Windows OS tends to be very jealous (particularly newer versions) of files that are not “signed” by official windows developers, since Pencil2D is an open-source project we don’t have the resources to sign the software digitally, so in general those apps tend to be blocked even if you can “normally” open the file at some point.
- How to download?
- Choosing 32 or 64 bits
- Unblock the ZIP file download
- Unzipping Pencil2D
- Antivirus Rules
- UAC Permissions Handling
- Run as Administrator
- Enable Developer Mode (advanced)
- Troubleshooting
- Final words
Choosing 32 or 64bits
To answer the timeless question Do I download 32 or 64 bits version? please visit the following official Microsoft guide to find your own bit architecture under Windows OS systems
How to download Pencil2D
Pencil2D can be downloaded in the website at Download | Pencil2D Animation
The links there will redirect you to the source repository service over at Github
However in case this does not work, Pencil2D also has mirrors in the source repository service Bitbucket
https://bitbucket.org/chchwy/pencil2d/downloads/
Unblock the ZIP File download
After you download the ZIP file you have to unblock it.
To unblock a ZIP file you have to:
- Right click on the downloaded zip file
- Go to file properties
- Browser to the _general tab_
- Towards the bottom press the unblock button
- Press Apply and then OK
- Only then you’ll be able to extract ALL the files without issue.
_Image taken from this guide: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/fix-windows-blocked-access-file_
Alt. guide to Unblock files on Windows10: How To Unblock A Zip File On Windows 10 - SingularLabs
Unzipping Pencil2D Download Files
Afterwards please unzip the files to your Program Files folder found in your C:\ drive
To Unzip the files please take a look at either of these guides
Alt. guide for unzipping https://www.fonecope.com/unzip-files-windows-10.html
Additional Troubleshooting
If you run into additional problems, like missing MSVCP140.dll, VCRUNTIME140.dll, QT5Widgets.dll, api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll, etc
Please visit our troubleshooting quick guide section in the downloads page for Pencil2D: Download | Pencil2D Animation
Check your Antivirus Rules
If you have an antivirus software with real-time protection enabled (e.g Kaspersky, Avira, Panda, AVG, etc) to avoid being blocked by real-time scanners you should consider checking the antivirus settings and create an rules exception for both:
- The Pencil2D application folder (where you extracting the files in)
- We recommend to create a general Pencil2D projects folder to save all your future animation files.
Please refer to your antivirus manual or online reference knowledge base for additional information on how to create these rules.
For a Windows Defender specific procedure please take a look at this guide:
UAC Permissions Handling
It is possible that the UAC (User Account Control) permission levels are set very high and is not allowing any kind of program or DLL file to be executed on your system (this can effect movie exports too).
Here’s a guide to disable it or at least consider lowering the rating (if you are not the system administrator you’d have to ask them to help or get the password for your computer workstation in order to do this)
Run as Administrator
Make sure you are running windows OS as an administrator whenever possible. Otherwise Windows users are allowed to configure individual apps to run with administrator rights.
Consider setting the **Pencil2d.exe** application file (the one with a pencil icon 
) to run as administrator in the file properties.
If you are not the admin, ask your parents or third party system administrator for the password and then set the program application file itself (Pencil2D.exe) to run as an admin by following this guide:
Enable Developer Mode
Sometimes installing software in the default mode (Sideload Apps) can still prompt issues so try following this guide to enable developer mode on your Windows 10 OS (it works for all editions of Windows 10 including Home)
Troubleshooting
Qt5Widgets.dll / Qt5Multimedia.dll / Qt5Gui.dll / Qt5Xml.dll was not found
- Right click on the file.
- Select
Extract all - Go to the folder you extracted the files to
- Find
pencil2d.exeand double click on it.
MSVCP140.dll / VC_RUNTIME140_1.dll is missing
- On the Pencil2D extraction folder
- Find the
vcredist_x64.exeorvcredist_x86.exe(depending on 64 or 32 bit architecture) - Double click and follow the install instructions.
Note: For more info and links to Microsoft installers please read the forum thread below
MSVCP120.dll is missing
Download and install the following package:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40784
Note: For more info regarding Visual C++ 2013 files check the link below
Universal C runtime api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll is missing
For legacy Windows versions (7, 8, 8.1) download and install the following windows updates:
Final words
If you’ve been having issues in 2019 and beyond while using Windows10 specifically experiencing your files disappearing or getting corrupted after saving the project file (.pclx) correctly (can’t open them; get error) please follow this guide to a T.
Afterwards please download the following nightly builds which contain a recently issued fix that partially addresses this problem.
While we’ll keep working on this and eventually correct these issues, note that these are development versions of the software. While they are run in the same way, and don’t have any extra requirement to be used, they may be more unstable than the official release on our download website.
Please don’t start your homework or next grand masterpiece with these dev builds, but do test these versions, and let us know if during testing these builds improve your experience when running into the aforementioned problems:
Win (64bits) https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxdcdOiOmg-CSVlqc3JNQV9hVGs
Win (32bits) https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxdcdOiOmg-CcUEwS1R0WFhwM0E
Look carefully at the timestamsp!