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Hi, I’m having a major issue with WB21 where the canvas will not activate at all.

Symptoms:

Clicking any page (including index) does nothing

Canvas never highlights or shows the blue outline

No objects appear when inserted (Layout Grid, Text, etc.)

Object List stays empty

New projects behave the same

Breakpoints make no difference

CTRL‑launch reset dialog does not appear

Full PC shutdown and reinstall did not fix it

It looks like WB21’s rendering engine is not initialising.

System:

WB21 latest version

Windows 11



Question:
What would cause WB21’s canvas engine to fail to initialise, and how can I fix this?

Thanks.

I am not ware of any issues like this otherwise it would have already been fixed.
It sound like an issue related to Direct2d / Graphics driver.
Or maybe you have installed a update of your firewall or virus scanner?

What exactly did you do before it stopped working?
Does it work in a new project?

This is the first time I have used WB21

WB21 was working normally until yesterday. I did not install any new software, firewall updates, antivirus updates, or Windows updates before it stopped working.

When the issue began, the canvas suddenly stopped showing borders, outlines, or inserted objects. The Object Manager stays empty even after inserting a Layout Grid or any other object.

I have already tested multiple new projects. The problem occurs in every new project, even after adding breakpoints (Default, 480, 768, 1024) before inserting objects.

I also tried:
– Running WB21 as Administrator
– Switching rendering mode between Direct2D and Software
– Full PC shutdown
– Reinstalling WB21

None of these restored canvas rendering.

It appears WB21’s Direct2D engine is failing to initialise on my system, even in a clean project.

Do you have any additional steps to force WB21 to rebuild its Direct2D configuration or graphics pipeline?

Quick update:

When I insert a blank HTML object, WB21 does show a blue outline around it.

However, inserting a Layout Grid, Flex Container, or any standard object still results in nothing appearing on the canvas and the Object Manager remains empty.

So WB21 is able to draw basic rectangles, but the full Direct2D layout engine still isn’t initialising.

This behaviour is the same in a brand‑new project.

When you re-installed WWB21, did you uninstall it and remove everything from the registry? It sounds like there is some corruption in there.

I did uninstall WB21 before reinstalling, but I didn’t manually remove registry entries or leftover configuration files.
If WB21 keeps loading corrupted settings, could you tell me which folders or registry keys need to be deleted so I can perform a completely clean reinstall? Thanks

If it worked before and you did not change anything then it must be a configuration issue otherwise it would not have suddenly stopped working.

It appears WB21’s Direct2D engine is failing to initialise on my system, even in a clean project.

If that was the case then you would not see anything in the workspace.

All settings are stored in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Pablo Software Solutions\WYSIWYG Web Builder 21

Maybe you can also try under a different Windows user account?

This issue has never been reported before, so to be able to help you I need all the details you can give me.

Hi Pablo,

Thanks for your reply. I wanted to provide more detail so you have a full picture of what’s happening.

WB21 opens normally and the workspace is visible, but the canvas engine never activates. Even in a brand‑new project, inserting a Layout Grid or any other object results in nothing appearing on the canvas. The Object Manager also stays completely empty.

I did notice something else today:
When I try to insert a Layout Grid, the breakpoint bar shows yellow triangle warnings next to the breakpoint sizes. I can remove the warnings, but they come back again the next time I try to insert a Layout Grid. Even after removing them, the canvas still won’t display anything.

The registry path you mentioned does exist:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Pablo Software Solutions\WYSIWYG Web Builder 21

So the configuration is present, but the rendering engine still doesn’t initialise.

I also tried:

Removing the breakpoint warnings

Switching rendering modes (Direct2D / Software)

Running WB21 as administrator

Reinstalling WB21 (behaviour stayed the same)

WB17 works perfectly on the same machine, so the issue seems isolated to WB21.

Regarding testing under a different Windows user account: I don’t currently have a second account set up on this PC, so I’m unable to run that test right now. If needed, I can look at that later, but I wanted to send you all the details first in case they help identify the cause.

Let me know what you’d like me to try next.

Thanks,
Harry

As this hasn't been reported by others then the issue is most likely system related. You may need to do a total clean up of your system to ensure that there is no associated files to WWB21 still lurking around.
1. Remove the Registry Entries
2. Delete Leftover App Data & System Files
3. Remove User Projects and Assets
Before doing so ensure you have backups of everything as once gone they are gone.

Out of curiosity you are not still running Windows 11 S and not the full Windows 11 are you?

The warning icons are related to breakpoints and unrelated to rendering of the workspace.

Direct2d is standard Windows functionality, it is not something specific to WWB.
This functionality has not been changed recently and is basically the same as in WB17 and the same as when it still worked for you when you first used WB21.
So, it's unlikely that the issue is related .
But something in your configuration may have become corrupt.
Please close the application, rename the registry key, and restart the application so you have a clean setup.
Also, you may have a corrupt system folder.

Close the application. Go to Documents\WYSIWYG Web Builder\ and rename the folder to Documents\WYSIWYG Web Builder_BAK\
then restart the application.

Hi Guys.

I wanted to give you a clearer technical description of what I’m seeing in WB21 regarding the Object Manager and canvas behaviour.

On a brand‑new blank page, after adding breakpoints, the canvas does not show any blue outlines at all. When I try to insert a Layout Grid, nothing appears on the page and the Object Manager remains completely empty. This happens consistently across all breakpoints.

However, when I load one of the preset templates (for example, the “full blank page” preset), WB21 inserts a headline block or styled container that is part of the template. In this case, the Object Manager does show those items. But if I delete the template’s objects and try to insert my own Layout Grid, again nothing appears and the Object Manager stays empty.

So WB21 is able to read objects that already exist inside a template file, but it cannot create or register new responsive objects such as Layout Grids or Flex Containers. Only floating objects like Blank HTML will show a blue outline, but responsive objects do not appear at all.

One thing worth mentioning: I previously renamed the WB21 system/config folder. After doing this, WB21 stopped showing blue canvas outlines on new pages and stopped inserting Layout Grids entirely. This suggests the responsive canvas engine was working originally but is now failing due to corrupted or missing configuration files.

Please advise on how to fully reset or replace WB21’s configuration files so the responsive canvas engine can initialise properly again.

Thanks,
Harry

Harry - see Pablo's reply above.

Alan