“The Application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b).” I hope most of us are familiar with this error. In the span of our time with our computers we have met face to face with this error at least once. Maybe when we started a new application or just finished installing a new game this error always led us to think what is wrong with our system.

Below you will find some solutions to deal with 0xc000007b error and possibly fix it. Most of the times any one solution will work but sometimes you need to combine two or more solutions to fix it properly.

Note: This error sometimes comes due to version mismatch. If you are running a 32bit application that requires 32bit OS then this error might be coming or vice versa. Check your application version first before going through all the methods mentioned below.

Restart your system

Might be the oldest trick in the book that actually works sometimes. While installing your application there might be a case where some DLL files might be missed. The library files might get copied but not registered. A simple restarting your system might get those file registered on boot, thus fixing your 0xc000007b error.

Provide Administrative Rights

You can try running your application with proper administrative rights to avoid 0xc000007b error. It can be helpful because sometimes applications cannot access libraries due to lack of administrator rights.

A) To run an application in admin mode try right-clicking on the application/shortcut and click on “Run As Administrator”

B) OR right click on the application or the shortcut and open “Properties” and click on “Compatibility” tab.

C) Check the “Run this program as an administrator” checkbox at the “Privilege Level” fieldset. (You need to have administrator access to do this step)

D) Click on “Apply” Then “Ok”.

Now you can run your application and check if the 0xc000007b error still occurs. If so continue with other methods.

Update Microsoft .NET Framework to Avoid 0xc00007b

In the majority of the cases, Microsoft .NET framework causes the “The application was unable to start correctly” error. The problem might be some invalid .NET framework files or outdated version in that scenario you have to update your .NET Framework. This method is not applicable to Windows 7 and earlier versions. Windows 8-10 can follow these steps.

To update Microsoft .NET framework follow the below steps.

A) Open Control Panel and find “Programs and Features” options and click on it.

B) Click on every item that starts with “Microsoft .NET” then select “Uninstall/Change” from the top.

C) Choose “Remove” Option from the checkbox list and click next.

D) Let the uninstall finish but do not restart your system yet. Uninstall every item that starts with “Microsoft .Net” and uninstall one by one. Restart your system.

E) Visit Microsoft .NET Framework website and download the latest framework for your OS (32bit or 64bit).

F) Install the latest downloaded .NET Framework. Restart your system.

In most cases, this will fix the 0xc000007b error. If it doesn’t we have some more tricks up our sleeve :D.

Reinstall your application

Sometimes during installation itself, some of the files get corrupted breaking the application itself. In such cases, the 0xc000007b error occurs. To avoid this you need to completely uninstall your application from your system. And then reinstall it. It might not be a viable solution but it works 50% of the time.

Update your Windows

In many scenarios, your windows update is a viable solution to get rid of “unable to start correctly” error. One update will fix the bugs that reside in the windows. Most of all it will directly update your Direct X and .NET Framework and fix any missing DLL. Which might do a great deal to fix many errors.

To update windows 7 and earlier versions manually:

A) navigate to “Control Panel”>”Windows Update”

B) Click on “Check for updates” and let the window update.

To update windows 8-10 manually:

A) Open the start menu and click on settings.

B) In “Windows Settings” window click on “Update & Security”

C) Check if there is an update available. If an update is there simply update your windows.

Reinstall Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages

This method is also useful for reinstalling the Microsoft .NET. Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable is one runtime component required to run many types of applications. The files of C++ Redistributable might get damaged or corrupted for several reasons. In that case, you need to uninstall and re-install it.

A) Navigate to “Control Panel”> “Programs and Features”

B) Now uninstall everything that has a name like “Microsoft Visual C++ 2xxx Redistributable” one by one. And Restart your system once all uninstalled.

C) Download the new packages from Microsoft website.

D) Install and restart the PC.

Try running your application now. It should omit the 0xc000007b error.

Register Missing DLL files

Note: This is an advanced step. Try at your own risk.

The 0xc000007b error might be a result of missing DLL (Dynamic-Link Library) files. So you need to find the missing DLL file and register it or provide the file next to your application. You can use programs like Dependency Walker (We are not covering how to use dependency walker in this post) to find out the missing DLL file.

A) After locating the missing DLL file download it from DLL-Files (https://www.dll-files.com).

B) Copy the file into your “C:\windows\system32”.

C) Press “Windows+R” to open Run command box.

D) Type in regsvr32 .dll and press enter.

E) Your DLL file will be registered.

Alternatively, you can open the Command prompt(As Administrator) and type in “regsvr32 .dll”. The DLL file will be registered.

If you do not want to install multiple DLL files simply put them right next to your application exe file.

Now try to run the application and see if the error persists.

Run Check Disk

This is the last resort for solving this error. It’s highly unlikely you will ever need to do this or your error might be a hardware issue. But there is no harm to check it once.

A) Run “Command Prompt”/”CMD” as administrator.

B) In the command prompt type ”chkdsk c: /f /r”. It will ask you to schedule it for next boot.

C) Type “Y” and enter. Your system will be checked (partitions other hard drives) when you restart your system.

If even after using all these methods you are getting the same error then be sure the application or game you are trying to run is not for your version of windows. You might have installed 64bit version on 32 bit or vice versa. Yes, I know the 32-bit application has to be supported in 64 bit also but in some cases, it doesn’t happen. The DLL files or the application might be bound with 32-bit windows only.

The post How To Fix “The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b)” Error appeared first on Tactful Minds.