MS Paint Problem

[Bill Lane]

Hi All:

After doing a clean install of Win98, MS Paint don't recognize other picture formats, only BMP's.

I reinstalled MS Paint, but still have the same problem.

Is it just a matter of associating GIF's, JPG's, and etc with the MS Paint program, or something else?

Your input will be very much appreciated,

Bill Lane

[GaryRouth]

Hi Bill

To make sure the program itself isn't having trouble, try to open a .jpg or .gif file by first starting Paint, then from the File/Open menu try to open one of each.

If they open fine from there, it's just the file association - it's probably defaulting to another graphics program on your computer.

The best way to reinstall Paint is from the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel. You run Windows Setup, uncheck the box next to "Paint" under the Accessories list, reboot, then run the same applet again, and re-check the box to reinstall Paint.

If you have something like Microsoft Photo Editor (comes with MS Office), that program will probably be the default for .jpg and .gif files. You can change that association in Windows Explorer, under the View menu.

Post again if this doesn't help
. . . Gary

[Bill Lane]

Hi GaryRouth:

"To make sure the program itself isn't having trouble, try to open a .jpg or .gif file by first starting Paint, then from the File/Open menu try to open one of each", this is how I found out that I had the problem :-)

"The best way to reinstall Paint is from the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel. You run Windows Setup, uncheck the box next to "Paint" under the Accessories list, reboot, then run the same applet again, and re-check the box to reinstall Paint", I did it just like this :-)

I don't have Microsoft Photo Editor or MS Office.

I have Adobe Photoshop, it works just fine, but I want to get MS Paint to open all picture files like it did before I reinstalled Win98.

I'll go see if I can associate GIF's, JPG's with MS Paint, and see if that works.

Thanks,

Bill Lane

[Markoman01027]

My MS PAINT cant open GIFS. MS PAINT I believe was only programmed to handle BITMAPS.

[Dan]

Bill-
MSPaint will only open jpeg's and bitmaps.
Gif files are opened by internet explorer by default.
Changing the associations in folder options should do it.

Description of type: JPEG image
Content type (MIME): inage/jpeg
default Extension for content type: .jpeg
actions: open

[Bill Lane]

Hi Markoman01027 and Dan:

Well before I did the reinstall, MS Paint opened my GIF's, JPG's and BMP.

If anybody knows how to get this function back, I'd sure appreciate you telling me :-)

In the area that Dans showing, if I change it there, by clicking on a GIF or JPG it won't open in Explorer, just MS Paint.

What I had before was GIF's and JPG's opening in Explorer, but if I was in MS Paint I could open them there too.

BMP's always opened in MS Paint.

I had this problem once before, but can't remember how I solved it.

Thanks,

Bill Lane

[Dan]

Bill I stand corrected....MSPaint does open gifs...I just tried it, sorry.
When you say that Paint doesn't "recognise" gifs and jpegs, does this mean it won't open them? or are you trying to get Paint to open these files as the default viewer?

Changing file associations for graphics files sets the default viewer. This is what I thought you were trying to do...
If you want gif's and jpegs to open in Explorer when you click on them, they must be associated with Explorer. You should still be able to open them in Paint with the file/open menu command...
When you try to open them in this manner, you get an "open" window with a scroll down menu for "files of type". If you scroll down you should see the following choices:
bitmap files
jpeg files
all picture files
all files
you must select "all files" in order to see gif's.
Are you able to do all this??

[Bill Lane]

Hi Dan:

MS Paint opened GIF's and JPG's before I did a clean install of Win98, now it won't, I get an error message that their not the correct format, or something like that.

I don't want MS Paint to be the default viewer for GIF's and JPG's, I just want to be able to open them in MS Paint like I did before.

Right now GIF's and JPG's are associated with Explorer, and that's the way I want to keep them so when I click them they open in Explorer.

The file types that my MS Paint shows is ...

bitmap files
all picture files
all files

And if I select all files, and click a GIf or JPG I get the error message.

Before the installation I had these choices ...

bitmap files
gif files
jpeg files
all picture files
all files

I even tried installing MS Paint from Win95, but it was the same as Win98.

Anyway, I know there must be a way unless Microsoft did something to IE 6 that won't let it work.

Thanks again,

Bill Lane

[edge345]

After you installed photoshop you had this problem, the next time you install photoshop uncheck the files extention that you do not want photoshop to open. when installing photoshop you will come to a screen that shows the file extention....

Another way is to:
Open a window and at the top tab right click TOOLS, Then choose
folder options, then choose FILE TYPES, Then after the list loads scrool down until you come to JPG and you can change the progran that open JPG to your choise.
In your case adobe photoshop to MS Paint.

[Dan]

Hi Bill
so it sounds like this happened after you did a clean install of windows and not an install of photoshop as edge345 suggests...
did you try uninstalling Paint, reboot, reinstall Paint, reboot, as GaryRouth suggested??
just reinstalling without uninstalling won't have the same effect...

[GaryRouth]

Hi again

See if this works: Try to make sure that the Win95 Paint files are gone, then try a run of RegClean, then uninstall Paint in Add/Remove (Windows Setup), reboot, re-install Paint from Add/Remove (Windows Setup).

And why not, run a thorough virus check.

Let us know since we're terminally curious
. . . Gary

[If you don't have a copy of RegClean around, you can download it from http://download.com.com/3000-2094-881470.html?tag=list
(that's a CNET site) Make a directory on your C: drive to hold it: call it something simple like "Registry Cleaner". Unzip the download to that folder. After the files are unzipped in that folder, you should see a ReadMe.txt with a nice description of how it works. Basically, you double-click on regclean.exe to start the program, it identifies what it needs to clean up, you click Fix Errors & it fixes 'em. It makes an undo file in case the fix does more harm than good: all you have to do to undo the changes is to doubleclick on the undo file.]

[David_Jones]

I have those options in MS Paint on the PC I am using right now, and it is running Win2K.

Is it possible you had a Win2K (or other) version of MS Paint before?

David.

[Bill Lane]

Hi All:

Well first I downloaded the RegClean utility, worked great, but didn't solve anything.

So since I have plenty of time, I formated C: , and did another clean install from my Win98 setup disk.

Nothing else added at this point, no Adobe Paintshop, no virus program, no ISP, just the custom setup that I always use without the handihapped stuff. wallet, front page, etc, etc.

Now I can't understand this, I should have the MS Paint working just like so many other times that I've installed it, but no, it's not working this time, same problem :-( , The file types that my MS Paint showing that it will open is ...

bitmap files
all picture files
all files

So since I have an older computer running Win98 that was setup with the same disk, and the MS Paint program works like it should with the file types showing ...

bitmap files
gif files
jpeg files
all picture files
all files

I decided to compair the registries concerning BMP's, pbrush, GIF's, and JPG's, I found that my computer was missing a few Keys, so I added the missing Keys, CLSID, DefaultIcon, etc, and their default entries, but still can't get MS Paint to open GIF's or JPG's.

Maybe I missed something in the registry, I'll go back and look again.

Sorry about being late getting back here, but that was a lot of work.

If you have anymore thoughts, I'd really appreciate them.

Thank,

Bill Lane

[GaryRouth]

Hi again

Your case is a little curious to me: since the inability to open .gif an .jpg files is normal for Win95's version of Paint. But all Win98 versions of Paint should open those files with no problem.

Just to make sure: you mention a completely clean install. If you completely reformat the entire hard drive, and reinstall Win98 from a CD - as long as you have checked the box in the Accessories/Details-Options during the installation process, you should have a working copy of Paint that will open those files. Is your CD a retail Windows98 CD, or a customized Recovery-type? A retail CD should install the works, no extra Registry entries needed.

I have to admit this is more attention than I've ever given to Paint before. It's a nifty little program, but I use QuickView Plus for most quick looks at files, and Photoshop for working with images. Paint gets used mostly for creating icons :)

I'll look around a bit & see if anyone has the same trouble with Paint on clean installs
. . . Gary

[Dan]

Bill
I guess I have the same ?'s as Gary about the clean install. Something is "staying the same" during your install. I have a feeling your clean install is not so clean. Gary's suggestion to completely reformat the drive should solve the problem...this would mean wiping out everything that is on your drive...not just replacing the Windows directory.
I had a problem like this one time after an installation of a software program went awry. I could never get it to completely install again, even after a Micro$oft assisted "clean install" and scouring the registry. It wasn't until I reformatted with fdisk that I was able to get the program installed right.
I like being able to use Paint for "quick looks" at graphics files, it opens fast and has some nice features like resizing and cutting sections of a file. I also use Photoshop and Corel software for editting and creating files.....
Try fdisk, I think it's the only solution that will certainly work.

[David_Jones]

Gotta echo that.

If you start with FDISK, and remove all the partitions, then you know 100% it is a truly clean install.

Good luck,

David.

[Bill Lane]

Hi All:

No I didn't format the whole drive, just C:, I have this drive partitioned into four drives, sure hate to have to do the whole thing, but if that what it'e going to take, I'll do it :-(

Can I just format the other drives, or should I format the whole thing, and repartition?

The disk is a retail Windows98 upgrade CD, and my Win95 disk is a full version that I need to prove that I'm eligible to use the upgrade.

Anyway, let me know if you think, really appreciate you taking the time to answer!!!

Bill Lane

P.S. After thinking about it, I decided to just go ahead and format the whole drive:(

[Dan]

Bill I don't know a way to run fdisk on a partiton. This isn't to say it can't be done. If what you have in the other partitions can be backed up, and if it were my machine, I'd go ahead and wipe the whole thing clean. The fact that your 98 is an upgrade from 95 sheds a little light on the subject. Seems as though when you did your clean install, your 95 version of Paint stuck...too bad you don't have a full version of 98...makes for a better install (in my humble opinion)....

[David_Jones]

I believe that there is a way to install from the Win98 upgrade disk, withouth installing Win95 first.

You have to insert the Win95 disk *at some point* to validate, but you don't actually have to install Win95 and then upgrade.

Ages since this was discussed much, but have a search at PCMech and the web - you might find instructions.

David.

[GaryRouth]

Hi again

If you haven't already started a complete re-format, there is a way to reformat/reinstall to one partition without destroying the data on the others: Partition Magic. You don't need the latest version (which is going for up to $70 nowadays, I think) for the task at hand. If you can find an older version for less, it would do the job without bothering the data on the other partitions.

I'm going to guess that your hard drive is partitioned into four partitions because of the 2 gigabyte partition limit faced with Win95 original and the FAT16 file system that it used. If you can back up what you need to save without too much trouble, you might pick up a little extra space and flexibility, when you reformat with FAT32 (when you install Win98 & let it format the drive for you, say "Yes" to "Enable Large Drive Support?" to use the FAT32 file system).

Best of luck, you have lots of options: not to worry :)
. . . Gary

[p.s. I'm typing slowly tonight (it's late here in L.A.), so I just saw David's note. Yes, you can use the upgrade disk to do a full clean install, just insert the Win95 CD when prompted during the Win98 install for proof of earlier version of Windows]

[Bill Lane]

Hi Everybody:

Well I used FDISK and removed the all the extended partitions, made the drive one big drive, and formatted it, then I went back and partitioned it like it was (4 drives), formatted no.1 with the s switch, and the other three regular format, that's C:, D:, E:, and F: during the format operation.

All the drives are FAT32.

Installed Win98, and tried MS Paint, still didn't work, just opens BMP's, I tried installing over Win98's MS Paint with Win95's MS Paint, that didn't work, then I removed MS Paint with ADD/Remove Program, and did an install of Win95's MS Paint again, that didn't work either.

I tried an application called Paint95, it had three .dll files that had to be installed in Windows/System, they were... Mfc42.dll, Msvcrt.dll, and Olepro32.dll, and I ran the "regsvr32.exe" to register them, no change at all :-(

Anyway, I'm back to square one now.

I've never seen anything like this, if I had it before, and my old 200MHz computer running the same Win98 setup from the same setup disk has it working just fine with the option to open BMP's, JPG's, and GIF's, I should be able to get it working on this computer.

Right now I'm at my wits end :(

Any thought ?

Thanks again,

Bill Lane

P.S. Before I formatted the drive, and wasn't worried about screwing anything up, I got MS Paint to show and open PCX files,

bitmap files
PCX files
all picture files
all files

But that's when I was screwing around in the registry, I have no idea just what I did to even get this, but it looks like there must be a way.

[David_Jones]

This is really bizarre - I'll have another think, but I am really puzzled I have to admit.

David.

[Dan]

I too am totally miffed with this outcome. And will take a few to mull it over. I am curious what GR will have to say about this...
There must be a way to set this straight in the registry.

[Dan]

Hi Bill and all
I did a search on google.com and after digging through lots of sites, I think I found some answers here:
http://www.geocities.com/one_human/index2.html?advanced.html
check out item #6
there is way too much to copy and paste, there are some patches to download to fix your problem....
check it out and let me know if anything there makes sense or helped. good luck.

[David_Jones]

Good find Dan.

That was driving me crazy!

David.

[Bill Lane]

Good Morning All:

That looks very promising Dan, I'll get on it this morning, and let you all know how it turns out.

Sure hope it works :-)

Bill Lane

[GaryRouth]

Dan, you are a search wizard. I just followed that link - it's now in my bookmarks. I'm considering printing those out, since some links break over time. Nicely presented, too - he gives the clearest explanations of his work that I've seen in a while.

Things are looking up.
. . . Gary

[sorry I wasn't aware that the filters aren't part of the regular Win98 install. I must have installed Office on most of my builds not long after the OS install, so I never noticed]

[David_Jones]

Concur with you Gary.

In fact, I probably don't consider my OS installed until AFTER I have installed MS Office too - I am so used to doing it.

I guess that is a good case of a mental block!

David.

[Bill Lane]

Hi All:

Well first of all, I don't have or use MS Office or Front page, so I didn't have the two filters needed for this operation, but I scouted the web, and found them, GIFIMP32.FLT, and JPEGim32.FLT.

At One Human Tips & Tricks it said the following ...

"You need to make sure you have both filters in the following folders:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\grphflt
C:\Windows\MsApps\Grphflt "

So I created the missing folders, and put the filters in the Grphflt folders.

Set up the registry with the four Reg Files, checked the registry to make sure they were installed, everything looked great.

MS Paint now has, opens with ...

bitmap files
gif filter
jpeg filter
all picture files
all files

And saves with ...

monochrom bmp
16 color bmp
256 color bmp
24 bit bmp
GIF filter
Jpeg filter

Anyway it still don't work, but I think were getting closer.

I tried to save a BMP to a GIF, got a popup saying I would have some color loss, clicked YES anyway, got the other popup saying it couldn't save this format, clicked OK, and the picture did change to a GIF, and it already had saved it to the file folder as a square with a red X in it, but no pic though.

Anyway, it looks like we are getting closer. Any thoughts?

Maybe these two filters need to be registered or something?

Want to say thanks again to everyone, and a special thanks to Dan for that link !!!

Bill Lane

[Dan]

Hi Bill
glad things are working out for you.
the One Human Tips & Tricks site has a contact page...when I wrote to thank the author for his work, he wrote back right away.
perhaps he could be of further assistance to you.
best of luck

[Bill Lane]

Good Morning Everybody:

The problem is solved:D

The filters that I downloaded from somewhere on the web were no good:mad:

When I downloaded the Reg files from the One Human Tips & Tricks site, I didn't download his filters because I already had them, big mistake !!!

Today, and I have no idea what lead me to do it, but I went back to the One Human Tips & Tricks site to reread the instructions, it looked like to me that I had done everything right, then I thought why not download his filters, that was it, MS Paint works great now.

I guess in the future I'll be more careful where I download from.

Want to thank everyone again for all the input, it was very much appreciated !!!

And the One Human Tips & Tricks site is a great site, I added it to my Favorites also.

Bill Lane

[GaryRouth]

Hey Bill:

I am now referring all MS Paint threads and questions to you :)

Nice work
. . . Gary

[Bill Lane]

Hi Gary:

Better yet, point them to the One Human Tips & Tricks site.

But I'll be happy to help anybody if I can !

I'm just thankful that this MS Paint problem was resolved.

Mike from the One Human Tips & Tricks site is really sold on the Iview program, so I downloaded, and tried it, didn't really like it, so I uninstalled it, I like the simple easy to use stuff :D

Take care, and thanks again,

Bill Lane

[Dan]

Bill, you made my day.
glad to hear you've worked things out...
we are such creatures of habit and just Have to Have things the way we are used to them....I once started a notebook of everything I had to do to a system to keep it the way I preferred it.
I had to toss it out after I ran out of pages....

[Bill Lane]

Hi Dan:

Made my day too!!!

As far as keeping things the way you want them, I'm going to use that MS Backup utility before I make any major changes, or install new stuff;)

That should keep me out of trouble.

Take care, and thanks again,

Bill Lane

[David_Jones]

Phew!

That was troubling me!!