Fix Word Has Run Into An Error That is Preventing It From Working Correctly in Windows 10

After you upgrade to Windows 10, and you face an error while launching Microsoft Word 2013 that looks similar as below:

We're sorry, but Word has run into an error that is preventing it from working correctly. Word will need to be closed as a results. Would you like us to repair now?
And then further, upon opening other applications of Microsoft Office like Excel, you’ll find above similar error, only the name Word would be replaced by Excel. And upon running the repair task doesn’t help. Neither the quick repair nor online repair would help. Also, uninstalling and reinstalling Microsoft Office won’t help, and the issue would still repeat.

Fix Word Has Run Into An Error That is Preventing It From Working Correctly in Windows 10

This issue happens because Microsoft Office applications after an upgrade, are running in your computer on Compatibility mode. During the update, because of internal settings in Microsoft Office, all applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc. configure themselves to work in compatibility mode. It’s because, if the program is not yet compatible with Windows 10, it’ll still keep working automatically in compatibility mode of the Previous operating system. But for a few users, this creates an issue and produce the above-said error. Hence, to resolve this issue, you have to disable compatibility mode for your Office 2013. Here’s what you need to do:

When on Desktop, right-click on Start Menu (press and hold the icon if using from a touchscreen device) and select Run.

Opening Run Windows 10

Type in following command in the Run dialog box and press Enter:

%systemdrive%\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15\root\office15
Above command would open Office15 folder from Program Files and then you need to locate following files:
  • For Microsoft Word, find winword.exe or just WINWORD
  • For Microsoft Excel, find excel.exe or just EXCEL
  • For PowerPoint, find powerpoint.exe or just POWERPOINT
  • For Outlook. find outlook.exe or just OUTLOOK
  • For Access, find msaccess.exe or just MSACCESS

Likewise above, every application which you have installed in your computer of Microsoft Office, find those and do the following procedure for each file:

  • Right-click on respective files above and select Properties.
Right Click Winword
  • When WORD or EXCEL or POWERPOINT or OUTLOOK or MSACCESS Properties dialog box opens, locate Compatibility Tab.
Change Compatibility mode
  • Now, Uncheck the checkbox “Run this program in compatibility mode for:”
  • Click OK.

You’re done fixing the issue. If by chance, Compatibility tab doesn’t appear for you, then you need to do the following tasks on each file located in the above solution like Word, Excel, etc.:

  • Right-click on the file (winword.exe or excel.exe or others stated above), and select Troubleshoot Compatibility.
Right Click Winword
  • When Program Compatibility Troubleshooter opens, select Try recommended settings.
Office 2013 Troubleshooter
  • This would apply the recommended settings to the application. Now click, Test the Program, and if you’re being asked for allowing this process or not, click Yes.
Test Compatibility Settings
  • The above step would remove the setting of running the application in compatibility mode and shall open that application whose settings you just fixed by using troubleshooter. The application now should open without any issue.
  • Come back to troubleshooter and click Next.
  • Now, select “Yes, save these settings for this program.”
Yes save settings for this program
  • Close the Troubleshooter.

Now, you’re done fixing the startup issue of Microsoft Office applications on Windows 10. Here’s a related video we found on youtube for this.

8 thoughts on “Fix Word Has Run Into An Error That is Preventing It From Working Correctly in Windows 10”

  1. THANK YOU!!! I would have never found this without your post and excellent instructions. Office was not working except Word and this fixed it.

    Reply

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