How to Fix ‘Application Unable to Start Correctly’ Error

• Dec 27, 2018
• By George E. Rowe

Seeing the error message “the application is unable to start correctly” on your computer screen? How to fix this error and launch the application you want to use?

The factors causing this error could be various, and so the solutions. Here in this post we list several methods to troubleshoot the ‘application unable to start correctly’ issue. Some of then are quite easy while some may take a little more time to finish. You can try the methods one by one until you find the proper one to resolve the issue on your computer, or you can take selective measures based on the current specific situation.

Solution 1: Restart your computer

That sounds easy but it works in many cases. When you encounter problems in using computer, the first thing may be to restart the system, and see if the problem persists.

A simple reboot can fix many tiny problems. Try it when apps fails to start normally.

Solution 2: Run app as administrator

If the problem still appears after the restart, the second thing is to check if the system settings prevent you from launching the application. Sometimes you may need to enable administrator rights in some sensitive operations. So try to run the application with admin rights to find out if the app is affected by this factor. Here’s how to do:

(1)Windows users
Right click on the app or its shortcut, select Properties and open the Compatibility tab. Then tick the ‘Run this program as an administrator’ box, and click on OK.

(2)macOS users
Right click on the application icon in Finder or Desktop, and choose Open from the sub-menu. If prompted, choose Open again in the pop-up confirmation dialog.

Solution 3: Reinstall the software

When the application is corrupted, it will not be able to launch and that’s why you are prompted by the error message. In that case you need to reinstall the application to cover the corrupted version. Some apps provide the repair option in built-in uninstaller, while some of them will require you to perform a manual uninstall first.

(1)Windows users
Right click on the Start menu on the lower left corner of the screen, choose Control Panel, and click Uninstall Programs link in the Control Panel. Then select the app in the list of installed programs and click Uninstall button above. The software’s uninstall wizard may pop up and you should follow the onscreen prompts to finish the procedure. After that, reinstall the app on your computer and launch it again.

 

(2)macOS users
Open up Finder from the Dock, and head to the Applications folder. Right click on the app and choose Move to Trash option. Then downloaded the latest version of the app from the official site and run the installation file to finish the fresh installation.

Solution 4: Install system updates

Some apps cannot run on your computer because they have incompatibility issue with your current system version. To find out if the app is compatible with your system, head to the app vendor’s official site and get the system requirements information there. If the software is not supported on the older versions of the system, you could consider to update your current system version, depending on how you value the app.

Solution 5: Contact the app vendor

If you have tried all the methods above and the ‘application unable to start correctly’ issue still exists, we suggest you to consult the software vendor for technical assistance. Normally you can find the contact information in the vendor’s official site.

You can write to the team behind the app, and provide some details, like your system version, the app version, or some screen shots, to help them identify your issue.

Does any of the solutions we discuss in this post solve the ‘application unable to start correctly’ error on your computer? Welcome you to share your experience with us.