Office 2021 desktop apps fail to open, cannot restore or uninstall

Question

Office 2021 desktop apps fail to open, cannot restore or uninstall

Marilyn-7254 10

I have had Office Home and Student 2021 installed on my Windows 11 Pro Lenovo computer since 2023. All office apps I use regularly have just stopped working today with the error message stating that the Office16\AppVlsvSubsystems64.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error. Error status 0xc0000020. Edge browser has also become unstable, sometimes failing when I open a new tab and start a search - it closes on the first key stroke. This is intermittent. The Windows run pop-up also sometimes is blank, but I can still search by typing and press enter to open the App that I presume it found, but I cannot see on the blank pop-up window.

I have tried the following:

Restoring the application using Control Panel>Apps>Office Modify - which failed with an error that i forgot to record, something about the application not allowed on my computer.
Download the online installer and run again, which fails with error code 30015-2030 (23).
Reinstall the Visual C++ runtimes from the MS website. Successful, but doesn't solve problem after reboot.
Run the Uninstall Troubleshooter. This opens the shell window, but immediately goes to Press any Key to exit. After several attempts and waiting > 10 mins, finally the Troubleshooter says "There was a problem uninstalling Microsoft 365 applications with the uninstall troubleshooter. "
When I do the manual steps defined by the Troubleshooter, Control Panel gives error "It has already been uninstalled."
When I follow the troubleshooter steps for how to install a downloaded product, I get the same error that I got from the first time I tried to reinstall - error code 30015-2030 (23).
I have restarted my computer many times, which causes the OneNote error dialog about the AppVlsvSubsystem64.dll to appear during start-up.
Note: during the boot sequence as first start up this morning, there was a statement about repairing my hard drive. That appeared to be successful, it only happened the first time. When I use Windows tools to analyze my harddrive, it finds no errors. Later reboots do not show the same hard drive repair statement, the computer boots normally.
Note: I have not installed anything lately. Last Feature update was 10/22/25. I'm running Windows 11, version 25H2. Last Quality Update was 10/15/25; KB5066835 (26100.6899)

How do I get my Office 2021 download problem resolved? Thank you.

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Answer 1

I contacted MS support, and the agent resolved the problem. The solution was to download o15-ctrremove.diagcab, which is an Office uninstaller application. I gave Agent remote access to my computer, I watched action go by rather fast, but once that uninstaller tool was used, the agent deleted any residual Office folders (i.e. Word, Excel, Powerpoint) from Program Files. I had to reboot, then the agent reinstalled Office using the Setup.exe from my account page. It all works now.

Some lessons learned:

Something went wrong early on with my attempts to Uninstall/Repair Office. Not sure what did it (whether it was Control Panel method, or online Uninstall tool), but something removed Office from my installed application list, but didn't remove perhaps registry settings or something that left my computer in this limbo of not being able to completely remove a corrupt Office install, and not being able to reinstall either. Perhaps this was an artifact of the corrupt install.
Now that everything is working again, I checked the AppvIsvSubsystems64.dll at this location: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16. The File Type is .simlink, which means it should not contain any data. I misunderstood that earlier.
While Office applications are working again, the Edge browser is still very unstable - perhaps even more so. When I try to type something into the search bar, it crashes. So that will be the next problem for me to solve.

I consider this problem resolved. Thanks to all those who tried to help.

Answer 2

John Korchok 230.3K Volunteer Moderator

Have you tried an Office Repair? The Online Repair option is more thorough.

Charles Kenyon 164.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-11-08T22:47:11.05+00:00

Marilyn said "Restoring the application using Control Panel>Apps>Office Modify - which failed with an error that i forgot to record, something about the application not allowed on my computer."

I think this means try a repair. As you point out, the online repair option is superior and may not have been tried.
Marilyn-7254 10 Reputation points

2025-11-09T00:14:47.71+00:00

You are correct, I did try to do the repair via the Control Panel, but not the Online repair tool - I didn't know about it. I did search and find the Uninstall Troubleshooter, which is another online tool - that didn't work.

My computer seems to be working OK, expect all the Microsoft apps that share the Office DLLs.
John Korchok 230.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-11-09T00:42:54.9766667+00:00

If an Online Repair can't fix it, you'll have to uninstall Office (Control Panel>Uninstall a program, select Microsoft Office 2021, click on Uninstall), then reinstall from the Subscriptions page of your Microsoft account.
Suzanne S Barnhill 276.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-11-09T02:02:28.6733333+00:00

It sounds like she's tried that, too.
Marilyn-7254 10 Reputation points

2025-11-09T14:51:03.6233333+00:00
Yes, I did try all the Repair options. My problem has morphed over time, as I tried to explain in the posting. Here is the status.-

I cannot do any repair options because Office is no longer recognized as installed by Control Panel. I believe this changed when I ran the MS Uninstall Troubleshooter. When this problem originally started, Office and OneNote were recognized as installed. I tried uninstalling them through Control Panel first (failed with error) then the MS Uninstall Troubleshooter I found as a link on this MS webpage. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/uninstall-microsoft-365-or-office-from-a-pc-9dd49b83-264a-477a-8fcc-2fdf5dbf61d8

Since this problem started, the error I get on startup (via OneNote) suggests this file is corrupt. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\AppvIsvSubsystems64.dll Using file manager, this file exists but it is 0 KB in size, date 12/25/23. When I run VC_redist.x86.exe to repair the VS C++ redistributables, that DLL file size and date stamp is not changed. It remains 0 KB in size.

Checking Task Manager, there is no Microsoft Office task running.

When I try to reinstall Office desktop using the Setup.exe I download from my MS account, I get the "We, sorry, we had a problem installing your Microsoft 365 and Office Programs. Is you Internet Connection working? Do you have enough free space on your main hard drive?" The answer to both those questions is yes.

I found this discussion, which seems to have been resolved with a Repair option, which I cannot do anymore because of first point above.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5493061/how-to-fix-appvisvsubsystems64-dll

I tried what the original author said. That is, using Command Prompt:

Ran DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth. Result was "The component store is repairable. The operation completed successfully." The DISM tool states "image version 10.0.261200.6899

Ran DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth, Result was the process hung at 62.3% and did not complete the operation. I checked task manager to see if the process was still running - the command prompt was a listed Task, but with no activity. Closed Command Prompt window. Tried RestoreHealth again, but it didn't even start process.

Restarted, during shutdown process got message "Updated Underway". After restart, same problems still exist.

Ran DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth again. Waited for 30 min+ until process did finish. It completed but failed with error 0x800f0915 "repair could not be found anywhere. Check internet connectivity..." My internet connection appears to be functioning correctly, but notice this warning about my internet connection is the same message I get when attempt to install the Office setup.exe.

Any more ideas?
Marilyn-7254 10 Reputation points

2025-11-09T15:36:48.7+00:00

DISM Log File Snippet.log

I just checked the DISM log file. It shows some errors. I've attached the applicable section of the DISM log file.
Marilyn-7254 10 Reputation points

2025-11-09T20:04:47.27+00:00

I just tried to do a System>Recovery>Fix Problems using Windows Update. The update was successful, but it did not solve my problem with the Office suite not being able to install. the AppvIsvSubsystems64.dll still is 0KB in size.
Marilyn-7254 10 Reputation points

2025-11-09T21:21:48.3266667+00:00
Adding some info about my latest attempts.

I was able to get DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth to complete with "The restore operation completed successfully. The operation completed successfully." However, it did not solve my problem with the Office suite not being able to install. the AppvIsvSubsystems64.dll still is 0KB in size.

I reinstalled the VS C++ redistributals, runs succefully, no change. I did this because of this suggestion: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5382410/officeclicktorun-exe-bad-image-0xc000012f-cant-ins?forum=msoffice-all&referrer=answers

I downloaded the Offline Office installer. It will not run either, same error as the online installer - "We're sorry, we had a problem installing your Microsoft 365 and Office Programs. Is you Internet Connection working? Do you have enough free space on your main hard drive?" The answer to both those questions is still yes.

I'm stumped. I hope someone can help!
John Korchok 230.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-11-09T22:57:01.0066667+00:00

This post suggests installing the 32-bit version of the VS redistributables as well as 64-bit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/4167106/dll-files-missing-after-windows-11-update?forum=windows-all&referrer=answers
Marilyn-7254 10 Reputation points

2025-11-09T23:20:02.64+00:00

Sorry I was not more explicit. I did install both. I have installing the 64-bit version more than once (always sucessfully) and the 32-bit version just once (also successfully).

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Office 2021 desktop apps fail to open, cannot restore or uninstall

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