{"id":157,"date":"2009-06-03T19:43:41","date_gmt":"2009-06-04T00:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mindworkshop.info\/?p=157"},"modified":"2018-12-20T10:55:21","modified_gmt":"2018-12-20T15:55:21","slug":"quest-for-the-missing-paint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mindworkshop.com\/?p=157","title":{"rendered":"Quest for the Missing Paint"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many of the Alchemy Mindworks applications \u2013 including GIF Construction Set Professional<\/a>, Graphic Workshop Professional<\/a>, Animation Workshop<\/a>, PNG\/MNG Construction Set<\/a> and Presentation Wizard<\/a> – have internal Paint functions that call Windows Paint. At least, they do if it\u2019s been installed.<\/p>\n

Should you click on Paint in one of our applications and discover that nothing much happens \u2013 or if the application hangs \u2013 you\u2019re probably looking at a total absence of the Windows Paint application.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"picture\"<\/p>\n

While you can address this by having your Alchemy Mindworks software call another paint application entirely \u2013 instructions for doing so can be found in the Paint section of the Reference document of the Manual for the application in question \u2013 in most cases, it\u2019s easier and genuinely preferable to just resolve the lack of Windows Paint. This is especially true for users of GIF Construction Set Professional, wherein a more sophisticated paint application would be genuine overkill, and in most cases, something of a hindrance.<\/p>\n

Windows Paint commonly finds itself to have gone missing on Windows systems with minimal installations \u2013 such as netbooks and other small footprint computers \u2013 and in unconventional Windows installations, such as Windows running over a compatibility layer on a Macintosh.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no reason why these systems can\u2019t run Windows Paint \u2013 it just hasn\u2019t been installed.<\/p>\n

To further complicate these systems, some of them have a file called mspaint.exe \u2013 the correct file name for the Windows Paint executable \u2013 that doesn\u2019t actually do anything. It appears to be a placeholder for some of Windows\u2019 functions. If an Alchemy Mindworks application calls this, thinking it\u2019s the real Windows Paint, the calling software will appear to have locked up, as it will wait indefinitely for it to open a paint window and do something.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Note that all of the following instructions pertain specifically to Windows XP. Everything will work much the same way under Windows Vista and Windows 7, but there are a few cosmetic and placement differences you\u2019ll need to look out for.<\/p>\n

To resolve the issue of Windows Paint\u2019s potential absence, you should begin by making sure that Windows Paint has not in fact been installed, as follows:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Click on the Windows Start button.<\/li>\n
  2. Select Programs.<\/li>\n
  3. Select Accessories.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If there\u2019s no entry in the Accessories menu for Paint, Windows Paint has not been installed, and you\u2019ll need to drag it from its slumber and put it to work.<\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s how to do this:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Click on the Windows Start button.<\/li>\n
    2. Select Settings.<\/li>\n
    3. Select Control Panel.<\/li>\n
    4. Double-click on the Add or Remove Programs applet.<\/li>\n
    5. Click on the Add\/Remove Windows Components option \u2013 it\u2019s on the left side of the window.<\/li>\n
    6. Double-click on the Accessories and Utilities item in the Components list.<\/li>\n
    7. Double-click on the Accessories item in the Subcomponents of Accessories and Utilities list.<\/li>\n
    8. Click on the Paint item, so it has a check mark next to it.<\/li>\n
    9. Click on OK to close the Accessories window.<\/li>\n
    10. Click on OK to close the Accessories and Utilities window.<\/li>\n
    11. Click on Next and follow the prompts to install Windows Paint.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      You\u2019ll probably be prompted to insert your Windows installation CD in the CD-ROM drive of your computer.<\/p>\n

      With Paint installed, you should be able to select Paint from the Accessories menu of the Windows Start button, as described earlier, or run it from a desktop shortcut and see a Windows Paint application window. Exit Paint once you\u2019ve ascertained that it\u2019s working correctly.<\/p>\n

      Having installed Windows Paint, you might find that your Paint issues with Alchemy Mindworks software have been resolved. In this case, you should undertake to pat yourself roundly upon the back and buy yourself a pint of something cold and beer-like in celebration. You\u2019re done.<\/p>\n

      In some installations, merely installing Windows Paint won\u2019t wholly nuke your Paint problems. Alchemy Mindworks software attempts to locate Paint the first time it boots up after it has been installed, and if it found the bogus mspaint.exe file that was mentioned earlier in this posting, it will keep thinking it\u2019s found Paint, even though it really hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

      You\u2019ll need to disabuse it of this misconception. There are two ways of doing this. The most radical is to uninstall the Alchemy Mindworks application in question and reinstall it after you\u2019ve installed Windows Paint. This is a fair bit of work, and doing so will typically make your Alchemy Mindworks software forget any settings or configuration options you\u2019ve changed, requiring that you set them up again.<\/p>\n

      The second option is a lot easier, but it does involve a bit of typing.<\/p>\n

      To make an Alchemy Mindworks application forget an incorrect Windows Paint application file, begin by making certain that the application in question is not running. You\u2019ll then need to open the configuration file in question using the Windows Notepad application, ignore the dire warnings therein about never editing its contents and make a few trivial changes.<\/p>\n

      The Alchemy Mindworks configuration files reside in the \\Documents and Settings\\… Application Data\\Alchemy Mindworks\\ folder on your hard drive \u2013 where the … bit is typically your user or account name. Navigate the File Open dialog of Notepad to this folder and locate the appropriate configuration file. Note that because these files don\u2019t have the .TXT extension that Notepad defaults to, you\u2019ll have to set the Files of Type field in its Open File window to All Files.<\/p>\n

      Here are the configuration file names and the applications they correspond to.<\/p>\n

      ANIMWORK.INI:<\/strong> Animation Workshop
      \nCALWIZ.INI:<\/strong> Calendar Wizard
      \nGCSPRO90.INI:<\/strong> GIF Construction Set Professional
      \nGWSPRO90.INI:<\/strong> Graphic Workshop Professional
      \nPNGPRO.INI:<\/strong> PNG MNG Construction Set
      \nPRSPRO.INI:<\/strong> Presentation Wizard
      \nSCSPRO.INI:<\/strong> Screen Saver Construction Set<\/p>\n

      If you scroll down the file, you\u2019ll find a line that begins PaintbrushPath\u00a0=<\/strong> and is followed by a path to mspaint.exe<\/strong>. This is almost certainly the wrong mspaint.exe.<\/p>\n

      In most cases, you can fix the Paint problem by changing this line so it reads like this:<\/p>\n

      PaintbrushPath = c:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\mspaint.exe<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Having done so, save the configuration file, exit Notepad and see if the Paint function of your Alchemy Mindworks software is disposed to behave itself.<\/p>\n

      The foregoing will fail pretty miserably if Windows has decided to install Windows Paint somewhere unconventional. Should the Paint function in your Alchemy Mindworks software still refuse to function correctly, close the software, open its configuration file as above and delete the entire PaintbrushPath\u00a0=<\/strong> line. Save the file, exit Notepad and run your Alchemy Mindworks software.<\/p>\n

      Your Alchemy Mindworks software will search your entire hard drive for Windows Paint, and should find the real one.<\/p>\n

      You deserve a pat on the back and another beer, and if you\u2019d like to create a wax doll of a Windows developer and stick a few pins in it, that\u2019d probably be all right too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Many of the Alchemy Mindworks applications \u2013 including GIF Construction Set Professional, Graphic Workshop Professional, Animation Workshop, PNG\/MNG Construction Set and Presentation Wizard – have internal Paint functions that call Windows Paint. At least, they do if it\u2019s been installed. Should you click on Paint in one of our applications and discover that nothing much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mindworkshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mindworkshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mindworkshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mindworkshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mindworkshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mindworkshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mindworkshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mindworkshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mindworkshop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}