AcroRd32.exe-System Error

Question

The program can't start because api-ms-win-core-winrt-|1-1-0.dl| is missing from your computer.Reinstall the program to fix this problem.

Answer 1

Hi Deepak Agarwal,
Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum. I'm happy to help.

Please share me this information so I can better understand your situation:

• What Windows version are you using?
• What Acrobat version are you using?

In the meantime, you might check Q&A Assist suggestion to see if it can solve the problem.

Thank you for your time.

Answer 2

The error indicates that Adobe Acrobat Reader (AcroRd32.exe) is trying to load a Windows Runtime (WinRT) core DLL api-ms-win-core-winrt-l1-1-0.dll and cannot find or use it correctly on the system.

On supported Windows versions, the WinRT core APIs in api-ms-win-core-winrt-l1-1-0.dll provide functions such as RoInitialize, RoActivateInstance, and RoGetActivationFactory, which are required by some modern applications. If the DLL is missing, corrupted, or incompatible with the OS/Reader version, Acrobat Reader will fail to start with the message shown.

Because the issue is with the OS-level WinRT API layer rather than just the application, simply reinstalling Acrobat Reader often does not resolve the problem. The practical options are:

1. Ensure the OS is a Windows version that provides api-ms-win-core-winrt-l1-1-0.dll and that it is fully updated (install all pending Windows updates and reboot).
2. If the OS is older and does not support these WinRT APIs, install an older Acrobat Reader version that does not depend on this DLL and then disable its automatic update so it does not upgrade to a version requiring WinRT.

In a similar case on Windows 7 Professional where Acrobat Reader stopped working due to a missing api-ms-win-core-winrt-l1-1-0.dll, the effective workaround was:

1. Uninstall the current Acrobat Reader version.
2. Install an older Acrobat Reader XI build (for example, 11.0.01) that does not require the WinRT core DLL.
3. Turn off Acrobat Reader automatic updates (for example, by disabling its update service via services.msc) so it does not update itself back to a version that depends on api-ms-win-core-winrt-l1-1-0.dll.

This avoids the dependency on the missing WinRT DLL on systems where that API set is not available or not functioning correctly.

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References:

• APIs present on all Windows devices (grouped by module)
• Missing api-ms-win-core-winrt-l1-1-0.dll - Microsoft Q&A