Microsoft Word and PowerPoint Not Opening After Windows Update

Question

Microsoft Word and PowerPoint Not Opening After Windows Update

Shivam Agarwal 0

Yesterday after instale the latest Windows update, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint stopped opening.

I have already tried the following steps, but the issue is still not resolved:

Quick Repair and Online Repair of Microsoft Office

Restarting the computer multiple times

Uninstalling the latest Windows updates

Completely uninstalling Microsoft Office

Reinstalling Microsoft Office 2019

Running system repair commands (sfc /scannow and DISM)

Updating Windows again

Despite all these steps, Word and PowerPoint still do not open.

Could you please suggest what additional steps I should take to restore Microsoft Office applications?

Office Version: Microsoft Office 2019 Operating System: Windows 10/11 Issue Started: Immediately after installing the latest Windows update

Priyanshu Kumari 0 Reputation points

2026-05-15T05:47:44.9366667+00:00
what to do if Word and PowerPoint won’t open after a Windows update:

Repair Office → Settings > Apps > Microsoft Office > Modify > Online Repair.

Try Safe Mode → Run winword.exe /safe or powerpnt.exe /safe to disable faulty add‑ins.

Update Office → File > Account > Update Options > Update Now.

Check antivirus conflicts → Temporarily disable or add Office apps to exceptions.

Reset file associations → Right‑click a .docx or .pptx → Open with → Word/PowerPoint → Always use this app.

Reinstall Office if nothing else works.

1 answer

Your answer

Priyanshu Kumari 0 Reputation points

2026-05-15T05:47:44.9366667+00:00

what to do if Word and PowerPoint won’t open after a Windows update:

Repair Office → Settings > Apps > Microsoft Office > Modify > Online Repair.

Try Safe Mode → Run winword.exe /safe or powerpnt.exe /safe to disable faulty add‑ins.

Update Office → File > Account > Update Options > Update Now.

Check antivirus conflicts → Temporarily disable or add Office apps to exceptions.

Reset file associations → Right‑click a .docx or .pptx → Open with → Word/PowerPoint → Always use this app.

Reinstall Office if nothing else works.

Answer 1

Hello Shivam Agarwal,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Before we proceed, may I know if this issue happens with other Microsoft apps other than these two? Additionally, can you please check the Event Viewer to see if there are any issue with those apps that has a log?

Disclaimer: Let’s try performing an in-place install or in-place upgrade which will refresh your Windows files and operating system without removing files or applications. That being said, we always recommend that if you have important data, you should back it up before making large system changes. If you want to back up your data first, please do so. Once you are done backing up, you can follow the steps in the following guides:

How to run In-place upgrade in Windows 11 - Microsoft Community

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Ian-T 7,745 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-05-19T08:21:29.5033333+00:00

Hi

Have you had an opportunity to review the answer shared earlier?

Any update you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Share via

Microsoft Word and PowerPoint Not Opening After Windows Update

1 answer

Your answer