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I was tidying up my laptop the other day, removing apps and files I no longer used. In the process, I came across a OneDrive folder in my ‘User’ directory on the C: Drive. As I had stopped using OneDrive a few months earlier and had desynced my account, I assumed the folder was just a leftover and deleted it. However, it contained subfolders for my Desktop, Documents, and Pictures, and so I lost everything. Thankfully, I was able to recover most of my important apps and files using a system restore point I had created earlier. I then recreated the folder and its subfolders, renaming it ‘Important’ in case I forgot later on. Since then, though, my apps and programs have been behaving extremely strangely. Sometimes, they refuse to open, and an error pops up saying the app can't be found even though it is installed. For some reason I now have two Paint apps, one of which works perfectly, while the other will not open and says that Windows can't find mspaint.exe (In the Installed Apps section of Settings, I can only see one paint app which works and can't see the other). I have had to uninstall and reinstall several apps to get them working again. How do I fix this?
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25-02-2026 04:18 684 Paint.lnk
Please open the folder C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
Delete the Paint shortcut (Paint.lnk) or move it to your desktop.
Thank you so much! The faulty paint app isn't there anymore. Why was the issue caused in the first place?
I'm glad to hear that.
The link was probably a leftover from Windows 10 (if you did an in-place upgrade to Windows 11) or a classic version of Paint was installed and uninstalled earlier on the system.
Oh. Oh right. I had installed the classic paint a few days ago but I had uninstalled it before the whole OneDrive folder and system restore thing. Does that mean there might be more leftover files I should delete?
The Paint executable is missing, as per the error message posted earlier. That indicates that the .lnk file is probably the only thing that was leftover. So, no need to worry about it.
Alright. Apart from the paint issue, it seems like the apps reporting they couldn’t find the file despite being installed was only a temporary problem. They seem to be gradually returning to normal. Other than the possibility that System Restore didn’t complete properly, I’m not sure what caused it. Once again, thank you very much!!
You're very welcome!
Please open Command Prompt admin and run:
dir "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs" /s /a >C:\shortcuts.txt
dir "%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs" /s /a >>C:\shortcuts.txt
Attach C:\shortcuts.txt in your next reply.
The commands aren't doing anything. Am I doing something wrong here?
They ran fine. Please upload the txt file.
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Please click "Open file location" (shown in the screenshot you posted) option.
It takes you to the folder which contains the orphaned shortcut.
From PowerShell (admin), please run the following command:
get-appxpackage -allusers *paint*
Copy the output to a text file and upload the text file in your next reply. The command-line shows the version information for each instance of Paint staged on the computer.
The output looks good. Were about able to delete that orphaned shortcut?
Please click "Open file location" (shown in the screenshot you posted) option.
It takes you to the folder which contains the orphaned shortcut.
I opened the file location of the faulty paint app, and it took me to the System32 directory inside the Windows directory in the C: Drive. System32 doesn't have any app or file which include the name "paint".
Hi, This is Ramesh.
Paint is an UWP (Store app) in Windows 11 and a classic app in Windows 10. Hence, the troubleshooting method will vary depending upon the OS.
Please run winver.exe and post a screenshot of that dialog. The dialog shows your OS version, edition and the build number.
Here's what I got from winver. Paint isn't the only app that is goofed though. For example, I have two notepad apps, both of which redirect to the same app. All of these issues only began since I deleted that OneDrive folder and then did the System Restore.
Here's what the paint thing looks like though. The first of these just doesn't open, but the second one works perfectly.
Looks like it's a regular shortcut. Please click "Open file location" (shown in that screenshot). If takes you to the folder that contains the Paint shortcut.