cmd.exe Application Error on Shutdown

[jimono123]

Hey Tom's Hardware Folks,

I have a question that I'm hoping somebody might be able to help me with. I recently wiped my rig after installing two new hard drives and a second GPU. I went through a complicated ordeal to finally get things set up the way I wanted and things seem to be working correctly now, but for some reason every time I go to shut down my computer, a few seconds before Windows 7 actually closes down, I recieve the following error prompt:

"
cmd.exe Application Error

The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142). Click OK to close the application.

OK
"

Mind you, this prompt only stays open for several seconds and does not prevent windows from closing. I'm mostly just concerned that this is pointing to some underlying issue with my setup that may or may not show itself at a later point. If I do need to reinstall Windows or something, I'd like to get that part done sooner than later. If nothing else, it's a bit annoying to see every time I shut my computer down.

That being said, here's what I've been working on since I started everything so hopefully this may shed some light on the issue for everyone:

-I recently added a second GTX 780 SC to my rig for an SLI setup as well as a new 250GB SSD and a 4TB HDD.

-I use the Windows 7 upgrade so I have to install Windows XP first, get it to the point that it's authenticated, and then I can install the Windows 7 upgrade (yeah, it's kind of a pain).

-For some reason when I initially installed Windows 7, it by default created the system boot files on part of my 4TB hard drive so I couldn't set it up as GPT in order to take advantage of the full capacity without having to have multiple partitions. I tried wiping and reinstalling both Windows XP and Windows 7 several times as I troubleshot the issue. The solution for this ended up being that I had to manually unplug all my other hard drives except my 250GB SSD and get Windows 7 completely set up on that, then one by one plug my other HDDs and SSD back in and format them via Windows 7 Disk Management utility.

-I first noticed the error message appearing when I had to do one of the Windows 7 restarts required for Windows Update changes to take affect, though I have been running my machine for quite awhile and making quite a few changes to things during this time so it may have been triggered earlier than that and that was just the first time I noticed the issue.

-I noted that the message was for "cmd.exe" which I thought was the Windows Command Prompt utility, so I tried seeing if I could access it, which I seem to have no issues doing.

-I also went through and performed several SSD optimizations based off of the information on this site (http://www.thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/optimization-guides/the-ssd-optimization-guide-2/) though I've done many of these before on past clean installs with no issue. Some of these involve making slight modifications to the registry, disabling a few select services, disabling Windows backup services, changing power settings, etc.

Any help that anyone can provide with this would be much appreciated. I'm hoping it's a simple fix but we'll see. There doesn't seem to be much out there that I could find Googleing the issue as this seems to be a fairly specific issue. Anyway, thanks again for everyone's help. I appreciate it.

Brian

 

[PCaddiction]

2 days ago I reinstalled Windows 7 after purchasing new storage...

Do you have Silverlight installed?

I'm looking through my windows updates right now. I am not too familiar with how to identify them. And since they were all installed at the same time I can't go by dates. Any advice on how to find it?

 

[Harlequinox]

2 days ago I reinstalled Windows 7 after purchasing new storage...

Do you have Silverlight installed?

I'm looking through my windows updates right now. I am not too familiar with how to identify them. And since they were all installed at the same time I can't go by dates. Any advice on how to find it?

Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Update > View Update History

Should be called "Update for Microsoft Silverlight (KB3011970)"

The update was released less then a week ago, but I admit I don't know if its actually a good idea to uninstall Silverlight. If you have GeForce Experience, uninstalling it seems to fix the issue, and unless you use its Shadow Play feature then its not actually necessary.

 

[Call of Daddy - Modern Dadfare]

2 days ago I reinstalled Windows 7 after purchasing new storage...

Do you have Silverlight installed?

I'm looking through my windows updates right now. I am not too familiar with how to identify them. And since they were all installed at the same time I can't go by dates. Any advice on how to find it?

I don't think it's installed by default. It's just a program, it would be under Control Panel -> Uninstall . It's like what you'd install to watch netflix.

 

[Rhino97]

2 days ago I reinstalled Windows 7 after purchasing new storage...

Do you have Silverlight installed?

I'm looking through my windows updates right now. I am not too familiar with how to identify them. And since they were all installed at the same time I can't go by dates. Any advice on how to find it?

The update is KB3011970, however you can say there are two versions of it. Because it was first released around the 9th and then pulled a bit later cause it was faulty. The version of Silverlight that was installed then was 5.1.131010.0.

Around the 12th or 13th a new version of the KB3011970 was release, same KB-number, and the new version of Silverlight that is installed with it is 5.1.131211.0.

Don’t have english version of Windows, but I’m guessing you can check for something called Update for Microsoft Silverlight (KB3011970). If you want to know what version it is, right-click it and choose to Show Information and check the release date.

You could also check if and what version of Silverlight you have under Uninstall Programs, it should be listed there as Microsoft Silverlight.

 

[Gaia DeForce]

Success! After a lot of searching I found a post from someone who had got rid of the problem by uninstalling Nvidia's GeForce Experience software. I use Nvidia software and getting rid of GeForce Experience worked for me too. So far so good. Worth trying if you have an Nvidia graphics card.

Thanks, this one helped me.

 

[PCaddiction]

2 days ago I reinstalled Windows 7 after purchasing new storage...

Do you have Silverlight installed?

I'm looking through my windows updates right now. I am not too familiar with how to identify them. And since they were all installed at the same time I can't go by dates. Any advice on how to find it?

The update is KB3011970, however you can say there are two versions of it. Because it was first released around the 9th and then pulled a bit later cause it was faulty. The version of Silverlight that was installed then was 5.1.131010.0.

Around the 12th or 13th a new version of the KB3011970 was release, same KB-number, and the new version of Silverlight that is installed with it is 5.1.131211.0.

Don’t have english version of Windows, but I’m guessing you can check for something called Update for Microsoft Silverlight (KB3011970). If you want to know what version it is, right-click it and choose to Show Information and check the release date.

You could also check if and what version of Silverlight you have under Uninstall Programs, it should be listed there as Microsoft Silverlight.

I don't see Silverlight in my programs list nor do I see any update by that name. I did find that Geforce Experience was involved. I disabled Geforce Experience Backend and NVidia Capture Server Proxy from my start up list. Geforce Experience still runs and the CMD.EXE Error went away. I still have a delayed shutdown (about an extra 2-3 seconds) waiting for something in the background to close. I also uninstalled Geforce Experience and it produced the same effect as disabling Backend and Server Proxy. The delay has to be caused by another program because when I disable almost every program from start up it does a normal shutdown. At least that's part of the problem located.

 

[Keyes]

I can confirm it is geforce experience.

I installed it onto a new pc and straight away the issue began. I noticed while geforce experience is running, and if you shut down, it takes alot of time. Geforce experience seems to be interupting the shutdown/restart sequence. Geforce has issues when shutting down and installing drivers aswell, causing bad spooler bsods.

Fix is to uninstall geforce experience or close geforce before shutting down.

Edit

Shutting geforce down may not always prevent the error. It seems nvbackend.exe may be part of the issue (this continuously runs)

 

[Tklb]

Can confirm also it was Geforce Experience for me too. Disabling Geforce Experience Backend and NVidia Capture Server Proxy (nvspcap64.dll, ShadowPlayOnSystemStart) doing few shutdowns and the error is gone. Geforce still works ok, tracking games and checking for updates.

 

[Sturmgewehr_44]

I don't have Silverlight installed, so that isn't a factor for me. Geforce Experience though...

It needs to be fixed soon before repercussions begin to appear. No good will come of Microsoft's ignorance. It is not so much of Nvidia's fault as it is Micro$oft's. They need to sort it out and release an update that fixes this.

 

[PCaddiction]

Just want to mention Razer Synapse was causing the delayed shut down for me. GeForce Experience was causing the CMD.EXE Error. I read on a lot of Forums about people thinking Razer Synapse or drivers were involved. Besides the GeForce Experience problem everyone is having, I'd be interested to read if anyone is having a delayed shut down as windows has to close something in the background > due to razer synapse.

 

[GEO147]

I have the exact same issue since that messing about with windows updates. Never had any problem with GeForce Experience prior.

 

[Oakley999]

I don't have Silverlight installed, so that isn't a factor for me. Geforce Experience though...

It needs to be fixed soon before repercussions begin to appear. No good will come of Microsoft's ignorance. It is not so much of Nvidia's fault as it is Micro$oft's. They need to sort it out and release an update that fixes this.

I don't think this is too harmful, but annoying yes. Hopefully they do fix it. But I think I remember last night when I turned off my computer I actually didn't have the cmd.exe error come up.. strange. I didn't even do anything to get rid of it, I was simply just going to wait it out.

 

[jessica_jass]

Hi there, Microsoft written a support article for this. Please refer to it to see if you find your remedy there using solutions provided.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2777003

Shut down options with Command Prompt

 

[H4V0KZ0R]

I can confirm that Geforce Experience is the issue and uninstalling it worked a treat for me.
It may not be the only cause as it could be clashing with silverlight as some users report results uninstalling silverlight instead.
Unless you use the features of Geforce Experience it does no harm in removing it to see.

 

[AndyMann]

Hi All,
I can confirm also that since the last Windows updates have been installed on my PC I got this strange pop-up message about:

cmd.exe Application Error

The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142). Click OK to close the application.

I am pretty sure that it’s because of messed up of the latest Windows updates as a week ago (before installing the latest Windows updates) when I was shutting down my PC, I did not see this cmd error message and my PC was turned off correctly, normally.
So I am not going to uninstall GeForce Experience as GF Experience is not the problem here as I never had any problem with GF Experience before and when shutting down my PC, so I believe Microsoft will fix this issue asap, they have to fix this asap.

 

[Olas]

I built my new rig yesterday and I have been having this same error. I can confirm removing GeForce Experience works. Thank you.

 

[Oakley999]

I'll wait till the next windows update that should hopefully be soon.

 

[mgx42]

It does seem that it is caused by the updates. Yes, GeForce Experience most likely has to do with it too. Something didn't mix well with the updates and the Nvidia program. For me, it does not show the error on every single shut down, it is intermittent. I like GeForce Experience so I will not be uninstalling. I am going to wait it out until new updates are released to rectify the issue. It's not affecting anything accept an extra second or two at shutdown (for me) so I'm not going to waste too much time troubleshooting this. I agree with everyone, it is a small issue but very annoying. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Good luck everyone!

 

[zeiPiLeion]

I am in the same boat. For the past 3 days or so every time I shut down my system the same cmd.exe error pops up. Also I have had Geforce Experience installed since I built my PC and never had a similar issue before.

After reading many of the above posts I can confirm that it is related to one of the latest Windows Updates, and if I had to pick one it would have to be Silverlight (KB3011970) since I have never installed such program before on this setup until that particular date of Dec 13th.

-I will uninstall the Microsoft Silverlight software right now and post with results.-

Edit::: SUCCESS. no more shutdown errors with Silverlight uninstalled. Microsoft get your s**t together!

 

[Harl]

Success! After a lot of searching I found a post from someone who had got rid of the problem by uninstalling Nvidia's GeForce Experience software. I use Nvidia software and getting rid of GeForce Experience worked for me too. So far so good. Worth trying if you have an Nvidia graphics card.

Thanks for this answer. It fixed my problem.

 

[Rafael Mestdag]

Uninstalling GeForce Experience did it for me too. I'm not in the habit of rebooting frequently(only do so every 2 or 3 days IF/WHEN something requires it) so the CMD.EXE Error only appeared to me this morning. I don't know if I've had Silverlight or any updates for that matter installed in the last 7 days, if so, it happened without my knowing so. I'll check it out and see if either Silverlight or any updates have been installed and then get back to you guys.

 

[Rafael Mestdag]

Ok, I've had 141 updates installed on the 13th alone and only one installed on the 20th of november of 2010, totaling 142 updates(could this have anything to do with the 142 Error?). Since the error only appeared to me this morning, I was able to make a correlation between it and the fact that just before the reboot that showed it to me I was trying(unsuccessfully) to merge a registry key for a program. The error that shows every time I try it says it cannot access the registry.
I've never had this issue up until this morning when I tried to do the merging. Ok, the program in question was not bought, I downloaded it through a torrent site, but the point is that what prompted me to download this program is the fact that the earlier version was claiming(for the first time in over a year) that it had a fake serial and was going to shutdown. So, my point is, could it be that these last updates(namely the ones of the 13th) are fake serials detecting related?
If any of you has had a similar problem, please let us know.

EDIT: I don't have Silverlight installed.

 

[MILESCFA]

Removing GeForce Experience also gets rid of the cmd.exe error on close-down, BUT HAVE YOU CHECKED YOUR RESTORE POINTS??? I have 29% of my SSD dedicated to restore (recent issues-see below) so it should NOT be not a storage space problem, but my restore points are consistently disappearing "down to 3". And I just checked... according to Windows 7, 29% of 120GB = 1.1GB????

I guess it's time for a backup and reset of the restore system!

Some of my desktop icons are also disappearing, an on-going problem I have had for years. And when I ran "sfc /scannow", it found so many problems it could not fix them. I restore from a 1 week old backup... and regrettably immediately updated windows. Despite the issues below, it is looking like issues I have had for years may be related to continuing faulty updates to Windows 7!

fwiw: I spent almost 6 wks trying to repair what I thought was a virus related issue, finally reinstalling all my software a couple of weeks ago and getting to a relatively stable point... not totally stable, but relatively. I've had ongoing issues with this "new" PC for 3yrs, having sent it back 2 times, getting new "everything". It was "relatively" stable for 18 mns until about 2 months ago.

I'm not sure what all the issues are, but memory related (leak?) issues seem a likely source, and since I have SSDs, I have turned off SuperFetch. This seems to help, but.... Like Rafael, I've seen ~142 updates in the past day or so - after having totally reinstalled and then updated a couple of weeks ago, so it is beginning to look like Windows 7 and updating is the problem. I mean, how the hell can there be 142 updates in a 2 week period?

 

[Keyes]

Ive noticed geforce experience causes cmd windows to appear briefly. I had one briefly appear, I checked the latest modified files to the minute and it was nvidia files being modified qnd update components, aswell as conhost and cmd prefetch files. Geforce experience seems to have issues with cmd. Shortly after this, I got an update notification from geforce experience. Anyone else get this issue?

 

[Rafael Mestdag]

Anyone still having trouble after uninstalling GeForce Experience, have a look at this:

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-7/1139220-cmd-exe-error-shutdown.html