. After some digging I found out the both Bridge and Photoshop try to create a temp file (similiar to Photoshop Temp2777223910092) on the c:\ drive of the computer. In my case the user that I was logged in with did not have access to write to the root of the C:\ drive. Note that you run the program as the administrator and change the scratch disk location as that changes the preference for the administrator user and not the user that you are currently logged in as.
To get around this issue I first had to give the user that I was logged on with write permissions to the root of the C:\ drive. Next try and run Photoshop, you will get an error another error about the scratch disk and about and invalid or missing setting file. To correct this you need to have run Photoshop as an administrator, next you can go to Users\Admin\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS6\Adobe Photoshop CS6 Settings and copy Adobe Photoshop CS6 Prefs and/or Adobe Photoshop X64 CS6 Prefs to Users\<your logged in username>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS6\Adobe Photoshop CS6 Settings.
Photoshop and bridge should now start up with no issues.
I hope that this can help others out there as this caused me a great deal of frustration when upgrading to CS6.

station_two wrote:
OK, here comes the explanation of what the scratch disk does and why it's optimal to have it on a physically separate internal drive (not partition!) other than your boot drive
I probably shouldn't say anything since it could complicate this thread, but the rules of thumb can be different under special circumstances when SSD is involved.
IF you have a LOT of empty space on your SSD-based system drive, then Photoshop can actually work great with it's scratch setting pointed at the system drive. This is because a) SSD transfers are much faster than spinning hard drives and b) there's no seek time, so simultaneous transfers to/from scratch and swap files aren't devastating to performance, and you can see a net gain because of the increased I/O throughput over what's possible using a separate spinning drive for scratch.
But if you don't have a huge amount of free space (hundreds of GB) on the system SSD, it's definitely better to use a separate drive, as station_two has said.
Also, up to about a year or so ago, you had to try to severely limit write activity to your SSD drive, since you could actually wear them out by repeated high data write activity. That's pretty much a non-issue now with the advent of things like the SandForce in-drive controller that does wear-leveling inside the drive. Modern drives will last 10 years or more in normal typical use, without special consideration.
As it turns out, making a RAID array of SSDs is a great way to boost performance across the board, have bunches of free space, and ensure even the heaviest usage doesn't shorten the drive life. I have done so, creating a 2 TB system drive C: made from 4 SSDs and Photoshop's swap file (and pretty much everything else) pointed to C:. This system flies, and I can barely tell when Photoshop and/or Windows "goes virtual" and starts using its scratch/swap files heavily. I don't even notice Photoshop auto-saves.
Sorry for the SSD diversion.
Back on topic:
Pretty much everyone who's successfully using a computer - Mac and PC users alike - comes to realize after a while that the task of integrating things on their computers and making everything work falls on THEM, not the developers of applications like Adobe. Some applications pose unique challenges, but to think you can just throw up your hands and try to make it someone else's problem when something goes wrong simply isn't a viable strategy. Maybe that's how things should be, but it's not how it is.
For those of you struggling to get Photoshop to run properly, bear in mind that it's on you to get things working. It works for most folks. It could be a configuration or setup choice you've made that may need revisiting, or some kind of restorative activity that you need to do, or even something very minor like clearing your Photoshop preferences, but it may well take your learning new things and doing things you didn't think you'd have to do to get back to where you can edit photos. It's no one's problem but your own.
So let us here on the forum help you - when we say to do something, try it. We're not here to jerk you around; we're users just like you who have already found the ways to make things work, and we'd like to help you do the same.
-Noel

Unable to start Photoshop CS 6 Beta - could not open a scratch file because the file is locked (win)

The Program does nor start.
I the the following error message:
Gould not open a scratch file because the file is locked, you do not have necessary access perimssens, or another program is using the file. Use the "Properities" command In the WIndows Explorer to unlock the file.
Which file shoud I unlock?
What means "unlock"?
Adda

"Hello, Adda. Most users can use it without problems. Did you set strict permissions on your machine?
Also, is it a small SSD? you lose their speed benefit by not putting Photoshop's scratch file on it."
Most power users are having big problems, We don't put scratch files on our SSDs because we know that this will run those into the ground. They are not intended for the pounding of constant read / write cycles. We also switch off indexing and any other constant cycling technology. Again, SSDs are best use for static files. They are, in fact, intended mainly for super fast launch, which is what they do so well. Obviously, if all you have is an SSD, then you have to live with the shortened life.
I have my scratch files and my TEMP folder set to a huge and empty internal drive. I have my USERS folder hard linked to a different huge internal drive, where I also store MY DOCUMENTS. I have an even larger internal drive where I store MY PICTURES. This has worked flawlessly (and very fast) for CS5 and LR4 Beta 1. Only CS6 complains constantly.
"Yes, I agree, but sometimes, what sounds and smells like a bug is not one, hence the troubleshooting we're trying to do, before QE tries to reproduce it."
This one not may or may not be a bug. But since I own and run dozens of applications, and only CS6 is freaking out constantly, I would say that it is not normal behavior.

I get this error upon launching PS5: "could not open a scratch file because the file is locked .."

I get this error upon launching PS5: "could not open a scratch file because the file is locked or ou do not have the necessary access privileges. Use the 'properties' command in the Windows Explorer to unlock the file". The applicaiton will not launch.
Supporting information - I recently changed the scratch disk from C drive to D drive (the back up/restore drive). The application wont launch so I cant change it back to the C drive.
Questions:
- How to I fix this .. from windows explorer how do I find "the file" that the error message refers to?
- Other ways to fix this?
Thanks Steve

Hi there! Because the forum you originally posted in is for beginners trying to learn the basics of Photoshop, I moved your question to the Photoshop General Discussion forum, where you'll get more specialized help.
To help others help you, please read through this article and provide any additional relevant details.

I am trying to import developed images from LightRoom 5 into Photoshop 6. I am receiving this message and the images will not open.....'Could not open scratch file because the file is locked, you do not have necessary access permissions or another progra

I am trying to import developed images from LightRoom 5 into Photoshop 6. I am receiving this message and the images will not open.....'Could not open scratch file because the file is locked, you do not have necessary access permissions or another program is using the file. Use the 'properties' command in the Windows Explorer to unlock the file'. This has not happened before. How do I change this?

Could not open a scratch file because the file is locked or you do not have the necessary access privileges. (…) | Mylen…
Mylenium

Photoshop won't start: Could not open a scratch file because the file is locked, you do not have necessary access permissions, or another program is using the file.

Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended
"Could not open a scratch file because the file is locked, you do not have necessary access permissions, or another program is using the file."
I've tried finding and checking and fixing permissions but no success.
This happened from one day to the next. I think it has to do with the sn attached to the disk rather then the motherboard. I have the suite co-installed with Symphony 5.05. I've tried reinstalling.
What's to b done? The rest of the Creative Suite 6 (AE, AI etc.) works fine.
Anyone...?
Loui

Have you tried restoring the Preferences yet?

"Can't open a scratch file" error

Running PSD 12.0.4 (Extended) on a Mac Pro, Mac OS 10.7.3. Plenty of ram; plenty of hard disk space.
I just finished installing a new 1TB drive in one of my bays; I now have (3) 1TB drives total. Initialized the new drive (Mac OS Extended/Journaled), partitioned for Lion, then installed the OS and migrated everything from my primary (boot) drive using Migration Assistant.
After finishing, PSD gives the following error on start: "Could not open a scratch file because the disk is not available". I can command+option on start, select the boot drive as scratch and set the rest to None; that configuration works (and sticks). However, if I try to set scratch volumes to either of my backup volumes, I get the same error. Additionally, Illustrator can't even see the other two volumes in the scratch disk selector (PSD sees them, but won't accept them).
Here's what I've done:
- using simple disk drive names (i.e. WD1, WD2, WD3)
- verified all drives with Disk Utility
- ran drive diagnostics on all drives using SMART Utility (no problems found)
- reset paramter ram (comand+option+p+r on Mac startup)
- repaired permissions (all volumes - no permission errors found)
- reset PSD prefs (command+option+shift on start)
- deactivated/uninstalled/reinstalled PSD
At this point, I'm stumped. This must be related to having installed the new hard drive (everything was fine prior to that), but I don't know what else to try at the moment.
Anyone have any ideas?

Please read my original post (bullet item 6).
General comment - if you aren't going to give the original, detailed description a focused reading, then please don't post a reply. I haven't got the time to answer answered questions.
Also - no bragging intended - I am a Mac guy. I know the platform well, so anyone who wants to offer a Mac-related observation can assume I know what I'm doing and talk on an advanced level.
One additional observation - the problem persists when logged in under a different user account.

Can I move scratch files to an external hard drive.

I am completing a project in which I am making DVDs of the interviews of 50 people. I saved the FCE project file into which I uploaded their interview for each person onto a external hard drive, but the scratch disk for these files is in my Documents. After completing about 10 of them the memory on my Mac Book Pro is running low. I deleted all of the render files, but still need more room.
Can I move the scratch files for the first 10 people I have completed onto the same external hard drive where their FCE file is located? And then reset my scratch disk to be the next external hard drive I start to upload to?
What steps would I take to make sure all of the information I needed had been transferred to the external drive before moving the scratch files on my documents into the trash and emptying the trash?
Thanks!

If you relocate the files, FCE will give you a message when it opens asking to reconnect them. Look at this thread for more information on reconnecting media, specifically my post with the pictures:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1968953&tstart=15
You can reset your scratch disk to put all future captured files onto your external in FCE System Settings.

"Could not open scratch file because disc is not available" Mac

I recently changed the Photoshop (CS6) Scratch Disk choice from the default Boot Drive to one of the other internal drives in my MacPro (OS 10.6.8).
When I restart Photoshop (CS6) I get the message:
"Could not open scratch file because disc is not available"
and Photoshop will not launch.
I then restart Photoshop with "Command - alt - shift" keys held down
(as per suggestion at <http://forums.adobe.com/message/3937003>)
and reset the preferences which allows Photoshop to come back.
(Resetting preferences returned the Boot Drive to scratch disk status.)
I have another MacPro that - same OS 10.6.8 and Adobe CS6 - and I don't have this scratch disk allocation problem.
What is going on with the one MacPro that prevents me from selecting a Photoshop scratch disk other than the boot drive?

Ignore Ownership worked. Thank you!
I saw this suggestion on another Discussion thread but wondered if that could be the problem since the non-boot scratch disks used on other computers here do not have this property chosen.
"Permissions", "Ignore Ownership", and "apply to enclosed items" remain a mystery to me.
As for Terminal, I've had my hand held a couple of times while I went there and it was not a comforting experience.
Our work setup depends on complete access by everybody to everything (Read&Write Privileges apply to everyone here). We occasionally swap drives between computers which may cause problems, but why should it and how am I to know. The computer that prompted this discussion had its main hard drive replaced a couple of months ago which may have contributed to the problem.
Is there a down-side to ignoring ownership on everything and having "read-write" privileges apply to everyone (aside from lax security)?

Can't start Photoshop - 'Could not open a scratch file'

Hi, I recently installed Photoshop CS5, however every time I open the application, I am receiving this error message at the loading screen:
"Could not open a scratch file because the file is locked or you do not have the necessary access privileges. Use the ‘Get Info’ command in the Finder to unlock the file or change permissions on the file or enclosing folders."
I've looked online for solutions everywhere, but I've obviously been unsuccessful and I'm at the point where I have no idea what else to try, other than a clean install of my OS, however that is a last resort as I currently do not have an external hard drive to transfer my files to do so. So far I have tried these things:
Reinstalled Photoshop many times, even the CS6 BETA is giving me the same error.
Deleted preference files within /Library/Preferences/
Used the cmd+alt shortcut when starting Photoshop to select a different scratch disk location.
Used the cmd+alt+shift shortcut to delete the settings file, which I cannot do as the error message mentioned above appears before the window for deleting the settings file does.
Tried rebooting several times, even into safemode and I still get the same message.
Tried changing the permissions on the Applications folder, Adobe folder, CS5 folder and CS5 application, however they are all set to 'read & write access' for me. I am also set as an administrator.
Cleaned my cache of any unneccessary files.
I have also repaired my permissions using Disk Utility, but that didn't solve the problem.
I have a 2010 Macbook Pro, 4GB RAM running OS X Lion 10.7.3 with 2 patitions on my harddrive (OS X and Windows 7). I have 15GB free on my OS X partition currently, which may not seem like much, however I have run Photoshop CS5 previously as a trial and other versions of Photoshop and the small amount of harddrive space has never affected the software's ability to create a scratch file.
The strange thing, however, is that I can use Photoshop CS5 & CS6 on a guest account that I created recently, which means that the problem I am having is permissions based. Logging into a seperate account is a good enough solution for now, but it is incredibly tedious to keep changing accounts just to use Photoshop.
Has anyone got any other ideas? As I mentioned previously, reinstalling is a last resort as I currently don't have the neccessary resources.
Thanks.

I managed to fix this myself, almost by accident, after failing every method suggested that I came across.
My problem was due to 'read only' access being set to some folders in ~/private/ on my main account, meaning that Photoshop could not create an important, temporary scratch file in this location.
To anyone else who comes across this thread due to having the same problem, here's the solution:
Open finder, then go to 'Go' in the menu bar and select 'Go to folder'
In the window that opens, enter '/private/' and click 'Go'
Then, right click on the folder 'tmp' within /private/ and select 'Get info'
In here, scroll to the permissions section and change the relevent user permissions to 'read and write'
Before closing this window, click on the gear icon underneath the list of users and select 'Apply to enclosed items' and hit 'Ok' in the next window.
Finally, repeat steps 3 - 5 for the folder named 'var', also within /private/ and you're done. Photoshop should now open as intended!
Although this solution was ideal for my home laptop, giving 'read and write' access to important folders like these can probably lead to lowered security so please do it at your own risk.

Photoshop Cs5.1 / Scratch file problem

Hello guys and gals of the adobe forum,
I recently downloaded the trial version of adobe master cs5.5 collection. All applications are working fine without a problem. Except Photoshop... Both the 32 bit version and the 64 bit version !
When i start both of them, i have something that tells me " Photoshop couldn't find the scratch file. Couldn't create or locate it "
Being upset with the matter, i searched on the internet in order to solve it. Some people out there seems to have the same problem as me !
The answer that was gave to them was the following : Press CTRL + ALT + SHIFT when photoshop boots so you can reset the settings. I did that, but the error still comes up when i press "ok" after deleting the settings
Another suggestion was to press only CTRL + ALT, which would bring up a window to change the scratch file while photoshop was loading (actually, it's quite handy) But the problem is that... Well... Once i changed the scratch fille to another hard drive, photoshop DO starts, but once i quite photoshop, it gives me an error saying "couldn't find the preferences file. Couldn't save or locate the preference file. Your setting won't be saved"... Which lead to well, a photoshop that starts with the same previous error, until i change again the scratch file of photoshop manually when it loads... Which is annoying...
Lemme explain the problem : My system is a new laptop ; the XPS 17 l702x of dell. I added a SSD as the boot device. Being expensive, i only bought a 40GB to boot windows and install a couple of applications, so that only something like 5 GB would be remained at the end of the process. The other drive is a normal drive of 500 GB.
After reading a couple of articles on the internet, i coudl find out that it is because photoshop is trying to set the scratch file on the C drive, but obviously, since my configuration doesn't allow this, he keeps putting me this error. In overall, this is understandable.
The part that left me curious is why can't he saves the preferences files once he quits ? I specificaly told him to save scratch files on the D drive, which he does when he start (with the ctrl + alt + shift method) , but when it quits, it cannot save that information on a 10 kb file, and in same time, to not put the scratch file on the C drive... Weird since i have 5 GB of free space on it !
This is where i am a nd this is where i'd like you guys to help me, if you can. Any bit of information will be highly appreciated ! I hope somebody answer as this will probably lead me to buy it or not. ( i will obviously not buy the master collection if it doesn't work on my computer ! )
Thanks for any help in advance !

If preferences don't get saved, it's usually a rather mundane permissions problem, so look into that. Alternatively move your user profiles to the platter drive by defining the system variable/ registry key/ group policies accordingly. This may, however require to reinstall some programs due to the changed path...
Mylenium

Message - Can't open a Scratch File & Photoshop CS4 Won't load

I just installed Photoshop CS4, both the 32 and 64 bit versions (part of the "Master Collection"). After opening the programs I changed the scratch disk location to two separate drives other than where Photoshop resides, where it had placed said file as a default. Now neither Photoshop versions will open.
I get the following message:
"Could not open a scratch file because the scratch file is locked..."
Just one problem, there is no scratch file visible on either of the two drives...
My operating system is Vista Ultimate on a 64 bit Quad CPU machine with 8Gb of ram, two Raptor HDs, four 750Gb HDs configured into one RAID 5 drive and Nvida GEForce 8800GTS graphics card.
Has anyone here experienced a similar problem???
Cheers,
Michael

Had the same problem, and called Adobbe tech support, who solved the problem <g>. In Computer find the disk you want to use as a scratch disk, select, right click, and choose properties. Go to the Security tab and highlight Users (your name) and look at the Permissions. To use as a scratch disk, Full control needs to be checked (Allowed). If it's not, edit the Permissions for Users, and check Full Control. Apply and OK. Setting that disk as a scratch disk should now work fine.

Photoshop wont open get error could not open a scratch file because the disk is not available

Had to clone my hard drive to another drive on my computer.
I have been receiving a message "Could not open a scratch file because the disk is not available" I have tried UN-installing and re-installing...still the same message.
Does anyone have any idea how to fix this?
Thanks!

What do you have here.
If that does not help, reset your prefs
Hold fingers over Shift Option Command (or similar on Windows) then boot Photoshop and as fast as you can depress the 3 keys.

Scratch files lokced

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