Windows Photos Crash When Printing – Here’s the FIX

Windows 10 has a stock app called Photos for viewing and managing large photo collections. It has some basic photo editing features that you find in common image editors.

The Photos app’s photo viewing is mediocre; it’s a slow app and its photo and video editing features do not make up for its poor performance. Since it is a stock app, you won’t find a lot of people who have replaced it. Most will make do with it since it does eventually get the job done.

Microsoft Photos crashes when printing

The Photos app can print photos but like its core feature i.e., viewing photos, printing on it can be a problem. The app tends to crash in some cases when users try to print a photo. The photo doesn’t print so here are a bunch of things you can try.

1. A different app

As mentioned, the Photos app isn’t that great and if you’re having trouble with it, it’s time to find a better alternative. We strongly recommend using IrfanView. It’s free and much faster than Photos. It also has some fairly advanced image editing tools though it won’t fill in for a library manager. 

IrfanView supports printing so all you have to do is open an image in IrfanView and tap Ctrl+P. It also has an excellent print job customization panel. 

If you prefer a stock app, try Windows Photo Viewer. Learn how to enable it here. 

2. Use system print 

Files that can be printed have a print option in their context menu that allows users to print them without ever opening them.

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Navigate to the photo you want to print.
3. Right-click the photo and select Print from the context menu.
4. Customize the print job, and click Print.

3. Repair Photos 

If you like the Photos app, you may not like having to use a different app just for the sake of printing. Try to repair Photos and it may be able to print again.

1. Open the Settings app (Win+I keyboard shortcut).
2. Go to Apps>Apps & features.
3. Select the Photos app from the list of apps.
4. Click Advanced Options.
5. Scroll down and click Repair.
6. Open the app and try printing.

4. Reset Photos

Uninstall and reinstall Photos

You can try uninstalling and reinstalling Photos if a reset doesn’t fix its problems.

1. Open PowerShell with admin rights. 
2. Run this command to uninstall Photos.

Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft.Windows.Photos* | Remove-AppxPackage

3. Install the app from the Microsoft Store.

5. Reset Photo libraries

It’s possible that there’s a problem with the photos or pictures library on Windows 10. The Photos app automatically adds photos from it which may be why it’s crashing. 

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Go to the View tab.
3. Click the Navigation pane dropdown.
4. Select ‘Show libraries’.
5. In the navigation column on the left, expand Libraries.
6. Right-click Pictures and select Properties from the context menu.
7. Click the Restore defaults button.
8. Try printing with Photos.

6. Reregister Windows apps

Problems with many stock Windows apps can be resolved by reregistering them.

1. Open PowerShell admin rights.
2. Run this command.

‎Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

3. Restart the system.

Conclusion

The Photos app may have more features but it doesn’t compare to the Windows Photo Viewer that was a part of Windows 7. Microsoft has put some of its best apps out of work and replaced it with apps that do not measure up. Photos is one obvious example.

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