Error: "The application was unable to start

correctly (0xc0000142)"
Aug 25, 2014

Issue:
When you start up an AutoCAD 2015-based program, the following error message
is displayed:

The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142). Click

OK to close the application.

or

In some cases AutoCAD will not show this error and will simply not start and
provides no error message. The startup errors may reference LMU.exe, or the
event log may refer to a crash of mshtml.dll.

Causes:
Possible causes include incorrectly registered DLL files, incompatible DLLs, or
another program may be preventing AutoCAD from running.
Possible conflicting software includes:

Program called "Search Protect" or "SW booster"

Incorrectly switched reg key

NVIDIA drivers

Beyond Trust "Trusted Desktop" btpload64.dll

Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Extended acapture64.dll and acapture32.dll

Corrupted C++ installation

Antivirus or Protection Packages

Solution:
Uninstall "Search Protect" or "SW Booster"
1.
2.
3.
4.

Open the Window Control Panel

Access the installed program list
Select and Uninstall "Search Protect"
Start AutoCAD

Incorrect Registry Key

A different program may incorrectly be switching a registry key from a 0 to a 1.
Changing the value of the following registry key to 0 may help:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
\Windows\LoadAppInit_DLLs

Nvidia Drivers
Navigate to the NVIDIA website and update the drivers for your graphics card.
www.nvidia.com

Beyond Trust
The program "Beyond Trust" could be locking down the software. You may identify
a reference to btpload.dll

uninstall the program or rename the btpload.dll to test. Adjusting

the registry key (above) may also solve this particular conflict.

Adobe Acrobat
For Adobe Acrobat 9, rename the following DLL files:
C:\Windows\System32\acapture64.dll
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\acapture32.dll
Alternatively, you may uninstall the "Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Extended 64-bit Add-On."
On 32-bit systems, modify the Adobe Acrobat 9 program to not have the "Capture
CAD Modules" installed.

Corrupt C++ Installations

If this is a C++ installation error, uninstall the C++ modules on the
system and reinstall. Autodesk installers ship with prerequisites in the
extracted installation folders- not the installed program files folders. You
can manually access the installers here on most machines:
C:\Autodesk\PROGRAM FOLDER NAME\3rdParty\x64\VCRedist
C:\Autodesk\PROGRAM FOLDER NAME\3rdParty\x86\VCRedist
Uninstall the redistributables and reinstall them from this location.
Antivirus or Protection Packages
There are a variety of products in use that either lock down program
access outright, or try to prevent malicious software from running. The
parameters companies use to determine inappropriate system access
can vary greatly and could possibly affect specific programs on your
machine from running,
For situations where other solutions have not worked, it is worth

reviewing the apps of this variety that may be installed and checking to
see if there are allowable excpetions in coverage.
Further Troubleshooting with "Autoruns"
To help troubleshoot and determine what is conflicting with AutoCAD,
use can also use the Microsoft's Autoruns utility.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Download and install Autoruns.

Start Autoruns.
Start AutoCAD.
Check AppInit tab in Autoruns window.
Review the DLL files listed and locate them based on the listed
paths.
6.
Uninstall the related program or rename the files, one by one,
testing the program startup after each change to try to isolate the
problematic DLL.
AppInit_DLLs in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

See Also:
AutoCAD 2015 Application Error (0xc0000142) Autoruns for Windows
Error: "The Application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000005)" (AutoCAD Civil
3D 2015)