PSP 2019 not launching

[Killer133]

Win10; PSP 2019 Pro
HP Pavilion All-in-One 24-xalxxx
DESKTOP-IC2J3P7
AMD Ryzen 7 3750H with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx
2.30 GHz
8.00 (5.92 GB usable)
8A6B78S1-572C-44E1-8482-4878E322530B
00325-96585-38217-AAOEM
64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Every now and then when I try to start PSP 2019 it doesn't start at all. No error messages. A reboot of my pc "fixes" it, but what's the definitive solution? I have checked and have the latest version of PSP 2019 Pro.

TIA

Killer133

[Kathy_9]

More than likely PSP is still running in the background. You can verify this by checking the Task Manager and ending the program there.

Discussed in this thread viewtopic.php?f=56&t=66762

[Killer133]

Thanks Kathy, Task Manager has it running. Pretty annoying trait, but at least I don't have to reboot now.

Any idea why it happens? Fixes?

[Ken Berry]

This has been discussed quite a few times and in regard to it happening with various versions of PSP. I am also an occasional victim of it. But since it only affects a few users and since those who don't have it can't replicate it, including probably Corel itself, no fix has ever been found apart from looking in Background Processes.

[LeviFiction]

This is how I imagine Corel could best address the issue. Instead of silently closing the new PSP process, just ask the user if they want to close the current process and start a new one if it discovers that there is already a copy of PSP running. It doesn't get to the heart of why PSP occasionally refuses to close. But if offers a solution that everyone including new users can understand.

[Killer133]

Thanks everyone. My initial thoughts are that it seems to happen when I've opened an image by right-clicking and choosing "Open with" PSP. I suspect that when session is ended it's not closing properly. I'll investigate a little and report back.

[Ken Berry]

Hopefully that may help. But as for myself, I never -- and I mean never -- right click an image in File Explorer and choose to open PSP that way. I always open PSP first, then open in the "normal" way of going to File > Open... So since I suffer the same problem as you, I am not sure that the way we open images is necessarily a guide to what is causing the problem...

As for Levi Fiction's suggested solution, it would certain be helpful if there were some error message or suggestion which appears when this occurs. Not sure how it would be triggered, though, if Corel cannot replicate the problem in the first place...

[JoeB]

It can't be that difficult for Corel to implement Levifiction's suggestion. My email program (Pegasus Mail) does exactly that. Every so often when I open the program I get a popup from Pegasus telling me that the program is already in use, and gives me the option to close that use/user if I want to terminate that existing session. When I say yes (because I'm the only user so I'm assuming it's still just running as a background process) then Pegasus continues to open for me.

[LeviFiction]

Exactly JoeB. Technically PSP already does this check. As you know Jasc Paintshop Pro used to let you open multiple sessions of the program. Shortly after Corel took over they moved it to a single session. What the program is doing is checking to see if the process is already running and then closes if it finds a duplicate process before even trying to load anything else. It just doesn't ask how we want to handle the existence of a duplicate process. The Windows API also offers methods for determining if a process is "not responding" or if a process no longer has an active window. Task Manager, for example, calls any non-critical process without a main root window a "Background process" but this isn't an actual designation in WIndows. You see this when the splash screen pops up. Even though something is showing it's not the root window and so Task Manager labels it as a Background Process until the main window is activated. Then it moves into the "Apps" categroy. And when you close PSP and the main window closes, you see the process move back into "Background processes" while it does clean up and saves out any UI changes to the registry. So it just checks for the existence of a window and its designation as critical to put it into this category "Background Processes". So PSP could also ask if the duplicate process lacks a window before asking if we want to forcibly close it.

It's also technically possible to do this with a script like vbscript or batch script as those are pre-available on Windows computers. Python is also possible if you've got the interpreter installed. It would be possible to make a shortcut that runs a batch script, change the icon to look like PSP, and have it check for an existing process. If the process is running, ask the user if they want to close it. Sadly I'm not all that familiar with the workings of batch scripts.

Admittedly too much work for your average user, but if something were to be made available it would at least offer relief to current users.