I've been using Inkscape for years, and absolutely love it for my graphic design business. I've run into a few problems over the past few days, and I can't seem to get Inkscape to work now, even after multiple attempts to uninstall and install new versions. I'm running Windows 10, which was recently updated.
I had been running an older version of Inkscape (I think 1.0? It could have been 1.0.1) when one of my files I'd been working on became corrupted and couldn't be opened by Gimp as usual. I still had the file open as I'd been working on it, so I copied the contents into a new file and that one worked fine.
A day or two later, I was working on a new graphic when I encountered an error that unexpected quit Inkscape, and popped up a dialog window with the unexpected error (I didn't note any details, unfortunately). When I attempted to close the error dialog, I'm pretty sure the program was completely frozen at that point and I had to force quit from my task manager.
Since then, I've been able to start Inkscape, but it will freeze up a few minutes into drawing, without any error messages and no way to quit or close windows. The cursor is still active, and I can access other programs. I've had to force quit each time. After this, I downloaded and installed the latest version of Inkscape. I forgot to uninstall the old version first, so I tried again, and had to manually delete the old Inkscape folder which wasn't removed on uninstallation.
The new version of Inkscape is doing the same thing: works for a few minutes (beautifully, I might add) but freezes up and must be force quit. I've repeated the uninstall-delete files-reinstall process 3 times now, with no changes. I've downloaded Inkscape from the Microsoft store, tried the exe, and the msi to see if any of those helped, but they didn't.
I'm currently trying older versions to see if any of them will work, but I would like to be able to use the new version. Just getting something that works would be good though.
Well, it worked for a few hours with the new install of the latest version, but it just froze on me again. I was able to quit this time using hotkeys and save my files, but the mouse completely stopped working.
I'm wondering if this has anything to do with my Wacom tablet. I thought my old tablet was the original problem, since I'd been using it during the first crash, so I replaced it with a newer model, but it's having its own set of issues. Namely, when I try to scroll across my page with the pen, it brings up a dialog window as if I'd right-clicked, no matter what my settings are programmed for. It seems to freeze frequently when I'm trying to scroll across the page with the pen or my mouse. This time it was the mouse, with the center wheel clicked.
Bummer. I can see if that helps, but pretty much all my work is done in Inkscape with my tablet and pen, and using a mouse (especially as a lefty) doesn't really work for me. :(
As a diagnostic, it would be good to know if the tablet is involved... if it makes no difference, then we can isolate Inkscape itself as having an issue.
Okay, I worked on this a bit over the weekend and noticed that Inkscape worked well when I used just my mouse, or just my Wacom tablet, but it froze up multiple times when I switched from the tablet to the mouse. I was able to recover control by using keyboard commands--at least far enough to save my work and quit the program--but without the keyboard, nothing on Inkscape was clickable.
Otherwise, considering you are using this for production, I'd probably setup another system with hardware and OS that worked before (My daily-driver is Win 8.1 and 0.92.2), or setup a system that runs Linux (you could dual-boot, if having a single platform is essential).
(I also run Linux Mint on iMac hardware, just to have 1.0.x for testing.)
Beyond the Basics Corrupt file, error, freeze on quit
Inkscape.org
I've been using Inkscape for years, and absolutely love it for my graphic design business. I've run into a few problems over the past few days, and I can't seem to get Inkscape to work now, even after multiple attempts to uninstall and install new versions. I'm running Windows 10, which was recently updated.
I had been running an older version of Inkscape (I think 1.0? It could have been 1.0.1) when one of my files I'd been working on became corrupted and couldn't be opened by Gimp as usual. I still had the file open as I'd been working on it, so I copied the contents into a new file and that one worked fine.
A day or two later, I was working on a new graphic when I encountered an error that unexpected quit Inkscape, and popped up a dialog window with the unexpected error (I didn't note any details, unfortunately). When I attempted to close the error dialog, I'm pretty sure the program was completely frozen at that point and I had to force quit from my task manager.
Since then, I've been able to start Inkscape, but it will freeze up a few minutes into drawing, without any error messages and no way to quit or close windows. The cursor is still active, and I can access other programs. I've had to force quit each time. After this, I downloaded and installed the latest version of Inkscape. I forgot to uninstall the old version first, so I tried again, and had to manually delete the old Inkscape folder which wasn't removed on uninstallation.
The new version of Inkscape is doing the same thing: works for a few minutes (beautifully, I might add) but freezes up and must be force quit. I've repeated the uninstall-delete files-reinstall process 3 times now, with no changes. I've downloaded Inkscape from the Microsoft store, tried the exe, and the msi to see if any of those helped, but they didn't.
I'm currently trying older versions to see if any of them will work, but I would like to be able to use the new version. Just getting something that works would be good though.
I'd try deleting C:/Users/yourUsername/AppData/Roaming/inkscape/preferences.xml. (or rename it with .OLD)
Inkscape should generate a new preferences.xml on launch. Hopefully, that will help.
Chime back and let us know how it goes.
As a starting point if you are happy to uninstall Inkscape.
The user files are stored in c:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\inkscape
Delete that folder and reinstall Inkscape.
Inkscape 1+ was released in 2020. Prior to that we were on version 0.92+ which was 2017 onwards.
***Sorry Tyler - I posted this at the same time as you.
Thanks @TylerDurden and @inklinea! This seems to have worked. I'll probably try uninstalling again so I can get 1.0.2. Whew!
Well, it worked for a few hours with the new install of the latest version, but it just froze on me again. I was able to quit this time using hotkeys and save my files, but the mouse completely stopped working.
I'm wondering if this has anything to do with my Wacom tablet. I thought my old tablet was the original problem, since I'd been using it during the first crash, so I replaced it with a newer model, but it's having its own set of issues. Namely, when I try to scroll across my page with the pen, it brings up a dialog window as if I'd right-clicked, no matter what my settings are programmed for. It seems to freeze frequently when I'm trying to scroll across the page with the pen or my mouse. This time it was the mouse, with the center wheel clicked.
There have been issues with tablets, including Wacom. I'd try running without and see if behavior improves.
Bummer. I can see if that helps, but pretty much all my work is done in Inkscape with my tablet and pen, and using a mouse (especially as a lefty) doesn't really work for me. :(
As a diagnostic, it would be good to know if the tablet is involved... if it makes no difference, then we can isolate Inkscape itself as having an issue.
Okay, I worked on this a bit over the weekend and noticed that Inkscape worked well when I used just my mouse, or just my Wacom tablet, but it froze up multiple times when I switched from the tablet to the mouse. I was able to recover control by using keyboard commands--at least far enough to save my work and quit the program--but without the keyboard, nothing on Inkscape was clickable.
Thank you for checking-in.
It sounds like it falls within the scope of this report: https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/issues/1293
Unfortunately, is it still unresolved, but seems to be isolated to Windows. There is a comment there that had some success. https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape/-/issues/1293#note_422290328. Maybe that could be helpful.
Otherwise, considering you are using this for production, I'd probably setup another system with hardware and OS that worked before (My daily-driver is Win 8.1 and 0.92.2), or setup a system that runs Linux (you could dual-boot, if having a single platform is essential).
(I also run Linux Mint on iMac hardware, just to have 1.0.x for testing.)
Thank you, @TylerDurden! I tried one of those solutions and it's worked for me throughout the day. 🤞