Painter X Trial version freezes

[PerfectCircle]

I've been trying to get the Corel Painter X trial version to work for several days, to no avail. Corel's support pages and technical assistance seem pretty, um, bad, and anyway they won't let me post questions because I don't have a registration key. Thanks, Corel. You're so helpful.

So! My current operating system is Windows Vista, service pack installed and all. My computer meets the requirements, as far as I can tell.

The actual problem is this: the trial version opens up just fine, everything is loaded, it's all very nice and shiny. But nothing can be interacted with. None of the buttons work, nothing can be pressed, all the options are greyed out. Amusingly, the only options window where anything can be selected is the "Help" one, and to underline that irony it is utterly unhelpful in solving the problem.

Has anyone else run in to this problem, and how the heck do I fix it before my trial days run out? I'm really eager to test out this program, but apparently Corel doesn't want me lobbing wads of cash at them for some reason.

Thanks in advance!

[Soquili]

It may be the program did not fully install due to the newer security features of Vista.

Uninstall the program.

Reboot your system.

Rather than double clicking the downloaded installer file, right click the file and select Run as administrator.

After the installation finishes do not double click the desktop icon, right click and select Run as administrator. You only need to use the right click, Run as administrator the first time you run the program.

The steps above will allow the installer and the program to make updates to the registry that the program requires to function correctly.

[PerfectCircle]

I followed your advice but sadly Painter is still broken.

[Soquili]

The downloaded file may be corrupt in some way. Have you tried downloading the trial version again?

[handrawn]

corel do not support the trial version of painter that is true - adobe don't support the trial versions of their software either in my experience, it's not uncommon

I'd agree with Bill - try a new download

before you do though its worth just trying the reset [hold down shift key as you click on program to start]

[PerfectCircle]

Well, I've re-downloaded from Corel - by now more times than I care to count - and now tried from an alternate source, to no affect. It strikes me that any trial versions floating on the net are very likely just copies of the one on Corel, and I'm not enough of a computer expert to start combing all the download sites on the web searching for that one version that might (or might not) work. (I also tried the shift thing, too.)

I'm honestly puzzled by this. The trial version of any program is basically the best and only sales pitch a software company can give, so I'm just rather stunned by how slapdash an effort Corel has put forth. This is supposed to convince me to buy their products?

Anyway, thanks for the help so far. Any more suggestions?

Edit: Okay, I managed to find Corel Painter IX.5 and that does the exact same thing. The chances that I keep on stumbling onto exact same fault in two trial versions is pretty low, so I guess this is a problem with my computer. Now I just need to figure out what said problem is. I've heard that Corel programs tend to conflict with other programs they've made. I currently have Painter Essentials 4 on my comp, could that be the source of the problem?

[Soquili]

Having Painter Essentials installed could be the problem. I think any previous versions of Painter must be uninstalled before installing a newer version.

[PerfectCircle]

Welp, that didn't work either.

Damn.

I'm out of ideas.

[handrawn]

found this on google - it may or may not be relevant painter is notoriously easy to flounce... it probably is a conflict with something... http://help.lockergnome.com/vista/Vi...pict35713.html

[Jinny Brown]

Hi folks,

You can find plenty of free help at The PainterFactory, from other users, often from me, and sometimes from people at Corel who work with the Corel Painter development team. Sometimes a combination of other users, Wendy from Corel or another person from Corel, and I will all pitch in to help solve a problem.

After you join The PainterFactory, click the Painter Discussion tab at the top of the page, then scroll down under Corel Painter Product Discussion and post a new thread and your message about this problem in the forum named:

Got a Question/Technical Issue/Bug Report for the Painter Team?.


Multiple Painter Versions Installed on the Same Computer

It's' not true that we can't install more than one Painter version on our computers. They're automatically installed into their own folders and don't overwrite each other or cause any problems with each other.

I currently have six full Painter versions and three "lite" Painter versions installed on my computer and all run just fine except for occasional problems they would have whether or not other versions are installed (i.e. known bugs that can cause Painter X and X.1 to crash and have been reported to Corel with a request to fix them).

All of these Painter versions have been owned by Corel since Spring 2000 when they purchased Painter and some other programs from Metacreations. "procreate" was a division of Corel that handled their graphics programs for a while.)

Fractal Design Painter 5.0.3
Metacreations Corel Painter 6.1
procreate Painter 7.1
Corel Painter 8.1
Corel Painter IX.5
Corel Painter X.1

...and three "lite" versions that are bundled with Wacom tablets:

Metacreations Painter Classic 1
procreate Painter Classic 2
Corel Painter Essentials 3

In addition to all of the above listed versions, I also had Corel Painter Essentials 4 installed for a while since I worked on the Beta team for that version.

I've used Painter on a daily basis for nearly 14 years, starting with Fractal Design Painter 4 in 1995 and worked on the Beta teams for full versions Painter 7, Painter 8, Painter IX, and Painter X. In addition, I and teach Corel Painter, thus the many versions installed on my computer.


Jinny Brown, hooked on Corel Painter!