Top 7 Common Movie Maker Problems & Errors (How to Fix Them)

Windows Movie Maker can help users edit a video and then upload it on Facebook, Vimeo, YouTube, etc. Although this tool can help us easily create a movie, we will encounter some Movie Maker problems/errors like Movie Maker black screen, no sound issue,etc.

Movie Maker is a free and simple video editing software. Many people use it to make cool videos and share them with their friends, family, and coworkers. For instance, with this free and simple video editing software you can easily and quickly create YouTube video with your pictures. However, you may encounter the Movie Maker not working, Movie Maker can’t start, no sound, black bars, and other problems according to to a report. The top 7 common Movie Maker problems as well as corresponding solutions, are shown here.

The Top 7 Common Movie Maker Problems & Errors

Part 1. Windows Movie Maker Is No Longer Available for Download.

The first thing you may notice that Microsoft Movie Maker was officially discontinued on January 10th, 2017. Websites that offer free downloads of Movie Maker are not offering the real thing and they contain malware, viruses, and/or hidden costs.

Now, you might be wondering:

“Where can I get Movie Maker Windows 10?”

MiniTool® Software Limited, a professional software development company, based in Canada, offers the free download of Windows Movie Maker. Of course, the download link is safe. You just need to click the following button to get the free video editing software.

MiniTool MovieMakerClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Part 2. Windows Movie Maker Can’t Start/Open

What do you do when you receive the error message, “Sorry, Movie Maker can’t start. Make sure your computer meets the minimum system requirements before trying to start Movie Maker again, and then try to update the driver for your video card if Movie Maker still doesn’t start”?

In general, if you encounter this issue you need to make sure that your computer can meet the minimum system requirements, and then restart Movie Maker, If this can’t solve the Movie Maker problems, you need to check that you have the latest video drivers installed for your system and make sure your system can run DirectX 10 or above…

Here, you can read this post Solved – Windows Movie Maker Not Working (Windows 10/8/7) to find the detailed steps to solve the issue.

Part 3. Windows Movie Maker Stops Working

Sometimes, users may encounter the Movie Maker has stopped working issue.

I am constantly getting a,”Movie Maker has stopped working”, error message every time I try to load a project that is anything more than a few minutes long. I have tried EVERYTHING that I have found online to try to fix the problem … updating drivers, checking video file formats for compatibility, etc. NOTHING WORKS! PLEASE HELP.social.technet.microsoft.com

Now, you can try the following steps to fix any Movie Maker problems:

Step 1. Right-click the shortcut of Movie Maker.

Step 2. Choose Properties and then click on the Compatibility tab.

Step 3. Check the box which says “Run this program in compatibility mode for”, and then select a suitable option from the drop-down menu:

If you have Windows 8, you need to select Windows 7.
If you have Windows 7, you need to select Windows Vista (Service pack 1 or 2).
If you have Windows Vista then select Windows XP (Service Pack 1, 2 or 3).

Step 4. Click on the Apply and OK button.

Part 4. Windows Movie Maker Has No Sound

What should you do if your video played on Windows Movie Maker has no sound? Let’s see a true example which comes from answers.microsoft.com in the following picture.

In this situation, you can try the following 2 solutions:

Solution 1. Check Audio Codec and Device

Here, if you encounter the Movie Maker no sound issue, you need to check the device to make sure that the sound can be heard with this device and the sound drivers are well installed. Sometimes, you need to update your sound drives to the latest version.

Solution 2. Convert Your Video

As we know, if Windows Movie Maker doesn’t support your video format, you will encounter the no sound issue. Therefore, you need to convert your video into a compatible format which is supported by Windows Movie Maker.

Want to know more ways to solve the no sound issue? Here, you can read this post, “8 Solutions to Fix Windows Movie Maker no Sound,” to find more solutions and details about Microsoft Movie Maker problems.

Part 5. Windows Movie Maker Errors

What do you do if you encounter Movie Maker error data/message on Windows 10, for instance, 0x87160139, 0x80004003, and more? How can we solve Movie Maker errors?

There are many reasons that cause these errors such as the Movie Maker error 0x80004003.

The version of Windows Movie Maker or your video card drivers are outdated.
Windows Movie Maker doesn’t support your media file.
The files or pictures might be removed or relocated from the place they originally existed.
The project files might in used by some other programs.

Now, howhow can we solve Windows Movie Maker errors? Check out the following tips:

Make sure you have the latest version of Windows Movie Maker.
Make sure the media files you are using are supported by Windows Movie Maker.
Make sure the files you are editing are in the same place.
Make sure you have the codecs for the file that you want to work on in Windows Movie Maker.
Make sure you have the latest video card drivers.
Close other programs while editing your video with Windows Movie Maker.

Part 6. Movie Maker Does Not Show Videos

What should you do if your video disappears from a Windows Movie Maker project?

The photos, videos and music files you imported into Movie Maker are not embedded into the project. They are simply linked to the project from their current location. Thus, once you make a change to any of these variables Movie Maker cannot find these files.

Here, if you don’t know how to import files you can read this post, How to Add Pictures and Videos to Windows Movie Maker, to learn how to import media files from computer hard drive, Photo Gallery, DVD, digital camcorder or smartphone.

Here are some reasons for this Movie Maker problem.

Perhaps you used your video files from a USB flash drive, but you did not insert the flash drive back into the computer.
The video files were on a network drive instead of the local hard drive and now you are not attached to the same network.
Although you copied over the project file to another computer, you neglected to copy over all the additional video files that you had inserted in your movie timeline.
Although you copied over all the video files to another computer, you did not place them into an identical folder structure as on the first computer, Windows Movie Maker does not know where to find them.

Part 7. Movie Maker Video with Black Screen

More and more users are reporting that they have encountered Movie Maker black screen problems. Unfortunately, most of them don’t know how to fix black screen problem in Movie Maker. Here are 3 solutions that can help.

The Best Windows Movie Maker Alternative

As one of the world’s most popular free video editor Windows Movie Maker is no longer available on Microsoft’s website and won’t receive any security updates to fix newly discovered vulnerabilities. However, fortunately, there are some excellent alternatives available that are more powerful and easy to use.

In order to fit most users’ needs and requirements with editing and sharing videos, MiniTool® Software Limited released an all-new-one and easy-to-use video editing software – MiniTool Movie Maker. With this new video editor, everyone can easily create a cool video and share it with others via YouTube, Facebook, etc.

MiniTool Movie Maker offers movie templates to cater to the needs of different people. For instance, newlyweds can choose a wedding template and then import their media files including pictures as well as videos. A moment later, they will get a cool video.

Reading here, I guess you are as excited about MiniTool Movie Maker as we are! Now, subscribe to get this tool. We couldn’t build this all-new one video editor without you and we’re really looking forward to hearing what you think.

MiniTool MovieMakerClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

MiniTool Movie Maker, the best Windows Movie Maker alternative, is coming!Click to Tweet

Bottom Line

If you have received the above Movie Maker problems, try the listed solutions to solve them.

If you have encountered other Microsoft Movie Maker errors, please share them with us by leaving a comment.

Finally, let us look forward to the best Windows Movie Maker alternative – MiniTool Movie Maker.

About The Author

Bella

Position: Columnist

It’s going to be 6 years since Bella came to MiniTool family. She has been writing tech articles for many years. Her special focuses are video editing tips, change video format, data recovery, and manage partitions. She loves to travel and likes to try all new things.