How to Find Paint.NET Diagnostic Info and Logs

Paint.NET includes built-in diagnostic tools and automatic crash logging to help users troubleshoot performance issues, hardware acceleration problems, and unexpected crashes. This guide outlines how to view your system diagnostics directly within the application and locate debug crash logs stored on your computer.

Accessing the Diagnostics Tab in Settings

If Paint.NET is running normally, you can view your system profile, GPU capabilities, and version details via the settings menu:

  1. Open Paint.NET.
  2. Click the Gear icon (Settings) located in the upper-right corner of the window.
  3. In the Settings window, click on the Diagnostics tab in the left-hand navigation menu.
  4. The panel will display comprehensive hardware and software details, including your Windows version, CPU architecture, GPU driver status, and application build number.
  5. Click the Copy to clipboard button at the bottom of the window to export this information for support forums or bug reports.

Locating Crash Logs and Debug Files

When Paint.NET encounters a fatal error or unhandled exception, it automatically generates a crash log containing call stacks and error details:

  1. Press Windows Key + R on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box.

  2. Type or paste the following path and press Enter:

    %LOCALAPPDATA%\paint.net\CrashLogs

  3. A File Explorer window will open showing text files named with timestamps (e.g., crashlog.txt or paintnet.crash.X.log).

  4. Double-click the most recent text file to open it in Notepad or your preferred text editor to review the error trace.

If Paint.NET fails during the installation process rather than during regular execution, installer logs can typically be found by opening the Run dialog and navigating to %TEMP%, looking for log files prefixed with PaintNet or PdnSetup.