How to Fix Application Error 0xc0000142 in Windows 11

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Ankit Kumar
Windows 11AppsFixTroubleshooting

The Problem

You launch a program — often a game, Office app, or something recently installed — and a small dialog appears: "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142). Click OK to close the application." Clicking OK closes it, and the app never opens.

Error 0xc0000142 means a DLL the program needs failed to initialize during startup. Common causes: a corrupted or outdated Visual C++ runtime, a conflicting background program injecting itself into the app, outdated graphics drivers, or damaged system files. Since the error message never names the failing DLL, the fix is to work through the likely culprits in order.

Quick Checks Before You Start

  1. Restart your PC. A stuck background process from a previous session can block DLL initialization.
  2. Run the app as administrator: right-click its icon and choose Run as administrator. If that works, the issue is permissions-related.
  3. Check if it affects one app or many. One app points to that app's files; many apps point to system-wide runtime or driver problems.

Step 1: Reinstall the Visual C++ Redistributables

Most 0xc0000142 errors trace back to the Microsoft Visual C++ runtime that games and desktop apps depend on.

  1. Download the official installers from Microsoft: search "Visual C++ Redistributable latest supported downloads".
  2. Install both vc_redist.x64.exe and vc_redist.x86.exe (choose Repair if prompted).
  3. Restart your PC and launch the app.

The full walkthrough is in fix MSVCP140.dll or VCRUNTIME140.dll missing errors — same runtime, same repair procedure.

Step 2: Update Your Graphics Driver

Games in particular throw 0xc0000142 when the GPU driver is outdated or half-installed.

  1. Right-click the Start button > Device Manager.
  2. Expand Display adapters, right-click your GPU, and select Update driver > Search automatically.
  3. Better: download the latest driver directly from NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel and do a clean install.

Step 3: Perform a Clean Boot

Third-party software — overlays, RGB utilities, antivirus injectors — can interfere with app startup. A clean boot isolates the conflict.

  1. Press Win + R, type msconfig, and press Enter.
  2. On the Services tab, check Hide all Microsoft services, then click Disable all.
  3. On the Startup tab, click Open Task Manager and disable every startup item.
  4. Restart and try launching the app.
  5. If it now works, re-enable services in small groups (restarting each time) until you find the conflicting program, then uninstall or update it.

Step 4: Repair System Files

Corrupted Windows libraries can cause initialization failures across many programs.

  1. Right-click Start > Terminal (Admin).
  2. Run sfc /scannow, let it complete, then run: 
    DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
  3. Restart and test again. Full details in repair Windows 11 system files with SFC and DISM.

Step 5: Reinstall the Affected App

If only one program is affected and the steps above didn't help:

  1. Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps, uninstall the program.
  2. Restart, then reinstall the latest version from the official source.
  3. For Steam games, use Verify integrity of game files first — it's faster than a full reinstall.

If 0xc0000142 appears for nearly every program including Windows built-ins, deeper system corruption is likely — consider reinstalling Windows without losing your data as the last resort.

Apps crash after launching instead of failing at startup? That's a different failure mode — see fix apps crashing or not opening.

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