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Xavier194152's avatar
Xavier194152
Copper Contributor
Nov 30, 2023

MSPaint canvas becomes 0 when opening an empty bitmap image

I can't phrase this better. But you can reproduce this problem by:

 

  1. Create an empty bitmap image file by right clicking in a folder (such as desktop)
  2. Open with mspaint
  3. MSPaint will report "Encountered an invalid argument"
  4. Hit "ok" to acknowledge the error. MSPaint will proceed to launch.
  5. Canvas size will be set to 0.

    On closer inspection it doesn't seem to be actually zero, but whatever the value is cause the canvas to not exist.

You can just fix this by saying "new" under the file menu, which will set a default canvas size.

 

HOWEVER, this (bugged) behavior does not exist on Windows 10. On Windows 10, mspaint will just default to the default canvas size when you open such a "blank" bitmap image.

 

And this is uh ... Windows 11 Version 22H2 Build 22621.2715.

 

While this *is* an older release version, I'm decently confident that this problem still exists, given its moderate "obscurity".

  • Reza_Ameri's avatar
    Reza_Ameri
    Silver Contributor
    Thank you for sharing.
    I advise you to file a bug report in the Feedback Hub app.
    You also have Problem Step Recorder which you could record the problem and share it there.
    • Michael_Anderson's avatar
      Michael_Anderson
      Copper Contributor
      Hello. Yes, I did file bug report on feedback hub. A couple of weeks ago. Seems stuck on looking into it status. It is very simple to reproduce. I gave specific version numbers of the 22H2 Paint version that worked and the latest one which doesn’t. All you need to do to see the problem is update Paint from the one installed with Windows 11.
      • GoldynChylde's avatar
        GoldynChylde
        Copper Contributor
        So does the problem lie with paint or Windows? I actually had MS log on to my pc to see where the issue lies, and guess what? MS reply was I don't know.
  • Xavier194152 I have the same issue on Windows 11 Home Edition 23H2.  On two Dell XPS 15 laptops.  Mine and my wife’s.  I took mine and did a clean Windows 11 install and same problem.  

    • Michael_Anderson's avatar
      Michael_Anderson
      Copper Contributor

      Michael_Anderson it’s the new version of Paint. The instant I let the Microsoft store update Paint, it got the error. The older version installed as part of Windows 11 23H2 was fine. New version of Paint caused the error and problem. 

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