Windows 10 photos app is a very efficient photo-viewer application. It supports a huge variety of file types, including the widely used JPG, JPEG, PNG, BMP, and GIF. However, at times, when you try to open a particular type of image in Photo app, it might not open the photo file and says “We can’t open this file” error message instead.
If you are still facing the same problem, try this fix.
See more: How To Fix Windows 10 cannot open JPG or JPEG
How To Fix We Can’t Open This File Error in Windows 10 Photos
Method 1. Check if the image type is supported by Photos
As we have discussed above, Photos supports most of the popular image formats out there. However, if your image is of a newer format such as HEIC, WebP, or JPEG XR then that can be causing a trouble for Photos. In order to fix this issue, follow these suggestions below:
1. Convert the file to .JPG or .JPEG.
Read aslso: How to Convert Images from HEIC to JPG in Windows 10
2. Try to open the picture with any other programs (such as Paint, Snip & Sketch).
Method 2. Copy photo to the local drive
“We can’t open this file” error will display if those photo files that you try to open using Photos app are located in the network shared drive or the external driver (such as memory card inside smartphone or camera). In order to fix this issue, just move or copy all the image files to local drive then open it again using the Photos app.
Method 3. Reset the Photos app
If you have any issues with the Photos app, you could try resetting the Photos app. Here are the steps to reset the Photos app:
1. Navigate to Settings > Apps > Apps & features.
2. Find the Microsoft Photos app in the list, select it, and click on Advanced options.
3. In the Advanced options window, scroll down and click Reset.
4. After this process is complete, check if this resolves the problem. If not, proceed to the next method.
Method 4. Reinstall Photos app
If the methods provided above failed to fix the Phots app error, try reinstalling the app. Here are the steps:
1. Open Cortana’s search box, type “Powershell” in the search box. Then right-click PowerShell and select Run as administrator.
2. In the elevated PowerShell window, copy and past the following command and then press the Enter to uninstall the Photos app.
Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft.Windows.Photos* | Remove-AppxPackage
You could also use Your Uninstaller! to uninstall the Windows 10 Photo app with a click.
3. After executing the command, restart your system.
4. Then click on Install button (or Get button) on the Microsoft Photos page to reinstall the app.
Method 5. Use Windows Photo Viewer
If you have issues with the Photos app, you can enable classic Windows Photo Viewer and set it as a default photo viewer.
Check out our how to restore Windows Photo Viewer and set Windows Photo Viewer as the default in Windows 10 guide for detailed instructions.
Check out this video to illustrate this tutorial:
Hope something helps you.
