paint lost

I have XP pro GB version . paint prog. whas working fine and suddenly it is lost ! not working ! a message comes up that paint has encountered a problem and need to close etc, etc. I tryed to uninstall it , close the computer and disconnected the power for a short period , started the computer again and the screen came up that there is a CD-rom required to install a component .it installed ( I think) paint again ,because there is a mark by start that there is a new program installed and paint is highlited.
can someone highlite me on this mistery?

 

Though I use XP Home Edition, it sounds from reading your post that Windows could not find the Operating System CD when you tried to uninstall Paint. Paint is a windows component. When you try to install, remove or reinstall, Window Components the program looks for the Operating System disk.

Have you checked to see if Paint still resides on your system? If you haven't, do a search in an explorer window for MSPAINT.EXE On my system this file resides in C:\WinNT\System32. There are several other files used by Paint, i.e. Help Files, program related files, etc., that reside in other areas of the drive.

To try and correct your problem, insert your Windows Operating CD in the drive. If the CD autoloads close the installation window by clicking on the X. Once the CD is loaded go to CONTROAL PANEL, ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS, ADD/REMOVE WINDOWS COMPENENTS. When the window opens ACCESSORIES AND UTITLITIES should be highlighted, click on DETAILS, when this window opens ACCESSORIES should be highlighted, click on DETAILS again, navigate down to PAINT and if there is a checkmark in front of it remove it and click OK. This will cause PAINT to be uninstalled from your system. (If there is no checkmark in front of Paint then the system believes it's been uninstalled).

Once the uninstall is complete navagate back to the same folder, select Paint again by placing a checkmark in front of it and then click OK again. This should cause Paint to be reinstalled, and with any luck it should over-write the files, and hopefully correct the problem you are experiencing.

Good Luck and let us know how it turns out.