FIX: Application Was Unable to Start Correctly (0xc0000142) in Office 2019/2016.
The following problem occurred after installing updates to a Windows 10 based PC with Office 2019: All MS Office applications doesn't open and display the error: "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142). Click OK to close the application".
The application error 0xc0000142 "The application was unable to start correctly", may appear when your try to open any Microsoft Office 2016 or 2019 program (Word, Outlook, Excel, etc.), after installing the following Windows 10 Updates:
This tutorial contains step by step instructions to fix the Error 0xC0000142 when you start an Office 2016/2019 application.
How to Fix: Application Error 0xC0000142 in MS Office 2016 or 2019.
Important: Before you continue to apply the methods below, navigate to Update and Security center and install all available updates.
Method 1. Uninstall Latest Windows or Office Updates.
Method 2. Restore your System to a Previous Working State.
Method 3. Repair Office Installation.
Method 1. Uninstall Latest Windows or Office Updates.
The first to resolve the error 0xc0000142 in Office programs, is to uninstall the latest Windows updates from your PC. To do that:
1. Simultaneously press the Windows 
+ R keys to open run command box.
2. In run command box, type: appwiz.cpl and press Enter.
3. In Programs and Features click View Installed updates on the left.
4. Click at "installed on" to sort the updates based on their installation date, and then select and uninstall all the latest Windows (or Office) updates.
5. When the uninstall process completed restart your computer.
6. After restart, open any Office application and check if the error 0x0000142 has resolved. If the error persists then follow the same steps and uninstall all the latest Updates, before you continue to the next method.
Method 2. Restore your System to a Previous Working State.
The next method to fix the Error "0xc0000142 – application was unable to start correctly" in Office 2016 or Office 2019, is to restore your PC to a previous state by using the Windows System Restore feature. To do that:
1. Simultaneously press the Windows + R keys to open run command box.
2. In run command box, type: rstrui and press Enter.
3. At the first screen of the System Restore wizard, click Next and then select a previous state and click Next to restore your system on that date.
4. When the system restore is completed, check if the error 0xc0000142 is resolved.
Method 3. Repair Office.
The final method to resolve the error 0xc0000142 in MS Office 2016/2019, is to repair the Office installation by following the steps below:
1. Simultaneously press the Windows + R keys to open run command box.
2. In run command box, type: appwiz.cpl and press Enter.
3. In Programs and features, select the Office version you have installed, and click Change.
4. Leave the Quick Repair option selected and click Repair.
5. When the Office repair process is completed, launch any Office application and see if the error persists. If the error "0xc0000142" appears again, then follow the same steps but this time select the Online Repair option. *
* Note: The "Online Repair" process, will remove and then will reinstall all the Office applications on your PC. After, reinstall you may prompted to reactivate your Office product.
That it! Let me know if this guide has helped you by leaving your comment about your experience. Please like and share this guide to help others.
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Getamesay
September 22, 2022 @ 4:08 pm
Thanks it is helpful , I use the third method it works.
Kennedy
June 24, 2022 @ 4:14 pm
Method 3 worked for me in 2022.thqnk u alot
Kevin G.
May 15, 2022 @ 7:53 pm
Thanks for the direction on the appwiz.cpl that saved me a lot of time.
I ran it without the connection to the internet.
Greatly appreciate your support!
Richard
March 13, 2022 @ 5:16 pm
Method 3 did the trick for me. Thanks very much for such clear instructions.
Femmy
March 11, 2022 @ 6:40 am
Thank you, option 3 worked for me.
Younis
February 13, 2022 @ 8:09 am
Nice Job dear, Thanks A lot.
Carl Veee
November 4, 2021 @ 2:01 am
Option 3 allowed me to launch Word without the error. Office was having problems activating because the user had an Office Account without Office licenses bound.
Once I got into Word, I went to File -> Office Account and signed out all of the Office Accounts. I then signed in with the Office Account that has the Microsoft 365 Apps for Business subscription.
One other trick. You can make sure that the updates are working by launching the Task Scheduler -> Expand Task Scheduler Library -> Microsoft -> Office
I then manually ran the Office Feature Updates and Office Feature Updates Logon tasks. Before fixing the Office Account licensing activation error, they would fail with a run result of 0xc0000142, but now they are completing successfully (0x0)
Hope this helps.
cybere
September 20, 2021 @ 4:31 am
Thank you!!!
damith wanigasekera
August 26, 2021 @ 5:21 pm
thanks so much, the quick repair worked like a charm !!!
Sharon
June 17, 2021 @ 9:49 am
Quick repair worked for me. Thank you. Last time this happened I got onto Microsoft support and they spent the entire day attempting to repair it. In the end, I just reinstalled Office. Lost a whole day's work.
jin
June 17, 2021 @ 4:44 am
Thank you. The third method has been work
Yannis
June 4, 2021 @ 4:51 am
Thanks a lot for your information. It really helps me a lot. I was unable to open my Microsoft this morning and unable to perform tons of job tasks and my area has a full lockdown now. Unable to go PC shop to fix. I try Method 3 and it's work. Thank you so much!
Annabel
June 4, 2021 @ 12:29 am
Options 1 and 2 did not work for me but option 3 did and took less than 5 mins.
Fantastic! Thank you very much.
C. Anthony
June 2, 2021 @ 5:40 pm
Method 3's 'Quick Repair' option worked, thank you! We somehow got two of the same version #s of Microsoft 365 as being installed on the same date of last Windows 10 update, which seems strange; so rather than risk deleting 'the wrong one', I applied Method 3 to both. Anyway, had Method 3 not worked, we would have opted for the Uninstall/Reinstall of Method 1.
Nikhil
May 25, 2021 @ 11:09 am
Thank You
Sam
April 10, 2021 @ 3:58 pm
Option 3 worked. Thank you very very very very much!
You are awesome.
SR
March 19, 2021 @ 10:54 am
I am not tech savy and I don't want to mess up Windows on my computer, so I went straight to Method 3, Quick Repair, and it worked! Whole process took less than a minute (took me way longer to try to fix this on my own and search for help online). Thanks so much for sharing this info.
Matthew
March 11, 2021 @ 8:13 am
Method 3 "Quick Repair" worked for me, thank you so much for the info!
Tony
February 27, 2021 @ 7:07 pm
#1 did it just fine. Great advice!
cathie
February 26, 2021 @ 2:43 am
this is really helpful!!! thank you so much.
Al
February 25, 2021 @ 4:09 pm
Reboot has solved the issue for me and after a few times I disabled fast startup in Windows, haven't had the issue since that.
Stacy
February 25, 2021 @ 2:57 am
Used Method 3, simple repair option. Worked well and resolved the problem straight away. As a bookkeeper always using excel, that error was becoming a real pain.
Thank you!
Ian
February 24, 2021 @ 4:19 am
Method 3 worked for me today (24 Feb 21)
Milutin
February 22, 2021 @ 10:49 am
Thanks for this article. Quick repair worked perfectly. I'd also suggest to list this method first because it's the least invasive of the three.
Dennis Fortier
February 18, 2021 @ 5:57 pm
I have read all the current web links associated with 0xC0000142 and MS-Office, and can find none that match my lead-up. My system encounters the error after installing the latest MS-Office 2019 updates. When starting Outlook or MS-Word, an orange window comes up stating Office maintenance is being installed and I should wait. When the maintenance completes, I receive the error message.
Yes, I can do the clean-up to remove the error but unless I tell Office to stop installing maintenance the error will reoccur. It appears to me, at least on my system, that the protagonist here is MS-Office 2019, not Windows 10. Is anyone looking into the current Office maintenance release to determine if something there requires attention?
lakonst
February 20, 2021 @ 1:29 pm
Restart you PC and then try to repair the Office installation.
ERPL
January 25, 2021 @ 9:52 pm
Thank you!!!!!! I would write a thousand "thank you" if I could.
3rd method and everything's back to normal. Very helpful!
Ilyes Csaba
January 24, 2021 @ 11:11 am
I used the third method and it worked fine. Thanks!
webpilot
January 19, 2021 @ 2:49 pm
I used the first method and it worked fine. Thanks! I assume at some point windows will reinstall the update and maybe I'll have the same problem. If that happens, I'll try to repair the installation.
Marja
January 18, 2021 @ 2:32 pm
Pfft, finally! After stressing all morning the super simple quick repair option worked for me. So, yes, I agree that it would be a good idea to put this as the first option.
But, thanks anyway, my office apps work again!
Derek Townsend
January 10, 2021 @ 3:55 am
Thanks so much. This worked very well without me having to do an uninstall as other sites suggested.
Iveta
January 6, 2021 @ 4:18 am
Amazing!!!
Go for Quick Repair!
Panicked first and now thank you :)
Steven McCarthy
December 21, 2020 @ 11:44 am
Hi, worth trying to un-pin office apps from tasks bar, worked for my user
Kate B.
December 11, 2020 @ 10:41 pm
Quick Repair worked for me. So much simpler than anything on the Microsoft sites. I've bookmarked this page "just in case."
Beti
December 5, 2020 @ 2:46 pm
Solved.
Thank you!
Steven Latus
November 24, 2020 @ 1:45 am
I received this error message earlier today after I tried to start Word and was first notified that Microsoft 365 was being updated. The message appeared after the update. I also got the same message when I tried to start Outlook and One Note. The fix for me was simplicity itself—I restarted my PC. Problem solved. I would suggest that anyone else having this same issue try rebooting first.
Lee J Kelly
November 18, 2020 @ 6:17 pm
Thank you. The quick repair option worked for me.
Sherry Zbar
November 2, 2020 @ 12:10 am
Thank you so much.
Btw, if I leave a document open in Word 2016, my entire PC freezes. I have a different version on an old PC and never have that difficulty. Is this a common occurrence with this version?
I so long for the good old days = XP and Word Perfect!
Tom
October 20, 2020 @ 10:25 pm
Quick repair helped.
Thank you so much. :)
prat
October 3, 2020 @ 10:36 am
Method 3 quick repair worked for me. It should replace with method 1.
Dee Clarkin
September 12, 2020 @ 4:20 pm
Great advice! Used the simple repair option and got excel to open again. thanks!
B. Welch
January 2, 2020 @ 12:27 pm
I am not getting this error but seeing the behavior that anytime I try to open a word or excel document from a Mapped Network drive excel splash screen appears then closes and the document does not open. If i navigate to the share using \\Servername\share it opens fine.
I have read multiple post tried multiple fixes IE changing security settings repairing removing reinstalling office. all to no avail. I do have 3 different Microsoft accounts.
Any suggestions?
lakonst
January 3, 2020 @ 12:03 pm
Try to disable the Antivirus program.