If you are seeing “The Application was Unable to Start Correctly (0xc000007b)” error on your screen, it means something is not right with the application you are trying to run.

The error generally appears when you attempt to launch an application, especially after having upgraded Windows. For example, you might experience this error when you launch an application after migrating from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 or Windows 10.

In this post, we discuss some easy solutions to fix the 0xc000007b error.

Solution One – Reboot your PC

Many times a simple reboot fixes many problems and it could also solve “The Application was Unable to Start Correctly (0xc000007b)” error.

Some of the causes for this error can be

• Windows is running too slow
• Some misbehaving program is using too much memory

Rebooting wipes away the current state of the computer including the software. Any code that was not executed properly earlier will be reloaded again, which might resolve the issue. When you reboot the computer, the operating system loads from scratch and all application and their dependencies are also freshly loaded. So the application might work well like it worked before the error appeared.

Solution Two – Run the application with administrator rights

Some applications might throw up the error and refuse to start when they can’t access the files they need. The simple solution to this problem is running the application with administrator rights and see if it helps.

When you run an application with administrator rights, you are actually notifying the windows operating system that the application is safe and it is ok for the application to access any files it needs.

Here are the steps to run the application with admin rights.

• Right-click on the application you are trying to run
• Select Properties
• Go to Compatibility tab and check the option Run this program as an administrator

• Click OK
• Try launching the application now and see if the issue has been resolved.

Solution Three -Reinstall application

The system and application files change as you use your PC. Sometimes installing and uninstalling any application or making some system changes leads to corruption of some files. There is a possibility the files of the application you are trying to run are corrupted and as a result of which you are getting “The Application was Unable to Start Correctly (0xc000007b)” error.

A simple solution to this problem is to fresh install the application in question. Doing so would ensure all files required by the application are newly created which in turn would resolve the issue.

Solution Four – Reinstall Microsoft .NET Framework

Microsoft .NET Framework is required by many applications. “The Application was Unable to Start Correctly (0xc000007b)” error might be related to Microsoft .NET Framework. Installing/Reinstalling the .NET framework might resolve the issue.

Note- Since Windows 8, Microsoft .NET framework is an integral part of Windows operating system. Hence, Windows 8/8.1/10 users cannot uninstall and reinstall .NET framework manually. They need to update Windows to get the latest version of .NET framework. The steps given below are applicable to Windows 7 and earlier versions.

• Press Windows key and R simultaneously to bring up the Run command tool
• Type control in Run command box and click OK
• In the Control panel window, select Programs and Features
• Click on Microsoft .NET framework entry in the list and click on Uninstall/Change option

• Repeat the above step to uninstall all Microsoft .NET framework versions install in your PC
• Go to Microsoft.com website and download the latest .NET framework
• Click on the setup file and follow the on-screen instruction to install the .NET framework

Solution Five – Reinstall Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages

Visual C++ Redistributable Packages install runtime components on a computer that does not have Visual C++ installed. Applications that are built using the corresponding Visual C++ version need these Visual C++ runtime components.

The application that you are trying to run might be looking for Microsoft Visual C++ runtime components

. If your computer does not have Visual C++ Redistributable Packages or the latest version is not installed, the application might throw up “The Application was Unable to Start Correctly (0xc000007b)” error.

Another reason could be that the Visual C++ Redistributable Packages files are corrupt. The simple solution to this problem is reinstalling the latest version of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages.

Here are the steps to follow.

• Press Windows key and R simultaneously to bring up the Run command tool
• Type control in Run command box and click OK
• In the Control panel window, select Programs and Features
• Select item with “Microsoft Visual C++ 2*** Redistributable (*** refers to Version number)
• Click Uninstall/Change to remove the Microsoft Visual C++ 2*** Redistributable package
• Repeat the above steps to uninstall all versions of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable packages.

• Go to Microsoft.com website and download latest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable packages.
• If your computer is running 32-bit Windows OS version, you need to download the x86.exe file.
• If your computer is running 64-bit Windows OS version, you need to download the x64.exe file.
• Click on the downloaded file and follow on-screen instructions to install Visual C++ Redistributable packages.

Solution Six – Update Windows

As mentioned earlier, Windows 8/8.1/10 users need to install all pending updates to get the latest version of the .NET framework and DirectX as it might be required by the application. Many times installing updates also helps in fixing bugs that might resolve “The Application was Unable to Start Correctly (0xc000007b)” error.

We recommend users to install all pending Windows updates and see if the issue is fixed. Here are the steps to follow

• In Cortana search box, type Windows update
• Click check for updates from the list of results

• If you see any pending updates, install them

Solution Seven – Run Check Disk

Bad sectors in your hard drive can be one of the reasons behind “The Application was Unable to Start Correctly (0xc000007b)” error. There is a possibility the application is not able to recover data from some bad sectors which is the reason behind the error.

The simple solution to fix this problem is running check disk which will mark bad sectors and also recover data from these bad sectors. CHKDSK also fixes logical file system errors that might help in resolving the issue. Here are the steps to follow

• Click Start and type cmd in the search box
• Right-click command prompt the list of results and select Run as administrator
• In the command prompt window, type chkdsk c: /f /r“ and hit Enter. The command means you want to check the C drive.

• If you want to check other partitions, just replace C with the drive letter and press Enter