The Application was Unable to Start Correctly (0xc000007b) [FIXED]

You may get an error message that says “The application was unable to start correctly” accompanied by an error code (0xc000007b). This error message appears when you are trying to open an application on Windows. Usually this happens after you upgrade from an earlier version of Windows and something goes wrong with certain files or programs. You can try the methods below and see if they can help you get rid of this error. 1) Reboot your computer 2) Run your application as administrator 3) Reinstall your application 4) Reinstall Microsoft .NET framework (for Windows 7 or below) 5) Reinstall Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages 6) Update your Windows 7) Run check disk 8) Switch to ChromeOS Fix 1: Reboot your computer There can be something tiny that goes wrong in your system when you see a “The application was unable to start correctly” error. A simple reboot of your computer can fix your 0xc000007b error. Fix 2: Run your application as administrator When you come across a 0xc000007b error, you can try running your application as administrator and see if this is helpful. a) Right click on the application you want to open. Then select Properties. b) Go to Compatibility tab. Check Run this program as an administrator. Then hit OK. c) Try running your application and see if this method fixes the error. Fix 3: Reinstall your application Sometimes the application you want to run may contain something that has corrupted. In this case, you should uninstall your application completely and then reinstall it. After that run the program and see if your problem resolves. Fix 4: Reinstall Microsoft .NET framework In fact, in many cases the “The application was unable to start correctly” error results from issues on Microsoft .NET framework. (.NET framework is a framework developed by Microsoft which supports applications using .Net technologies.) You may need to reinstall it to fix the issue. * Microsoft .NET framework has been integral part of Windows 8 and 10. You cannot remove or reinstall it manually. Therefore the steps below may only apply to Windows 7 or earlier versions. For Windows 10/8 users, you can try updating your Windows to install the latest .NET framework (if any). a) Press Win + R keys. Type “control” and hit OK. b) In Control Panel, scroll down to find and open Programs and Features. c) Single click on every item starts with “Microsoft .NET“. Click on Uninstall/Change and follow the instruction to uninstall these items. d) Go to Microsoft .NET Framework download website to download and install the framework. Fix 5: Reinstall Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Package is a runtime component necessary for running of multiple applications. The files in Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Package usually corrupt due to many reasons. And this can cause the 0xc000007b error. In this case you need to reinstall this components. a) Open Programs and Features (as steps a and b in the method above shows) b) Uninstall all items with the name of “Microsoft Visual C++ 2*** Redistributable“. c) Go to Microsoft to download and install Visual C++ Redistributable Packages. Fix 6: Update your Windows Updating your operating system can fix the bugs that cause troubles. In addition, some features and programs built in Windows, such as DirectX and .NET Framework, can also be updated during the process. It is recommended that you update your operating system and see if this can help you fix your 0xc000007b error. Fix 7: Run check disk The error can also result from hardware issues, especially from your hard drive. You should run check disk using Command Prompt and see if there is any problem on your disk. a) Click on Start menu and type “cmd“. Right click Command Prompt in the result and select Run as administrator. b) Enter “chkdsk c: /f /r“. (This means you are going to check and repair C drive. If you want to check another drive, replace “c” with the corresponding letter of that drive.) Follow the instruction to complete the process. c) After that check and see if the problem is solved. Fix 8: Switch to ChromeOS Windows is a very old technology. Sure, Windows 10 is relatively new, but it’s still just the latest iteration of a decades-old operating system, designed for a bygone era (pre-internet). Now that we have the internet, fast connection speeds, free cloud storage, and endless web apps (like Gmail, Google Docs, Slack, Facebook, Dropbox and Spotify), the entire Windows way of doing things – with locally installed programs and local file storage – is totally outdated. Why is that a problem? Because when you’re constantly installing uncontrolled third-party programs, you’re constantly opening the door to viruses and other malware. (And Windows’ insecure permission system compounds this problem.)