How to Fix “The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b)“ Error on Windows?

In this article, I will walk you through the solutions to fix error code 0xc000007b.

Many of you have encountered an error message saying “The application was unable to start correctly” along with an error code (0xc000007b). This error message pops-up when you are trying to open an application on Windows. Basically this error occurs when you upgrade Windows version and certain files or programs get corrupted.

What is Error Code 0xc000007b?

The error “the application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b)” is a common error in Windows 7/8/10. This error is a standard Windows error and it does not elaborate anything. The error rarely pops up on the computers that run the Anniversary Update of Windows 10. Sometimes it appears in Creator Update when trying to launch random system apps.

If this error has affected only a single application on your system, then there is a possibility that the application got corrupted. You should reinstall that application and try to run again. However, usually, this bug affects more than one application. It prevents the computer owner to use various services. 

Reasons behind the error code 0xc000007b

There are many reasons behind this error code. If the problem affected only one application of your system then there are chances, that particular application got corrupted and the error can be overcome by reinstalling that single application. But such cases would be rare that this problem affects a single application of your system.

The main reason behind this error is the incompatibility between 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows and applications. This error may also appear when you try to run a program or game. The causes may be corrupted or missing .NET Framework 3.5 or Visual C++ Redistributable Packages.

How to fix “the application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b)” error?

If we compare this error with the others such as 0x80070057, 0x80070002, 0x80004005 or 0x80070005, the 0xc000007b error code is more common. The system is not going to be very helpful and it is not going to tell you the reason for this error code.

Even though Microsoft itself has not provided any patch to fix this error. In such situations, it is always advisable to fix this error by reinstalling the corrupted or affected application.

Try the following solutions one after another if the first method doesn’t fix this issue. 

Quick-fix methods to fix the error code 0xc000007b

There are no defined methods to fix this error. However, there are scores of quick fixes that you can try to get rid of this annoying error. If quick fixes don’t work for you, you can try advanced solutions one by one or in combination, if necessary.

Reboot Your System

Although it’s a very simple solution sometimes it gives positive results as many errors get resolved just due to rebooting the system only. So, try to restart your Windows first and if it doesn’t work, try the next fix.

Re-Install the Corrupted Application

If you have only a single corrupted application, then try this method. Launch the affected application using Administrator rights. In case, it doesn’t work, try to reinstall the corrupted app by doing the following steps.

• Right-click on the actual executable or shortcut for the malfunctioning game or application and then select Properties.

• Now open Compatibility tab. Mark the “Run this program in compatibility mode” checkbox and then click OK.

• Try running your application and see if this method fixes the error.

Update .Net Framework to fix the error the application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b)

Earlier if you were using Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 and later upgraded to Windows 10, there is a likelihood that you’ll come across this bug. These Windows operating systems use .NET framework 3.5, and so many applications also used this framework. Windows 10 comes with .NET framework 4.5 and doesn’t include version 3.5. Therefore, it becomes incompatible with those applications that used .NET framework 3.5. The upgraded Windows 10 may cause error 0xc000007b. If you’ve purchased your computer with Windows 10, you are less likely to encounter this error. In this case, you should do the following steps to update .Net Framework:

• Head to the Microsoft website for downloading the updated version of .NET Framework.
• Follow the installation wizard.
• Reboot and run the application.

Update Your Windows to fix error “the application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b)” 

If you update your Windows OS, it is more likely that you’ll fix this issue and solve some other issues too. In addition, while doing this process, you can also update some programs and features built-in Windows OS such as .NET Framework and DirectX. So, update your operating system to fix the 0xc000007b error. After completing this process, reboot your system and try to run the game or program again.

Advanced Solutions to Fix (0xc000007b) Error Code in Windows 7/8/10

If these quick fixes don’t solve the problem, you should try the next methods which are advanced solutions to fix this error.

Run the application in Compatibility Mode

Running the application in compatibility mode is a fix that works for many users. When you encounter this error, you should attempt to run the application in compatibility mode and check if it works or not. Do the following steps to run the app in compatibility mode.

• Right-click on the app icon and select “Properties”.

• Click on the “Compatibility” tab. And then click on the “Run compatibility troubleshooter”.

• Select “Try recommended settings” in the troubleshooting option and then click on “OK”.

• As a result, the settings will be applied as in the below image.

• Now run the program again to check if this method fixed the bug.

Reinstall Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable

While upgrading Windows 10, if Microsoft Visual C++ files got destroyed or corrupted, they affect games more than other programs. Therefore, if the error pops up while loading a game, do the following steps.

• Right-click on the Windows key and select Control Panel and click on Programs. 

• Now open “Programs and Features”.

• Uninstall/Remove all “Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable” items.

• Navigate to the Microsoft website and download the latest files along with the 2010 files. These files include msvcp100.dll, msvcr100.dll, xinput1_3.dll, and msvcr100_clr0400.dll. 

• Follow the installation wizard and perform a manual installation of “Visual C++ Redistributable Package”.
• Reboot the system and try to run the app again.

Upgrade Windows 10 from 32 bit to 64 bit

When you try to start an application that is compatible with the 64-bit operating system and your computer is running a 32-bit OS, this error appears. A 32-bit application is not able to load 64-bit DLL. Upgrading Windows 10 from 32 to 64 bit is the best solution in this case. Before upgrading, back up your important documents using any reliable backup program.

Note: It would be better to create your backup file on the cloud or on any external disk because the local backup might get destroyed or corrupted.

Change the Value of the LoadAppinit_dlls Key

Corrupted or unsigned DLL causes an error, thus we can fix this issue by using Reget.exe and changing the value of LoadAppinit_dls key to 0. Basically, LoadAppInit_dll is a technique that’ll start the DLLs in their reg-key when a program starts. Thus, you might fix the error by changing the value of the LoadAppinit_dls key to 0.

• Hold the Windows key + R and type regedit.exe and press Enter.

•  Go to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows”  open the path as mentioned below steps.

• Double click on “LoadAppInit_Dll.” Now change its value to 0 and click on “OK”.

• Reboot your system.

Perform a Clean Boot

You can start Windows OS with a minimal set of startup programs and drivers. So, it is easy for you to find out if a background program interferes with your program or game. If required, you should free up drive space on your PC before performing a clean boot. For 0xc000007b error fix, do the following steps to perform a clean boot on Windows 10.

• Sign in to your system as an administrator.
• Click Start and type “MSConfig” into the Search Windows box.

• Select “System Configuration” in the search result. And then click on the Services tab in the “System Configuration” dialog box.
• Tap to select the “Hide all Microsoft Services” checkbox and then click on “Disable all”.

• Click on the Startup tab in the “System Configuration” dialog box and tap or click on “Open Task Manager”.

• Go to the Startup tab in “Task Manager” and then select each startup item and click on “Disable”.

• Now close Task Manager and click OK on the Startup tab of the “System Configuration” dialog box.
• Restart your PC in a clean boot environment.
• Perform troubleshooting steps for installing, uninstalling, and running your applications.
• Reset the computer to start normally when you finish your troubleshooting. This action will restore the functionality that was temporarily lost in the clean boot environment.

Check the Disk to fix the error code 0xc000007b

Hard drive issues can also cause many bugs and you can fix them by checking your hard drive. Perform the following steps to check your hard disk for issues.

• Click the Start menu and type ‘cmd’.
• Right-click on the Command Prompt. Now select “Run as administrator”.

• In Command Prompt, just type chkdsk c: /f /r and press Enter key. Now, you can check and repair your C drive. For checking another drive, replace c with the letter assigned to that drive.

• If you’ve installed your Windows in C drive, then you’ll see the message “Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process.” You’ll also be prompted to press Y or N to provide your input for scheduling the volume to be checked again when the system restarts.

• Type Y and press Enter key.
• Now check whether the application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b) error is solved or not.

Conclusion

Hopefully, the above solutions will help you to fix the error the application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b). Please write to us in the comment section if it works for you. If you feel this article helpful please like, share and follow our Facebook page and keep visiting our website for such tutorials and guides.