Notepad fails to launch from Win+R ("notepad") due to missing Microsoft.UI.Windowing.Core.dll (Windows 11 Insider Dev 25H2 build 26220.7052)

Question

Hi,

When I press Win + R, type notepad, and hit Enter, I get this error message:

The code execution cannot proceed because Microsoft.UI.Windowing.Core.dll was not found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem.

However:

Running C:\Windows\notepad.exe directly works perfectly.

Opening Notepad from the Start menu also works fine.

The problem only happens when launching Notepad via Win + R (or the notepad command).

This makes me think the modern UWP version of Notepad (WinUI 3) is missing a dependency or has a broken link to the Windows App SDK, while the legacy executable still works.

Steps I have tried:

Reinstalled Notepad using:

dism /online /add-capability /capabilityname:Microsoft.Windows.Notepad~~~~0.0.1.0

1. Ran:

      sfc /scannow DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
   

None of these solved the issue.

Could you please confirm if this is a known issue in the Dev Channel build 26220.7052, or provide guidance on how to reinstall or restore the missing Microsoft.UI.Windowing.Core.dll / Windows App SDK runtime?

System Info:

Edition: Windows 11 Insider Preview 25H2 (Build 26220.7052)

Channel: Dev

Architecture: x64

Notepad version: UWP (Microsoft Store)

Thanks a lot for your help!

Answer 1

26.04.2026 - I have same Problem. tried SFC, Dism, Reinstall, Changeing Registry. Nothing Helps. Strangely when i check the "App Setting" it say |Version = 11.2512.29.0 |App = 0 Bytes |Data = 40.0KB |TotalUsed = 40.0 KB ??? A 0 Byte App that has 40KB ???

Answer 2

Setting the regkey in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\Notepad from the original ms store version's path to "c:\windows\system32\notepad.exe" solved it for me too.