How to Fix Photos App “The Specified Procedure Could Not be Found”

There is this common issue in Windows 11 PCs where you see the error message “the specific procedure could not be found” when opening a .jpg and .mp4 files on the Photos app.
So far, Microsoft still didn’t identify what causes this issue, but there are some fixes that are reported to work.
The primary fix to the error “the specific procedure could not be found” is to change permissions to the WindowsApps folder from TrustedInstaller to your user name.

Here is how to fix it:

1. Navigate to C:\Program Files and find the WindowsApps folder/
   (If you can’t see the WindowsApps folder on C:\Program Files, you need to enable Show hidden files, folders and drives.)
2. Right-click on WindowsApps and select Properties:
   
3. Go to the Security tab and click on the Advanced button:
   
4. On Advanced Security Settings, you will see TrustedInstaller next to Owner. Click on the Change button next to it:
   
5. On Select User or Group, click on the Advanced… button:
   
6. On the following Select User or Group window, click on the Find Now button, then select your user name, and click on the OK button:
   
7. You will be back to Advanced Security Settings, now check the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects box that appeared under Owner, click on Apply, then click on OK.
8. Reboot your PC.

Now you can open .jpg or .mp4 files with Windows Photos.

(Another common bug in the Photos App is the one where Windows Photo Viewer applies a yellow tint to pictures, I’ve written an article on how to fix it quickly.)

You can also try to fix “the specific procedure could not be found” by resetting the Photos App.

How to Reset the Photos app to Temporarily Fix this Issue

Resetting the Photos app will fix this issue, but it will only work until you reboot. This means that you will have to apply this fix every time you want to open .jpg or .mp4 files.

With this in mind, this is how you can reset the Photos app:

1. Enter Windows PowerShell on Windows Search, then select Run as Administrator:
   
2. On Windows Powershell, input the following command:
   Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft.Windows.Photos* | Reset-AppxPackage
   
3. Press Enter to run the command and reset the Photos app.

Now you should be able to open .jpg and .mp4 files until you reboot.

Conclusion

Microsoft has no official fix to the Photos app “the specific procedure could not be found” issue in Windows 11. Still, you can fix it by changing your WindowsApps folder ownership from TrustedInstaller to your User name.

Another alternative fix is to reset the Photos app by running the command Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft.Windows.Photos* | Reset-AppxPackage on Powershell.

If nothing else works, try to switch to an alternative photo viewer like IrfanView.

If Windows Photos is not saving crop changes, read this article on how to fix Windows photos crop not saving changes.