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Word will not start in safe mode or even IN safe mode. What can I do to fix this?

Anonymous
2023-09-06T03:27:55+00:00

For no apparent reason, Word on both of my computers (using Windows 11) will no longer open. A box appears that says, "Word couldn't start last time. Safe mode could help you troubleshoot the problem, but some features might not be available in this mode. Do you want to start in safe mode?" When I click "Yes," I am unable to use Word entirely, although the program opens. But when I click "No," the Word document opens for approximately five seconds and then the whole program crashes (or sometimes Word won't open at all).

I have tried every fix found on YouTube videos, and I have repaired Microsoft Office in the Control Panel over a dozen times. I have also noticed that this primarily happens with trying to open documents from previous versions of Word, and I changed the Options in Word to allow me to open documents from previous versions, and it still crashes. I did fix this issue on my Windows 11 laptop, however, I lost every program as it performed virtually a factory reset. I cannot afford to do a factory reset on my PC, as I have too much money invested in installed programs.

Please help me resolve this issue. I suppose the only thing I haven't tried is uninstalling and reinstalling, but I don't want to pay for Office all over again. Thanks.

EDIT: I am able to open Word only after starting it in Safe Mode, closing it, and opening it as usual. However, I am still have the issue where I cannot open documents from older versions of Word.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-09-07T04:21:58+00:00

    It appears that you have carried out most of the troubleshooting steps already that I would suggest.

    It’s appears that the maybe the documents from older version of Word are the cause and could be corrupted.

    Does the issue happen when using newer type documents?

    If not, it maybe a case of opening the old Word documents in another document editing tool such as Wordpad or other and copying the contents over to a newer type document.

    It’s not an ideal situation but it may be a work around.

    I hope this information helps. If you have any questions, please let me know and I'll be glad to assist you further or If you find it helpful, you can mark this comment as the answer.

    Kind regards

    Tim

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-09-07T03:44:15+00:00

    Hello Tim,

    I followed your instructions step-by-step. Unfortunately, it did not resolve the issue. It did say that several corrupted files were fixed, however. What do you suggest next?

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-09-06T21:00:11+00:00

    Thanks for confirming.

    Try running the System File Checker (SFC) tool on your Windows computer:-

    1. Open a Command Prompt with administrative privileges. You can do this by searching for "Command Prompt" in the Windows Start menu, right-clicking on it, and selecting "Run as administrator."
    2. In the Command Prompt window, type the following command and press Enter:
       sfc /scannow
    1. The SFC tool will start scanning and repairing any corrupted or missing system files. This process may take some time to complete.
    2. Once the scan and repair process is finished, you'll see a message indicating whether any issues were found and fixed.
    3. Restart your computer if prompted to do so.

    I hope this information helps. If you have any questions, please let me know and I'll be glad to assist you further or If you find it helpful, you can mark this comment as the answer.

    Kind regards

    Tim

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-09-06T19:21:12+00:00

    Hello Tim,

    I am using Office Home and Student 2016. And since I posted this question, I have uninstalled and reinstalled Office, and that has not resolved the issue.

    Thanks.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-09-06T07:52:03+00:00

    Hi Brandon B,

    I'm Tim, an Independent Advisor here and a Microsoft user like you. I don't work for Microsoft and do not have access to any of your data on their system.

    Which version of Office are you using?

    Kind regards

    Tim

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