Microsoft Wordpad is a tried and true app. It does very little, but that\’s the point: if all you want is a fast word processor to take notes, Wordpad has you covered.
Except over the years, many Windows 10 and Windows 11 users have reported a strange bug in Wordpad. Sometimes, without explanation, Wordpad starts taking a long time to load. Some people report it taking up to 20-30 seconds for the app to start.
Numerous Microsoft Answers forum posts cover the topic, but none of them propose a solution. The only workaround given is to disable all network adapters:
- Wordpad takes 38 seconds to load unless network adapter is disabled
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/wordpad-takes-38-seconds-to-load-unless-network/02c0dcd6-ad73-47b7-8fda-33de8acf0d11 - Wordpad opens after 20 seconds or more
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/wordpad-opens-after-20-seconds-or-more/5e8df823-8dfd-4769-bb6a-32eebc69efcb - WordPad Opens Slowly But Instantly When Network Adapter is Disabled
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/wordpad-opens-slowly-but-instantly-when-network/30db42a1-cdad-4c46-9283-b36045beb0f8
The good news is we have the solution! It happened to someone on our team and he eventually discovered what was triggering it.
It turns out, if your default printer is not connected to the computer or turned on, Wordpad (we assume) will search for the printer when the app starts, resulting in a really long load time. By simply setting your default printer to something else, like \”Adobe PDF\”, the problem immediately goes away, and Wordpad starts up fast like normal. You may also need to uncheck \”Let Windows manage my default printer\” so you can keep PDF as the default.
We reported the fix to Microsoft and hopefully they will address the bug, now that the cause is known. In the meantime, we hope this fix can save people in the future from this odd but common issue plaguing Wordpad.