Paintshop Pro 2021

[Jean-Luc]

And at the moment neither wants to start up

Try this:
disable internet connection when loading or using PSP. And see if it makes a difference.

[Zantara]

@Jean-Luc...doesn't make a difference. I have to reboot in order to start PSP 2021 again, either version.
Thanks for the tip anyway

[Ken Berry]

I have to reboot in order to start PSP 2021 again, either version.

Can't you shut it down in Task Manager rather than rebooting. After a crash I find there is still an instance of Corel PSP running in Background Processes which I can right click and hit End Task.

[Jean-Luc]

@Zantara,
Last suggestions...

The Photography workspace, and also the Sea 2 Sky, are based on a different coding system (UI WorkFrame) which needs special add-ons between PSP old interface and the new. On my system, I see those addons named PSPStub.exe in the Task Manager. I'm not a programmer nor know the technicals behind. Could those addons be targeted by the antivirus or MalwareBytes? Or are they somehow connected to the installed browsers? I have Edge, FireFox and Chrome installed and encounter no problem with my PSP 2021 version. Could a different configuration produce the problem?
It could also be related to the place where PSP is installed. The recommended installation is on C: for the program. Data and documents may be placed on another drive. It is my configuration. Could a different scheme be the culprit?

[LeviFiction]

I believe PSP uses its own built-in browser extension not any of the ones installed on your computer.

[Radim]

So AI HDR Studio is a new application? Some screen shots...

[Zantara]

I have to reboot in order to start PSP 2021 again, either version.

Can't you shut it down in Task Manager rather than rebooting. After a crash I find there is still an instance of Corel PSP running in Background Processes which I can right click and hit End Task.

I will try that, next time it happens. Because it is a recurring thing.

@Radim....

AI HDR Studio - Formerly known as Pic-to-Painting

[

[Zantara]

@Zantara,
Last suggestions...

The Photography workspace, and also the Sea 2 Sky, are based on a different coding system (UI WorkFrame) which needs special add-ons between PSP old interface and the new. On my system, I see those addons named PSPStub.exe in the Task Manager. I'm not a programmer nor know the technicals behind. Could those addons be targeted by the antivirus or MalwareBytes? Or are they somehow connected to the installed browsers? I have Edge, FireFox and Chrome installed and encounter no problem with my PSP 2021 version. Could a different configuration produce the problem?

I never got round to setting the browser. Never use it. I have Brave, Firefox, Edge and Chrome installed, with Brave as my default browser. No browser was selected in Preferences. Should I do that?

It could also be related to the place where PSP is installed. The recommended installation is on C: for the program. Data and documents may be placed on another drive. It is my configuration. Could a different scheme be the culprit?

Now there's a thing...Documents is located on my D-drive. I let Corel install in the default location on C:, but the (empty) folders in Documents would be on my D: drive
You should be able to change that somewhere, so PSP isn't pointing to C: Documents by default. Have to puzzle about that.

[splash3313]

The problems with the plugins people are experiencing could be down to windows 10 version you are using. Even Photoshop stopped compatibility with older plugins. Most of the problems is that people simply don't understand what version of windows and other software updates can cause plugins to not work. If your friend is using a plugin and you can't simply ask what version of windows and what version of Paintshop pro and what version of dll and other software installed on their PC. It only takes one software to be different and that can cause all the problems., not Painthsop pro.

[Zantara]

The problems with the plugins people are experiencing could be down to windows 10 version you are using. Even Photoshop stopped compatibility with older plugins. Most of the problems is that people simply don't understand what version of windows and other software updates can cause plugins to not work. If your friend is using a plugin and you can't simply ask what version of windows and what version of Paintshop pro and what version of dll and other software installed on their PC. It only takes one software to be different and that can cause all the problems., not Painthsop pro.

You are so right! Most of the time PSP is blamed if something doesn't work, but quite often is is Windows and which version you use and if you have other PSP versions installed.
It took trial and error to discover that if you mainly use old plugins, you only need de 32-bit PSP but still need to install the combination of 32-/64-bit
There can be a lot of reasons why a plugin doesn't work anymore. Some users also don't check with the creators if there is a new version available.
And how many plugins do you really need? I have Filters Unlimited, which has a few thousand effects in its database, then you have the 64-bit plugins and a few oldies that work anyway.
And Corel does come up with new plugins themselves.

But there are still very popular tube tutorials around that that were written in the naughties when certain plugins. long since retired, were popular.

But whether or not the spontanious shutdown is down to Windows version or Corel???

[LeviFiction]

@Zantra - PSP uses a registry key called Default Write or something like that to point it's default folders to the C Documents folder. You can manually edit this to point to another folder.

[Zantara]

@Zantra - PSP uses a registry key called Default Write or something like that to point it's default folders to the C Documents folder. You can manually edit this to point to another folder.

Seems like a good one. Can't find anything in the registry like that and did a complete search. I did see mentioning of PSP versions that never saw the light of day on this pc. But entries about plugins, point to the right drive.

Thank all of you for your help and guidance.

[Zantara]

I have to reboot in order to start PSP 2021 again, either version.

Can't you shut it down in Task Manager rather than rebooting. After a crash I find there is still an instance of Corel PSP running in Background Processes which I can right click and hit End Task.

It is not in the Taskmanager anymore, when I try to start up 2021 and it fails

[LeviFiction]

here is the key in my registry -

Location: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Corel\PaintShop Pro\X12\
Key: DefaultWrite
Value: C:\Users\UserName\Documents\Corel PaintShop Pro\2020\

[Jean-Luc]

It only takes one software to be different and that can cause all the problems., not Painthsop pro.

You are right.
But if we observe that all peoples having the problem are using a specific version of Windows or have installed in D: and not in C:, etc., we could deduce that this is the cause of the problem and give a better help.