Windows 10: Microsoft Paint mspaint.exe Crashes When File Explorer is Opened in Windows 11

Hello everyone!Here is my experience and things I've done to try and rectify the problem.I'm running Windows 11 24H2 with an HP Omen 16 laptop Intel 14400 CPU, Nvidia RTX 3070 GPU. Drivers and windows updates are the latest as far as I know.I can open Paint no problem. When it comes time to open or save a file, the Windows Explorer opens, I see the directory, but the experience is frozen. After a couple of seconds, the Paint app crashes to desktop.According to Event Viewer Log, this is the error:-----Faulting application name: mspaint.exe, version: 11.2503.381.0,

:)

 

Paint crashes repeatedly

If you are experiencing Paint crashes on your Windows 11 laptop, there could be several reasons for this issue, such as software glitches, power settings, or even hardware issues. Here are a few suggestions you can try:

• Run the built-in Power troubleshooter.
  
• Check your power settings to prevent your computer from entering Sleep Mode.
  
• Update or reinstall your display driver.
  
• Disable Hibernation.
  
• Clean boot your computer.
  

You can find more details about these methods in the following link:

• MSPAINT not workng in Windows 11 - Microsoft Community
  

If these methods don’t solve your problem, you can post a question on Microsoft Community. You can get answers from experts and other users.

I hope this helps!

 

MSPAINT not workng in Windows 11

If I try to save a file in paint or open a picture file, it seizes up or crashes. If I right click on a file and select "open with", Paint3D is in the choices but not Paint. [Incidently Paint3D appears to be working.] I can use all the tools in Paint but I cant save the file as above stated. If I go to "settings" Paint is not in the list to try to repair, uninstall etc. In start, it is listed but doesnt open when selected. I had to go to C:\Windows.old\Windows\System32 to open it or create shortcut to desktop to open it. If I try and uninstall it, nothing happens. I tried to re-install from Microsoft Store and got error message "Your device restarted while the app was downloading. Code: 0x08007045B" I tried running as administrator - no success. I tried "Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft.Paint* | Reset-AppxPackage" in Powershell - no success. I did SFC scan and it reported no issues. Now what? I have exhausted my options. I didnt want to set Paint as default but I went to "settings" to see if it was listed and no its not listed anywhere - only in Start and the exe file is in System32 folder as stated above. In conclusion, it will only start if I go the mspaint.exe file or shortcut to it, I can edit/create a file but I cant save anything. I have just upgraded from Windows 10 and this is the first time I have used Paint in Windows 11.

 

Recent File List

Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file1

Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file2
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file3
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file4
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file5
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file6
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file7
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file8
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file9
...

you get the idea. ( too lazy to put it in a for loop and test it.

or just open regedit and remove all the fileX from that key.