OneNote for Windows 10 freezes entire computer when drawing

Hi Clark,

Thank you for your advice. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a driver for my digital pen off Lenovo's website. I've also tried resetting and repairing OneNote for Windows 10 as you've advised, but the freezing problem still exists.

I should also mention that the freezing issue has never occurred when the only thing I am doing on the computer is drawing on OneNote for Windows 10; the problem emerges uniquely when I am drawing and watching a Youtube video/video calling at the same time.

Hi there,

I am using the Wacom one tablet to make notes...

the whole system hangs 

the screen freezes, trackpad doesn't work, mouse doesn't work..

and I have to restart manually..

I tried using OneNote 2016 and OneNote for windows10.. both are getting hanged.

I got a new laptop (Asus TUF A15 Ryzen 9 4900H GTX 1660Ti) yesterday and started having problem today while in class...

Please advise... what maybe the problem?

I am also having the same problem except I am just drawing with a mouse. I checked event viewer and everytime it happens dwm.exe (desktop window manager) says it hangs and is stopped. However, it does not provide any other error information. This must be an issue with onenote as we are all using different input devices. My Dell Inspiron 5402 also freezes when this happens but allows be to slightly move my mouse around without being able to interact with anything. Then if I click it beeps like a self checkout register...

Same issue with brand new Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5,  2in1 14 inch touch laptop/tablet with AMD Ryzen 7 and ADM Radeon Graphic Card.

Freezes when OneNote used with Lenovo active pen and when attending a vidoe conference (class - I am a student). Please help to find a solution.  It is a big issue during COVID times (classes over internet)!

Most of people reporting the issue have laptops with AMD hardware. Could this be the culprit?

Anybody with the problem uses Intel chips???

I'm a student that uses OneNote for Windows 10 with my digital pen to write class notes/study and I've recently noticed that the entire computer would freeze after some use. Here are some notes regarding my situation:

• This issue happens only when I am drawing with my digital pen.
• Ive never encountered this issue when using OneNote by itself- it only happens when I am using it to draw while watching a Youtube video or if I use it during a conference call (I have a dual-monitor setup)
• When it freezes, I am unable to Ctrl + Alt + Delete to reach task manager. I need to manually shut the computer down by holding down the power button.
• If I was watching a Youtube Video or calling someone and my computer freezes, the audio will continue to run and the person on the other side will be able to hear me until about 2 minutes later when that goes away too.
• This problem doesn't exist in OneNote 2016.
• The computer freezes about 15 minutes into working on it.
• I don't know if this helps, but I have a Lenovo Flex 14 (AMD) and use it with the Lenovo Active Pen 2.

Thank you!

I think it's an absolute embarrassment on Microsoft's part that this exact issue was logged more than 10 months ago at this point and yet continues to plague hundreds of users in the exact same fashion. This suggests that little has been done internally to address our concerns despite accurate and detailed descriptions from us all. 

I've just had this issue occur twice to me in the middle of my online lectures on Microsoft Teams (their own platform, which I think says a lot.), with the exact same circumstances as detailed in Isha's original post. The only difference being that I was using a mouse, not a pen.

In addition, Problem Reports in the Control Panel lists it as the Desktops Windows Manager (dwm.exe) hanging. An identical report was filed for each time this issue has occurred.

It seems we've had more users here report to use AMD chipsets, but the presence of other Intel users makes me doubt that's the cause. Rather, I think the fault lies in the OneNote for Windows 10 app, switching over to OneNote 2016 has thus far allowed a number of users, including me, to bypass the specific issue in the original post. That isn't an excuse to leave this system paralysing error unaddressed, however.

In any case, for anyone who wants to avoid this issue as much as possible, I suggest going into the Default Apps in Settings, then scrolling down and selecting 'Set defaults by app' to switch all of the file type and protocol associations to the standard OneNote 2016 if you have it. Microsoft Team's Class Notebook opens on OneNote for Windows 10 by default. At least for me, this workaround has helped.