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.
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
- Repair the app (Office: Quick Repair) and reinstall VC++ redistributables
- sfc /scannow and DISM /RestoreHealth
- Reboot to clear desktop heap
Detailed fix by platform
Windows
- powershell
sfc /scannow DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth winget install Microsoft.VCRedist.2015+.x64
How to diagnose
- Scope — One program or all?
- Recent — Updates installed?
- Events — Application log errors
🔧 Still not fixed?
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Where this error sits
Origin: Platform & cloud. Errors that are often confused with or caused by this one (click to open):
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Last updated 13 Oct 2026