Folks are treasuring Paint 3D in the archive amid its deprecation—where you can now get the app

Paint 3D is officially dead. Following the August announcement, Microsoft deprecated this staple feature of Windows 10 yesterday, November 4, 2024.

But that does not stop people from treasuring the once-touted as the classic Paint replacement. Folks (via @TheBobPony on X) are treasuring Paint 3D and archiving the app—including its older versions—to make it installable even after the mentioned date.

You can access the versions with UI.Xaml and VCLibs packages from Pixeldrain and Icedrive, while a version without these packages is also available on Pixeldrain. But, downloading these will be a bit cumbersome since they aren’t available through the official Microsoft Store, where you could easily get them with just one click.

You can install an .Appx or .AppxBundle software by first enabling sideloading on your device, which lets you install apps from outside the Microsoft Store (keep in mind that these are third-party solutions).

After that, you can either double-click the .Appx or .AppxBundle file to use the App Installer tool or PowerShell by running the command Add-AppxPackage -Path “C:\Path\to\File.Appx” to install the package directly.

Microsoft’s decision to kill Paint 3D has been somewhat ironic. The Redmond tech giant once hailed the 3D graphics-editing app as the successor of the classic Paint back in the old Windows 10 days, but years after that, we’re seeing a lot of AI features on the classic app amid the AI race while Paint 3D is sunset.