Image resizer not opening when photos are hi-lited

Test a single ordinary JPG copied to a local folder first; if Resize with Image Resizer still produces no dialog and PowerToys came from Microsoft Store, remove the stale Microsoft.PowerToys.SparseApp package.

Microsoft Store installation fix

This repair applies only if PowerToys was installed through Microsoft Store. A matching PowerToys report—where the context-menu command appeared but Image Resizer did not open—was resolved by removing that package ^1^.

1. Close PowerToys from its system-tray icon.
2. Right-click Start, then open Terminal or PowerShell.
3. Run:

Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.PowerToys.SparseApp |
    Remove-AppxPackage

4. Start PowerToys again.
5. In PowerToys Settings → Image Resizer, ensure Image Resizer is enabled.
6. Select one JPG in File Explorer, right-click it, and choose Resize with Image Resizer.

The resize dialog should open. Microsoft documents that selecting this command for one or more image files normally launches Image Resizer ^2^.

If PowerToys was not installed from Microsoft Store

Since reinstalling has already made no difference, narrow the failure without reinstalling again:

1. Copy one normal .jpg file to a simple local folder such as Pictures. Do not initially test HEIC files, cloud-only files, or a large mixed selection.
2. Try Resize with Image Resizer on that single JPG.
3. If it works, add the original photos gradually:
   • Failure only with HEIC may match a reported HEIC-specific defect in PowerToys 0.97.1 ^3^.
   • Failure only with JPGs exported by ON1 Photo RAW may match a current Image Resizer COMException report ^4^.
   • Re-exporting one affected photo as a standard JPG or PNG provides a non-destructive comparison test.

If even the local test JPG fails:

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc.
2. In Task Manager, select Windows Explorer → Restart.
3. Start PowerToys from the Start menu and retry the single JPG.

Confirm whether only the Explorer dialog is broken

Open a new PowerShell window and test the supported Image Resizer command-line interface:

PowerToys.ImageResizer.CLI.exe --show-config
PowerToys.ImageResizer.CLI.exe `
  --width 800 --height 600 `
  --destination "$env:USERPROFILE\Pictures\Resized" `
  "$env:USERPROFILE\Pictures\Test.jpg"

PowerToys adds this command to PATH; a new terminal is required after installation. If this creates the resized file, the resizing engine works and the fault is limited to File Explorer’s context-menu launch path ^2^.

If the CLI and context menu both fail, open PowerToys Settings → General → Diagnostics & feedback, generate a bug-report ZIP, and submit it through the PowerToys issue tracker. PowerToys provides the diagnostic package and bug-report workflow for unresolved failures ^5^.

References

1. Image Resizer not opening · Issue #43722 · microsoft/PowerToys - GitHub
2. Image Resizer utility
3. #45474 heic-support broken
4. #51618 Image Resizer fails with COMException
5. General settings for PowerToys