MS Office 2021 Pro Shutting Down, Win 11

Question

MS Office 2021 Pro Shutting Down, Win 11

Michael Mills 0

MS Office Apps shuts down unexpectedly, including Outlook and Word. These will run as administrator, or in elevated mode. However, some features are not available in elevated mode, such as 'Search'. I think the problem is with Windows 11 Pro (25H2 260200.7705 1/18/26) as has been the case with other issues, even though I cannot pinpoint it.

Others have complained about this issue, see Mark Sundberg, November 14, and more.

The recommendations I have followed to date include repairing, also reinstalling Office, and yes it is activated. (Version 2601 - Build 19628.20166) I have checked for updates, starting in safe mode, disabled add-ins, closed the security program, and changed default printer. I have also followed numerous recommendations to check, turn on, turn off, various features in Windows.

Other problems noted have included several other programs, of which their problems resolved once I reinstalled Windows 11. After reinstalling Windows 11, the problem with Office changed. Previously, Office would simply not start and gave me an error 0xc0000142. Later, the problem became as I first described above, unexpectedly shutting down. And the MS Office problems began after some of the other programs developed their problems.

Also involved and of particular interest is the command "sfc /scannow". The command will not work when run, either in normal mode or as administrator. But, if I go to a command window via the advanced options at startup, I can run the command and it says that damaged files have been dealt with. And then, I can repeat that process and get the same results which makes me wonder why it did not get the damaged files in the first go around. And yes, I have successfully run the DISM Tool.

My opinion regarding Windows 11 comes from my first experience with Windows 11 in which the screens would go black, and then maybe return to normal, or would should down the PC. Eventually, I learned when to recognize the onset of the problem, and could simply restart Windows Explorer via the Task Manager Processes. And over time, the occurrences have diminished to maybe 1 every month or two, instead of weekly or more.

A review of my recent comments will show the various problems I have attempted to resolve. And, unfortunately, people's time has been taken, for which I apologize. If this is truly a Windows problem, I would appreciate a resolution. Same said for Microsoft Office.

Thanks.

4 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

It appears that I have come to a dead end. Like the early problems described with Windows 11, hopefully this problem with MS Office will eventually be addressed by Microsoft.

In this process, I have discovered a work around solution. I can run the applications in elevated mode, or as administrator.

The moderator has helped me to eliminate various possibilities as noted.

I went to MS Support for help, but came to a strange ending. Two different technicians concluded their remote access without a conclusion. I have to wonder if they just gave up looking for a solution. The 2nd technician sent me an email with a case number and claiming that I had become unresponsive, when in fact I was watching him switch pages when the session ended. I replied to the email, but have not heard back.

I appreciate the efforts given to resolve the problem I've experienced.

Thanks.

Answer 2

Carl-L 9,980 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello Michael Mills,

Thanks for replying.

This will do. Thank you for clarifying.

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. This method will use another Windows image instead of the current one like the method you use, which might not fix some of the system issues. 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

Michael Mills 0 Reputation points

2026-02-14T09:49:46.86+00:00

Carl:

I have done the in-place upgrade to replace my Windows operating system, and with the latest updates. I am getting the same result with MS Office, i.e. not working. Also, I checked and Windows is permanently activated.

The first time MS Office Word starts, I get the application error with code 0xc0000142. Then I open as administrator, close, and then when I open as not-administrator, Word closes after about a minute, then reopens. Outlook and Excel each close, but do not reopen, but do stay open as administrator.

The sfc /scannow command does not work, it returns "Windows Resource Protection could not start the repair service."

The problem continues, I am assuming it is with the Windows system.

Thanks and hopefully you will have another recommendation.

<PII removed>
Carl-L 9,980 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-02-14T12:29:58.45+00:00

Hello Michael Mills,

It's unfortunate to hear that it still doesn't work.

In this case, it'd be better if we can directly look at the issue to help you better. Unfortunately, forum moderators are unable to do so. In this case, please try to contact Microsoft Support for this. They will have more expertise and the proper tools to support you in this. Thank you for your understanding.
Michael Mills 0 Reputation points

2026-02-14T15:17:17.8366667+00:00

Carl:

Thanks for your help. I you want, please summarize an 'answer' wherein MS Office 2021 Pro Plus 2021 can be run as administrator as a temporary workaround with limited features, pending a permanent solution. You might also note the lingering issue, such as system file checker not working.

Thanks again.

<PII removed>
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Michael Mills 0 Reputation points

2026-02-16T13:15:36.32+00:00

Carl:

Question - I just did an in-place upgrade per your recommendation, and this problem was noted. Am I to understand that I should do another in-place upgrade?

Thanks.

<PII removed>
Carl-L 9,980 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-02-16T13:36:57.4833333+00:00

Hello Michael Mills,

Sorry for the confusion. What I meant was simply wants to say that you can also note the issue when you contact support. Additionally, you can submit feedback to the Feedback Hub on Windows. It will directly send your note to the engineering team so they can take a note of it. Thank you for your understanding.

Answer 3

Carl-L 9,980 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello Michael Mills,

Thanks for replying.

It will take a while to analyze all of this. However, based on what I see after a quick look, this could come from a remnant of previous installation creating a mixed version on disk and cause the crash.

In the meantime, can you please try these steps to see if it helps?

Go to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Select the apps > Change > Quick Repair
Open the Command Prompt as administrator.
Type "%ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun\OfficeC2RClient.exe" /update user and press Enter.
Restart your computer and try again.

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Michael Mills 0 Reputation points

2026-02-12T03:41:47.6733333+00:00

Carl:

The steps provided 2/11 did not solve the problem. Office would not start and gave me an error 0xc0000142, this for both Word and Outlook. But, both apps work when starting as Administrator.

In the time I have spent typing this message and back-checking, Word is behaving differently. Now, Word will start as a non-administrator, but cycles from opening, closing, then opening again. This morning, I described this behavior and provided the event log to you.

As a check on me, I did the Quick Repair via the Control Panel. (As a side note, an Online Repair requires re-activation, which fails. And then Office has to be reinstalled.) I then entered the Command windows as administrator and ran the command "OfficeC2R.exe /update user". Nothing was indicated at the resulting command prompt.

Here is a copy of the command as entered in the directory, thus: "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun>officec2rclient.exe /update user"

As copied from your post, the command did not work. I had to get out my old DOS manual (1991) to recall how to change directories and to then change to the ClickToRun directory (subfolder) from which I ran the executable. I also ran the executable command without the parameters noted, also with the parameters (/update user)

I restarted the computer and the results are described in my first paragraph, above.

Hopefully I did everything correctly, and you will have a next step for me.

Thanks.

<PII removed>
Carl-L 9,980 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-02-12T14:09:00.9833333+00:00

Hello Michael Mills,

Thanks for replying.

Sorry for the confusion, the second line was meant to be ran using the Run Dialog Box (Win +R), my bad.

It's unfortunate to hear that it didn't work. Before we proceed further, I see that you have had to reinstall Windows to resolve another issue. May I know how you reinstalled Windows back then?

I'm waiting for your reply.
Michael Mills 0 Reputation points

2026-02-13T01:11:59.7566667+00:00

Carl:

To reinstall Windows, I went to Settings and used System, Recovery - Using Windows Update. It took several hours.

I tried the command you gave me via Win + R. It didn't work. Did my method yesterday accomplish what you intended?

Thanks.

<PII removed>

Answer 4

Carl-L 9,980 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hello Michael Mills,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

The previous error message indicates that some files maybe have been corrupted. However, for the recent shutdown, I might need more information to identify this. Can you please open the Event Viewer, go to the application log and let me know if you find any Event related to the shutdown.

I'm waiting for your reply.

Please understand that our forum is a public platform, and we will modify your question to cover your personal information in the description. Please notice to hide these personal or organization information next time you post error or some information to protect personal data.

Michael Mills 0 Reputation points

2026-02-11T03:33:30.5433333+00:00

Carl:

The events in the Viewer all look the same for the last 3 weeks, thus:

Log Name: OAlerts

Source: Microsoft Office 16 Alerts

Date: 2/10/2026 9:04:01 PM

Event ID: 300

Task Category: None

Level: Information

Keywords: Classic

After presenting this, I am unsure what to look for. In the list above, the Source shows MS Office 16. I am running MS Office 2021. There is another location with a Microsoft folder, then an Office subfolder, and then more subfolders which don't show anything noteworthy. In all, I find nothing that pertains to a shutdown.

Thanks.

<PII removed>
Michael Mills 0 Reputation points

2026-02-11T12:06:47.2966667+00:00
Carl:

More information for your question.

This morning I opened MS Office thru Word and did an update. In opening Word to do the update, I had to open it as 'administrator', otherwise it would close itself without doing the update.

After the update, I opened Word, then after a minute or so, it would close, then reopen, then close, then reopen.... I went to the Event View and looked around.

In the Event Viewer, under Windows Logs / Application - I see "Error" noted several times, each about a minute apart to coincide with Word closing and opening. Here is what the log gives for one of the events:

Log Name: Application

Source: Application Error

Date: 2/11/2026 5:48:51 AM

Event ID: 1000

Task Category: Application Crashing Events

Level: Error

Keywords:

User: xxxxx\xxxxx

Computer: xxxxxx

Description:

Faulting application name: WINWORD.EXE, version: 16.0.19628.20204, time stamp: 0x69877e0f

Faulting module name: mso20win32client.dll, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x69876ef6

Exception code: 0x01483052

Fault offset: 0x00000000002b9d2d

Faulting process id: 0x2C84

Faulting application start time: 0x1DC9B4C4164C2BA

Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\WINWORD.EXE

Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Office16\mso20win32client.dll

Report Id: 3c0a3bb4-17c5-4ca9-8566-dca3c58b02ff

Faulting package full name:

Faulting package-relative application ID:

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

<System>

<Provider Name="Application Error" Guid="{a0e9b465-b939-57d7-b27d-95d8e925ff57}" /> <EventID>1000</EventID> <Version>0</Version> <Level>2</Level> <Task>100</Task> <Opcode>0</Opcode> <Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2026-02-11T11:48:51.6739846Z" /> <EventRecordID>13497</EventRecordID> <Correlation /> <Execution ProcessID="4296" ThreadID="4328" /> <Channel>Application</Channel> <Computer>xxxxx</Computer> <Security UserID="xxxxxxxxxxxxx" /> ``` </System> <EventData> ```xml <Data Name="AppName">WINWORD.EXE</Data> <Data Name="AppVersion">16.0.19628.20204</Data> <Data Name="AppTimeStamp">69877e0f</Data> <Data Name="ModuleName">mso20win32client.dll</Data> <Data Name="ModuleVersion">0.0.0.0</Data> <Data Name="ModuleTimeStamp">69876ef6</Data> <Data Name="ExceptionCode">01483052</Data> <Data Name="FaultingOffset">00000000002b9d2d</Data> <Data Name="ProcessId">0x2c84</Data> <Data Name="ProcessCreationTime">0x1dc9b4c4164c2ba</Data> <Data Name="AppPath">C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\WINWORD.EXE</Data> <Data Name="ModulePath">C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Office16\mso20win32client.dll</Data> <Data Name="IntegratorReportId">3c0a3bb4-17c5-4ca9-8566-dca3c58b02ff</Data> <Data Name="PackageFullName"> </Data> <Data Name="PackageRelativeAppId"> </Data> ``` </EventData> </Event> --- Thank you for interest in my problem. <PII removed>

Michael Mills 0

Carl:

Here is another entry from the Event Viewer.

Log Name: Application

Source: Windows Error Reporting

Date: 2/11/2026 6:08:10 AM

Event ID: 1001

Task Category: None

Level: Information

Keywords:

User: xxxxxxx

Computer: xxxxx

Description:

Fault bucket , type 0

Event Name: OFFICE_MODULE_VERSION_MISMATCH

Response: Not available

Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:

P1: WINWORD.EXE

P2: 16.0.19628.20204

P3:

P4:

P5:

P6:

P7:

P8:

P9:

P10:

Attached files:

These files may be available here:

\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue\AppCrash_WINWORD.EXE_de59e7bfc7717698488c2a65d5ae83b27b89e_00000000_94c5a92a-0bff-48ad-8140-d41cd527f737

Analysis symbol:

Rechecking for solution: 0

Report Id: 5d9bcf5d-d1d5-4de3-a90e-8993903e59a8

Report Status: 100

Hashed bucket:

Cab Guid: 0

Event Xml:

<Provider Name="Windows Error Reporting" Guid="{0ead09bd-2157-539a-8d6d-c87f95b64d70}" />

<EventID>1001</EventID>

<Version>0</Version>

<Level>4</Level>

<Task>0</Task>

<Opcode>0</Opcode>

<Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>

<TimeCreated SystemTime="2026-02-11T12:08:10.8432645Z" />

<EventRecordID>13512</EventRecordID>

<Correlation ActivityID="{448cd106-9b49-000b-6523-8d44499bdc01}" />

<Execution ProcessID="18604" ThreadID="19256" />

<Channel>Application</Channel>

<Computer>xxxxxx/Computer>

<Security UserID="xxxxxxxx" />
```  </System>

  <EventData>

```xml
<Data Name="Bucket">

</Data>

<Data Name="BucketType">0</Data>

<Data Name="EventName">OFFICE_MODULE_VERSION_MISMATCH</Data>

<Data Name="Response">Not available</Data>

<Data Name="CabId">0</Data>

<Data Name="P1">WINWORD.EXE</Data>

<Data Name="P2">16.0.19628.20204</Data>

<Data Name="P3">

</Data>

<Data Name="P4">

</Data>

<Data Name="P5">

</Data>

<Data Name="P6">

</Data>

<Data Name="P7">

</Data>

<Data Name="P8">

</Data>

<Data Name="P9">

</Data>

<Data Name="P10">

</Data>

<Data Name="AttachedFiles">

</Data>

<Data Name="StorePath">\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue\AppCrash_WINWORD.EXE_de59e7bfc7717698488c2a65d5ae83b27b89e_00000000_94c5a92a-0bff-48ad-8140-d41cd527f737</Data>

<Data Name="AnalysisSymbol">

</Data>

<Data Name="Rechecking">0</Data>

<Data Name="ReportId">5d9bcf5d-d1d5-4de3-a90e-8993903e59a8</Data>

<Data Name="ReportStatus">100</Data>

<Data Name="HashedBucket">

</Data>

<Data Name="CabGuid">0</Data>
```  </EventData>

</Event>

---
Again, thanks. 

<PII removed>

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MS Office 2021 Pro Shutting Down, Win 11

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