Can’t save a Movie Maker project as a movie on Windows 8.1

I have Windows 8.1 on my new laptop.  I have not been able to save a project as a movie since I got the laptop.  I tried downloading a new Windows Essentials, but that didn't solve the problem.  When I select a Save in the Sharing pane, I am able to name the movie and the steps box appears to indicate progress is beginning.  Often the progress simply stops when step 1 is only a small percent complete.  At other times, Step 1 will complete, but the process stops on Step 2 at a low percent.  I receive a message that there was a problem with the program and Windows will close it, or that Windows Movie Maker has stopped responding.  The process usually takes several hours just to get to the place where the progress stops.  I have some movie projects I've spent hours on that I really want to save as movies.  How can I get my 2012 Movie Maker version to save a project as a movie?