Why does Inkscape crash on Windows?

Most Inkscape crashes are caused by GPU driver/OpenGL conflicts, broken extensions or corrupted preferences. Disable GPU acceleration first, then test without extensions.

Why does Inkscape crash on startup?

Delete %APPDATA%\Inkscape\preferences.xml and restart. If still crashing, launch with --no-user-extensions. Reinstall if needed.

💥 Fix Crashes

Fix Inkscape Crashes on Windows — 6 Solutions

Fix Inkscape crashes and freezes on Windows 10 and 11. Covers GPU driver conflicts, broken extensions, corrupted preferences, crash-on-save and clean reinstall.

Crash diagnosis

When	Likely cause	Quick fix
On startup	Corrupted preferences or extension	Delete preferences.xml
On canvas scroll/zoom	GPU driver / OpenGL conflict	Disable GPU acceleration
Applying filter	GPU memory or driver bug	Update GPU driver
On save	Permissions or corrupted SVG	Save as Plain SVG elsewhere
After new extension	Broken extension	Remove new extension

Fix 1 — Disable GPU acceleration

Edit → Preferences → Rendering → uncheck Use GPU acceleration → restart Inkscape.

Cannot open Preferences? Edit %APPDATA%\Inkscape\preferences.xml — set renderbackend value to 0.

Fix 2 — Launch without extensions

"C:\Program Files\Inkscape\bin\inkscape.exe" --no-user-extensions

If stable, remove files from %APPDATA%\Inkscape\extensions one by one.

Fix 3 — Reset preferences

# Win+R:
%APPDATA%\Inkscape
# Rename preferences.xml → preferences.xml.bak
# Restart Inkscape

Resets all settings. Documents not affected.

Fix 4 — Update GPU drivers

Fix 5 — Crash on save

File → Save a Copy → Plain SVG to Desktop. If successful, the original path has a permissions issue.

Fix 6 — Clean reinstall

Uninstall via Settings → Apps
Delete %APPDATA%\Inkscape
Reboot
Install the latest MSI