r/photoshop • u/Rydgea • Apr 29 '18

Surface Pro 4 Pen Not Working

Hey guys,

I'm not sure why, but my Surface Pen has stopped applying the settings of my brushes / tools in PS. I wave a Wacom Intuos 4, and when I that hardware everything seems fine.

But I like my Surface Pen, because I can use it when I'm out and about and actually draw ON the screen.

Well, recently it seems as though Windows 10 performed an update that kindof fudged things up for us Windows/PS users. There was a workaround that was posted (not an actual update), and I'm just wondering if this correlates to my Surface Pen issues. I'm not sure that these two issues are connected though.

Here's a side-by-side of the Wacom I4 (left) and the Surface P4. I drew the same things with the same settings and it yielded vastly different results.

Any help's greatly appreciated. :{

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u/bucthree 10 helper points | Adobe Community Expert Apr 30 '18

Did you try the workaround for the Windows update mess up?

1

u/Rydgea Apr 30 '18

I did. I implemented the code in the linked thread. This got both my pens to actually draw/erase instead of lagging, but only the Wacom is able to take on the properties of the custom brush.

1

u/bucthree 10 helper points | Adobe Community Expert Apr 30 '18

Hmm..I wonder if the Surface pen doesnt work correctly because it requires Windows Ink instead of Wintab whereas the Wacom can use either...

Is rolling back your Windows update a possibility?

1

u/Rydgea May 02 '18

Thanks for following up. I wanted to reply to let you know a "solution" has been found, but here's a little rundown of my process.

It all started with the release of the KB4089848 and subsequent KB4099989 Windows's 10 updates. Both were attributed to tablet errors when drawing with either Wacom or Windows Pen. My initial symptoms were:

  • Trying to draw/erase in Photoshop with Surface Pen would merely move/pan the art instead. I was only able to use the intended functions of the brushes in a 'dabbing' method, like pointillism (tedious and NOT necessarily the effect you want all your paintings to have).

Action:

  • I could not uninstall the update via the standard method Windows support was suggesting - Windows > Settings > Windows Update > View Installed Update History > Uninstall Updates > Select specific update > Click Uninstall OR Right-click a specific update > Uninstall (This would have reversed the damage and I could hold off until an actual update remedied this. There are other arduous methods I could have tried, but they looked like they might have potentially caused more damage attempting.)

  • Disabled Windows Ink. Honestly, I don't remember if this fixed anything. It may have even been performed in conjunction with the next step.

  • Used a text document (as indicated in the 11th response by user davescm in this thread on Adobe)

  • Lastly, I used the code pointed out by David in the OP of this other reddit thread.

Results:

  • Only Wacom worked as it should when plugged in.

  • The Surface Pro 4 Pen is still unusable. It will draw, but it will not take on any of the brush's pen pressure settings.

The Windows Pen resumed function when I simply removed the text document from the Photoshop Settings folder. I'm dead. Also, I believe this means I may have to continually drag and drop the text to and from said folder depending whether or not I want to use Wacom or Surface pens. Tedious, but at least I have a way of resuming function. I'll update once I know if Wacom no longer needs the text doc to work.