# Microsoft Photo Editor crashes on printing



## nipohc (Oct 14, 2007)

System info:

Win XP Pro SP2, MS Office 2003 SP2 (mostly) installed on new Sony Vaio VGN SZ160 P/C Laptop Mar 6, 06.

Problematic S/W:

MS Photo Editor, Ver. 3.01(file version 99030500) initially installed around March '06 from some on-line sources from a Microsoft site by myself, (or from a MS Office 2000 Small Office CD by Geek Squad) as "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\PhotoEd.” Current copy of PhotoEd.exe has a creation date of Mar 9, 1999.

Problem description: 

PhotoEd had been fully functional for my purposes since installation. It crashed (“encountering a problem and needs to close”) when I tried to rotate a JPEG file by a few degrees for the first time on this laptop, Oct 5, '07. I restarted PhotoEd, was able to use most viewing and editing features in PhotoEd, but unable to print at all. Every time I went to PRINT, the program crashed. Restarting returned it to the same level of (dis)function. I could/would send screen shots of error messages and error report files if the ones helpful for troubleshooting are identified. 

Motivation for solution:

User interface for Picture Manager, the replacement for PhotoEd in Office 2003, is very cumbersome. Printing is worst of all. Picture Manager is also quite limited as an editor. I prefer the versatile functionality and straightforward operation with PhotoEd for basic graphics editing and printing tasks. 

Solutions tried:

1. Uninstalled PhotoEd and reinstalled from Office 2000 CD. Problem persisted.

2. Problem seemed independent of the file identity and graphics file type. Printing any file of the type of jpeg, bmp, tiff, png, or pcx file will crash PhotoEd. 

3. Searched on Google and investigated all relevant listings for MS Photo Editor 3.01. One identical problem, crash upon printing, on computing.net, reported in 2005, did not get any replies. 

4. The second closest Google listing was from Microsoft "Reinstalling Graphic Import Filters using the Office 97 Setup" (KB 162784, Last Review: October 6, 2003, Revision: 2.0). Renamed the jpegim32.flt file and reinstalled PhotoEd from Office 2000 CD. Problem remained.

5. The third closet listing was also from Microsoft, "Description of the Office 2003 post-Service Pack 2 hot fix package: October 23, 2006" (KB 927138, Last Review : September 11, 2007, Revision : 1.2). It mentioned solving some PhotoEd viewing issues with updating several graphic import filters, although none pertained to jpeg files. It also stated the soon-to-be-released Office SP3 would include these hot fixes and advised to wait for the release. 

Since my printing problem appeared to occur with all graphic file types, this KB article may be somewhat relevant. I believe Office SP3 has just been released but wanted to learn more about the implication of its installation before proceeding.

My analysis attempts and questions:

Before trying out solution 4, I renamed the existing jpeg import filter, jpegim32.flt, as jpegim32.old. Reinstallation pulled another copy from the Office 2000 CD. Now I know of three copies of jpegim32.flt with varying properties. I am listing them below in case the info is useful.

Copy 1: Originally installed, 160 KB, Ver. 2003.1100.5510.0, created 4/29/04, renamed jpegim.old, 10/6/07

Copy 2: Reinstalled from Office 2000 CD, 272 KB, Ver. 98.8.18.0 (98110900), created 4/29/04, modified 12/7/98

Copy 3: On a back-up CD of a former laptop (decommissioned March 2006) with functional Win 2000, Office 2000, and Photo Editor 3.01, 272KB, Ver. 98.8.18.0 (98110900), backed up 3/10/06.

Obviously copy 1 used to work along side Office 2003 with Win XP on the new laptop, and copy 2, (most likely identical to copy 3) used to work within Office 2000 on Win 2000. I do not know if copy 2/3 is supposed to work with Office 2003 on Win XP. In any case, the rotation operation must have destabilized some part of the PhotoEd program to the degree that printing does not work. Graphic import filter(s) may or may not be relevant. My analysis has not been productive so far. In addition, the following begs for answers:

1. Are there relevant export (to printing) controlling files, or drivers? 

2. Why is rotation by any angles other than multiples of 90 degrees so problematic in PhotoEd? (It has happened on my old W2K laptop once before and recovered after reinstallation.) 

3. Could there be any conflicts between PhotoEd and Picture Manager or Windows Picture and Fax Viewer? Both of two Office 2003 tools have a circuitous printing setup process.

My requests:

I can probably get by without rotation by degrees. However, printing is a must for the work in my solo practice. I hope the experts at Microsoft can point the way to a full recovery of PhotoEd, if not, then at least get me to printing. 

Many thanks in advance!

nipohc


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