How to Fix Error 0xc0000142 (Application Unable to Start Correctly)

By ErrorFix · Updated October 21, 2026 · 7 min read

What error 0xc0000142 means

The full message reads "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142). Click OK to close the application." Behind the scenes, Windows was assembling the program from dozens of small library files called DLLs, and one of them failed its initialization routine — the setup code every DLL runs when a program starts. Rather than launching a broken app, Windows cancels the whole start and shows you this error.

You will run into 0xc0000142 most often with desktop software that loads many shared components: office suites, Adobe and Autodesk products, PC games, and older business applications. It frequently appears right after a Windows update replaces a shared DLL, right after installing a new program whose installer overwrote an existing DLL, or when an antivirus or utility injects its own library into the app's startup. The underlying Windows installation is normally fine — the problem lives in the libraries the specific program depends on, which is why the fixes below are targeted and safe.

Common causes

• Corrupt or mismatched DLL in the app folder: a damaged or wrong-version DLL sitting next to the program's executable takes priority over the correct system copy and fails to initialize.
• Damaged Windows system files: a shared library in System32 or SysWOW64 that the app relies on has been corrupted, often by an interrupted update or disk errors.
• Conflicting startup software: antivirus tools, screen recorders, overlays, and auto-updaters inject their own DLLs into other programs at launch, and a buggy injected library breaks the app's startup sequence.
• Recent Windows update: an update can replace a DLL with a newer version that an older application was never tested against, or leave a DLL half-written if the update was interrupted.
• Malware hooking system libraries: some malicious software patches or replaces DLLs so it loads with every program. The patched library fails its initialization check, and every affected app reports 0xc0000142.

How to fix error 0xc0000142 — step by step

Work through these fixes in order. The clean boot in Step 2 is the one that resolves the majority of cases.

1. Restart the PC, then run the app as administrator. A half-finished update or a locked file can trigger this error once and never again. Restart your computer, then right-click the program's shortcut or executable and choose Run as administrator. If the app opens, make it permanent: right-click the file, choose Properties, open the Compatibility tab, and check 'Run this program as an administrator.'
2. Find the conflicting program with a clean boot. Press Win + R, type msconfig, and press Enter. On the Services tab, check 'Hide all Microsoft services,' click Disable all, then switch to the Startup tab and open Task Manager to disable every startup item. Restart. If the app now launches, re-enable services and startup items a few at a time to find the one that breaks it — antivirus tools and auto-updaters are frequent offenders.
3. Run SFC and DISM to repair Windows system files. Right-click Start and choose Terminal (Admin) or Command Prompt (Admin). Run sfc /scannow and wait for it to finish, then run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth. These two tools replace damaged Windows files, including the DLLs the failing app tries to load. Restart the PC when they complete.
4. Check Event Viewer to name the failing DLL, then re-register or replace it. Open Event Viewer, go to Windows Logs, then Application, and find the most recent error entry for the program — it usually names the exact DLL that failed. If the DLL belongs to the app, reinstall the app. If it is a system DLL, try re-registering it from an admin terminal with regsvr32 followed by the DLL's file name, then restart.
5. Uninstall the app (and any recently installed software), then reinstall. Open Settings, go to Apps, then Installed apps, and uninstall the program that shows the error. If the error started right after you installed something else, remove that program too — a bad installer can overwrite shared DLLs. Download the latest installer from the official source, right-click it, choose Run as administrator, and reinstall.
6. Scan for malware and undo the last Windows update if the timing matches. Run a full scan with Windows Security or your antivirus of choice, because some malware replaces or hooks system DLLs, which produces exactly this error. If the problem appeared right after a Windows update, open Settings, go to Windows Update, then Update history, then Uninstall updates, and remove the most recent update as a test.

Did this fix it? Quick checklist

• The application launches without the 0xc0000142 popup
• The same app also opens after a full restart
• Event Viewer shows no new application errors for the program
• Other programs on the PC start normally

If one stubborn program still refuses to start, try launching it from a brand-new Windows user account — a damaged user profile can interfere with DLL loading in rare cases. Also worth checking: the program's own installation folder for DLL files dated much older or newer than everything around them. A single stale DLL dropped by an old patch is sometimes the entire story, and replacing just that file (backed up first) fixes the app without a full reinstall.