Paint cannot save this file. Save was interrupted, so your file has not been saved
Emily Wong 
When saving any PNG image in paint to any directory (other image formats save fine), I receive the error:
A 0 byte PNG file is created, and deleted immediately after closing the error dialog.
This started abruptly a few months ago, and I thought it could be related to other installed programs. However, the problem persists even after terminating all non-essential processes.
How can this error be fixed?
13 Answers
According to MS:
To work around this problem, follow these steps:
- Make a backup copy of the picture to prevent the loss of your picture.
- Open the picture in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. To do this, in Windows Explorer, right-click the picture, point to Open With, and then click Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.
- Click either Rotate Clockwise or Rotate Counterclockwise.
- If you are prompted to continue, click Yes.
- Click either Rotate Clockwise or Rotate Counterclockwise as many times as needed to rotate the picture 360 degrees.
- Click Copy To to save the changes to your picture.
Another suggestion according to this.
- Minimize the Paint window and go to your Desktop.
- Right-click on the image you are trying to save in other format or extension.
- Click change tab at the upper right-hand corner of the window.
- Select among list of applications which can be used to open images from the window.
- Click 'Apply' and 'OK' to close the small window.
- Now maximize Paint and save the file in other format like PNG.
If nothing else works, check your environment variables.
Right click on My Computer, click Advanced System Settings, and click Environment Variables.
Make sure both TMP and TEMP in both User and System Variables are set to drives and folders that exist. Change them and create folders as necessary.
Paint needs these set right to create a temporary bitmap file so it can convert it to your target file format.
1Check the image file properties in Explorer to see if it needs 'unblocking'. This can occur, for example, when the file has been copied from Android to Windows.
