220-1102 Software Troubleshooting Practice Question
A user reports that a line-of-business application crashes on startup with error 'The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142)'. The technician has verified that the application works on other workstations and has reinstalled it. The technician also ran SFC and DISM with no errors. Which of the following should the technician do NEXT?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often assume restarting the process (Option A) is a logical next step after a crash, but the error code and context clearly point to a persistent initialization failure that requires diagnostic logs, not a simple restart.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Check Event Viewer for application-specific error details.
The error code 0xc0000142 indicates a STATUS_DLL_INIT_FAILED condition, meaning a required DLL failed to initialize during application startup. Since SFC and DISM found no system file corruption and the application works on other workstations, the issue is likely environment-specific, such as a missing dependency or a corrupted user profile. Checking Event Viewer under Windows Logs > Application provides detailed error logs, including faulting module names and exception codes, which can pinpoint the exact cause without guesswork.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use Task Manager to end the process and restart the application.
Why it's wrong here
Ending the process via Task Manager only forcibly terminates the misbehaving instance; it does not remediate the underlying DLL initialization failure, so the same 0xc0000142 crash will recur on the next launch. Moreover, Task Manager offers no diagnostic data about which module failed to load or which dependency is missing, and a hung process may not even terminate cleanly if the application is unresponsive at a loader level. This fix addresses the symptom, not the root cause, and wastes time before a proper investigation.
- ✓
Check Event Viewer for application-specific error details.
Why this is correct
Event Viewer's Application log records a Windows Error Reporting or Application Error event containing the exception code (0xc0000142), the faulting module's full path, and the module version, which collectively identify the exact DLL that failed to initialize. The log often also lists the dependent DLLs loaded before the failure, enabling a targeted repair such as reinstalling the Visual C++ Redistributable, running System File Checker, or restoring a single corrupted binary. Without this event information, you are guessing at the cause, making Event Viewer the first step in diagnosing a loader-level failure.
- ✗
Perform a system restore to a point before the issue started.
Why it's wrong here
System Restore rolls back a broad set of system files, registry keys, and driver configurations to an earlier snapshot, which may undo a recent change that broke DLL registration or system state. However, it is a blunt instrument: it can revert unrelated updates, may fail if the restore point is corrupt, and will not resolve the 0xc0000142 error if the problematic DLL is part of an installed application (not the OS) or is missing entirely from the system. Checking Event Viewer first allows a surgical fix, whereas a system restore is invasive and only appropriate when the error clearly began after a specific system alteration.
- ✗
Run the application in Windows 8 compatibility mode.
Why it's wrong here
Compatibility mode simply tricks the application into seeing an older OS version and emulates legacy shell behaviors such as virtualized registry entries or a different desktop appearance. It does not alter how the Windows loader resolves DLL dependencies, nor does it change the initialization order of a process, so a binary-level failure like 0xc0000142 (a DLL's DllMain returning FALSE) is unaffected. The error is due to a missing or corrupted runtime component, not an OS-version mismatch, meaning compatibility mode will neither supply the missing DLL nor fix its initialization flaw.
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macOS System Preferences and Settings
Key term
Windows
Windows is a family of operating systems developed by Microsoft that manages computer hardware and software, providing a graphical user interface for users to interact with their devices.
Key term
Event Viewer
Event Viewer is a built-in Windows tool that logs system, security, and application events to help administrators monitor and troubleshoot issues.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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