0xC0000142 🪟 Windows

The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142)

A DLL the program loads failed to initialise — often after an update, with corrupt runtimes, or when a desktop heap/session limit is hit.

Seen on: Windows

Meaning

STATUS_DLL_INIT_FAILED. Office/Click-to-Run, games and command-line tools hit it when a system DLL or runtime is damaged, or when too many processes exhaust the desktop heap (many cmd/conhost windows from services).

Common causes

  • Corrupt system files or Visual C++ runtimes
  • Faulty Office/app update
  • Desktop heap exhausted (services spawning many processes)
  • Security software blocking DLL loads

⚡ Quick fix

  1. Repair the app (Office: Quick Repair) and reinstall VC++ redistributables
  2. sfc /scannow and DISM /RestoreHealth
  3. Reboot to clear desktop heap

Detailed fix by platform

Windows

  1. powershell
    sfc /scannow
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
winget install Microsoft.VCRedist.2015+.x64

How to diagnose

  1. Scope — One program or all?
  2. Recent — Updates installed?
  3. Events — Application log errors

🔧 Still not fixed?

Many errors look alike. If the steps above didn’t solve it, one of these is probably what you’re facing:

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