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

 

[Tklb]

Hi jimono123. Today, 3 days after a clean Win7 installation, had the same issue. Same error, without any side effects, slowing down freezing etc, when i shutdown my computer. Haven't made any changes in my rig, using software from trusted sources for couple years, same drives-configurations etc. So this error popped out of nowhere. Seems a process triggers cmd line when you shudown the pc. Been trying to resolve it myself, but as you said can't find a working way. Anyway, you are not alone on this . As i am not at home at the moment, keep an eye on your inbox or here, hope will be back with good news.

 

[Keyes]

I have the same error! Here is my post I made on
sevenforums


cmd.exe application error - application was unable to start correctly (0x0000142). Click ok to close the application

Anyone know why it happened?

I got this error when I tried to restart to install an update. However, in windows update, it showed I had nothing to update. There was the little yellow shield by the shut down button to indicate it was installing an update when I would shutdown.

I rebooted fine, and CMD works fine. Is it possible windows thought it had to install something, and the installer had already installed the update (I went onto windows update earlier myself to install the windows and silverlight updates) and it bugged because maybe it had to use cmd to execute the update or something?



It seems to be happening again, but only when I shutdown when explorer is open. I tried and tested his multiple times. It has only happened after the new silverlight update and kb 30247777 (sorry if the number is wrong) update.

What is causing this? (No system restore available)


Same issue - I had to restart to install an update, however windows update had already installed everything it had to without a reboot.

 

[dogdate]

I have a brand new machine (Win 7 Pro, X64), and after a whole series of Windows updates (plus installation of various programs, all legit) I have the exact same issue.

I did a sfc \scannow and it didnt help.

Cmd still works fine for me as well

 

[jimono123]

Seems like this is may be a more common issue than I thought. I guess that's good and bad depending on if we can find a solution. Thanks everyone.

 

[davidc1000]

I have exactly the same problem. When I shut down I have the "cmd.exe..This application was unable to start...0xc0000142" error message which disappears after a few moments. It doesn't seem to affect my pc's operation but is irritating. It happened when I removed ESET software to return to Norton and was having to reboot after uninstallation of ESET. Command seems to work fine because I ran scannow without difficulty.

I have tried uninstalling Norton and reinstalling ESET but that made no difference. I have tried selectively disabling services and startup functions but that made no difference either. I have booted in Safe Mode and when I shut down in Safe Mode that did stop me seeing the error message and the close program page altogether.

I'm stuck for ideas. I want to avoid a complete reinstall if possible.

 

[Sturmgewehr_44]

I've been getting the same. It appeared sporadically two days ago and seemed to appear when update KB302777 installed at that time. It can only be avoided when launching cmd and then exiting it before shutting down.

I can only hope the next update will fix it or maybe it will fix itself. It does not seem to be causing any issues, but it is annoying and disturbs me.

 

[davidc1000]

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.

 

[Sturmgewehr_44]

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.

When did this problem start appearing for you?

It appeared two days before as I said for me, so it is unlikely that my problem is related to Geforce Experience. Were you able to reinstall Geforce Experience afterwards without receiving this error? Nvidia recommends Geforce Experience.

 

[Oakley999]

Its from a windows update, I've checked multiple posts on websites where everyone has been posting this in the past 3 days, i've downloaded little updates to anything whatsoever, the only big thing I downloaded was the windows update, it obviously just messes with everything else. I wont uninstall anything just yet, i'll wait for another windows update, which hopefully will fix it, but it doesn't seem to harmful right now. I did check if this was malware or a registry error by using malware bytes and ccleaner's registry cleaner; still didn't fix it, so it obviously has nothing to do with that.

 

[davidc1000]

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.

When did this problem start appearing for you?

It appeared two days before as I said for me, so it is unlikely that my problem is related to Geforce Experience. Were you able to reinstall Geforce Experience afterwards without receiving this error? Nvidia recommends Geforce Experience.

As I said in my post, it appeared after I uninstalled a security suite. This was a day ago. It did NOT appear in my case after the December Windows updates. Moreover, I have had GeForce Experience running before without problems. I can only report that the error message no longer appears after uninstalling GeForce Experience. I don't understand it either. I am not worried about running without GE - I have done it in the past without problems.

 

[Oakley999]

Well i haven't uninstalled any security suite so obviously it varies between people. Im pretty sure all the cases i've found didn't all uninstall a security suite, all within 3 days.

 

[Rhino97]

I also have this problem, Windows 7.

I think it started after I installed the updated version of the Silverlight Update, KB3011970.

I installed the old version of the KB3011970 update on the 9th. That version of the KB3011970 update, as I understand it, was later pulled because it was faulty. And then on the 13th there was an updated version with the same KB-number, which I installed. And I think the problem started after that.

However I did also install the KB3024777 update on the 12th, which were only to uninstall the KB3004394 update, which was also faulty. But I think I have started and restarted my computer a few times without the cmd.exe Application Error, before I installed the updated Silverlight Update.

Having looked around on the web for an answer I have also found that some have reported that uninstalling Geforce Experience would make the cmd.exe Application Error go away. But I have had the latest version of Geforce Experience installed since the 19th of November. But the problem with cmd.exe started yesterday, on the 13th. So I find it strange that Geforce Experience would be the one that is causing the error.

Maybe try and uninstall Silverlight?

 

[agokhandemir]

I have the same problem, since I installed the December updates and fixes on 12th.

I have Nvidia video cards and Razer hardware. I thought It was because of Razer, because those updates included drivers for the keypad and mouse.

 

[Sturmgewehr_44]

Its from a windows update, I've checked multiple posts on websites where everyone has been posting this in the past 3 days, i've downloaded little updates to anything whatsoever, the only big thing I downloaded was the windows update, it obviously just messes with everything else. I wont uninstall anything just yet, i'll wait for another windows update, which hopefully will fix it, but it doesn't seem to harmful right now. I did check if this was malware or a registry error by using malware bytes and ccleaner's registry cleaner; still didn't fix it, so it obviously has nothing to do with that.

That's what I assume too. I haven't touched any registries or uninstalled any security updates either. I never have.

I've never ran CCcleaner before, and am nervous about doing so, and I don't plan on trying it, despite this. I have ran Malwarebytes and two files relating to ancient adware that I long since got rid of came up, but that has no relation to the cmd.exe error.

It must be related to the KB3024777 or KB3014406 updates. The former was installed, but can only be found in the install history. It isn't in the Installed Updates tab, but KB3014406 can still be found. This seems to me that KB3014406 uninstalled it and took it's place. Both were originally installed the same day, so it could be both causing the issue. Only a new update will confirm this, but it seems like it.

To sum all this up, KB3024777 was installed three days ago. However, it cannot be seen under the Installed Updates, only in the Update History. KB3014406 was likely installed the night of or the following day, and took KB302477's place, and uninstalled it, which is why I can't find it anywhere. I assume this same update is the reason for these errors, at least for myself. Interestingly enough, I am unable to find much relating to update KB3014406, despite it being installed only a few days before. I am still unsure of this theory because I uninstalled KB3014406 briefly this morning and it didn't circumvent this issue, and the cmd.exe error 142 would still appear upon shutdown. Windows would shortly reinstall KB3014406 and this would also make no difference.

 

[davidc1000]

It is interesting that you are adamant the problem is nothing to do with GeForce Experience but is down to the updates, when the updates have no obvious role in my version of the problem and removing GeForce Experience has removed the problem. I wonder if you might try uninstalling the GeForce Experience, and if doing that does not deal with the problem you can reinstall the driver. Logic suggests in my case that if the problem arose after changing security software, that caused the problem. But uninstalling and reinstalling that and other security software made no difference.

I would be interested to know why the cmd.exe is trying to start when the operating system is trying to close down. Apologies if this is a dumb question. I'm just trying to understand.

 

[Rhino97]

It must be related to the KB3024777 or KB3014406 updates. The former was installed, but can only be found in the install history. It isn't in the Installed Updates tab, but KB3014406 can still be found. This seems to me that KB3014406 uninstalled it and took it's place. Both were originally installed the same day, so it could be both causing the issue. Only a new update will confirm this, but it seems like it.

To sum all this up, KB3024777 was installed three days ago. However, it cannot be seen under the Installed Updates, only in the Update History. KB3014406 was likely installed the night of or the following day, and took KB302477's place, and uninstalled it, which is why I can't find it anywhere. I assume this same update is the reason for these errors, at least for myself. Interestingly enough, I am unable to find much relating to update KB3014406, despite it being installed only a few days before. I am still unsure of this theory because I uninstalled KB3014406 briefly this morning and it didn't circumvent this issue, and the cmd.exe error 142 would still appear upon shutdown. Windows would shortly reinstall KB3014406 and this would also make no difference.

As I understand it, the only purpose of the KB3024777 update was to uninstall the KB3004394 update that was faulty. So I'm guessing that is why the KB3024777 update isn't showing as installed. Which should mean that the KB3004394 update shouldn't show as install either any longer.

I installed the KB3014406 update already on the 9th, but the problems with cmd.exe didn't show until around on the 13th, which is when I installed the updated Silverlight update KB3011970.

This Silverlight update was already released around the 9th, but later pulled because it was faulty, and then release again on around the 13th with the same KB-number, KB3011970, so I installed it then again. And it was around that time that the problem with the cmd.exe started for me.

Do any of you have the updated KB3011970 update installed, with a releasedate from around the 12th?

 

[davidc1000]

I have the KB3011970 showing as installed on the 9 Dec. But - on 10 Dec I couldn't get my online movie site to stream movies and in an email exchange, the tech support told me to reinstall Silverlight. I did this on 12 Decfrom a download from the Silverlight site. I don't know how this affected the KB3011970 update and there is no trace of a later update. Whether or not this contributed in some way to my subsequent problem with cmd.exe, I don't know.

 

[Sturmgewehr_44]

Regardless, I uninstalled Geforce Experience. It seems to not happen now, which is indicative of something.

It seems fairly obvious that the whole update system with Windows 7 is messed up for the moment. It could have been the whole past week of updates that could have contributed to Geforce Experience causing this bug. KB3024777 or KB3014406 broke it for me, and Silverlight could have broken it for you. It needs to be fixed, hopefully very soon. I'll reinstall Geforce Experience to see if it happens again.

Micro$oft really needs to test their updates better. It really seems simple, Geforce Experience was possibly the root. Is it that hard to isolate and fix? You did it, and so did I, so is it really that impossible for Microsoft's MIT engineers to do it? Bloody incompetent, that's all I got to say.

 

[Rhino97]

I have the KB3011970 showing as installed on the 9 Dec. But - on 10 Dec I couldn't get my online movie site to stream movies and in an email exchange, the tech support told me to reinstall Silverlight. I did this on 12 Decfrom a download from the Silverlight site. I don't know how this affected the KB3011970 update and there is no trace of a later update. Whether or not this contributed in some way to my subsequent problem with cmd.exe, I don't know.

I see... what version of Silverlight do you have installed then?

The version of Silverlight that is installed with the updated version of the KB3011970 is 5.1.31211.0.

 

[Harlequinox]

I can absolutely confirm that this has something to do with GeForce Experience AND the Windows 7 Updates that were installed in past 2-4 days (can't remember exactly when). I did a system restore to last week (Dec 7) and the cmd.exe error disappeared. Thinking the issue was resolved I re-updated Windows and the cmd.exe error came back.

As many have said, uninstalling GeForce Experience seems to fix the issue. Hopefully Micrsoft or Nvidia fixes this sooner rather then later.

 

[davidc1000]

I have the KB3011970 showing as installed on the 9 Dec. But - on 10 Dec I couldn't get my online movie site to stream movies and in an email exchange, the tech support told me to reinstall Silverlight. I did this on 12 Decfrom a download from the Silverlight site. I don't know how this affected the KB3011970 update and there is no trace of a later update. Whether or not this contributed in some way to my subsequent problem with cmd.exe, I don't know.

I see... what version of Silverlight do you have installed then?

The version of Silverlight that is installed with the updated version of the KB3011970 is 5.1.31211.0.

My version is older: 5.1.30514.0.

 

[Call of Daddy - Modern Dadfare]

Uninstalling Silverlight fixed it for me.

I had the same problem. I have Windows 7 all up to date, and an Nvidia card with GeForce installed. I just UN-installed Silverlight, and I no long have the error at shutdown. So maybe it's a Windows7 + Nvidia + Latest Silverlight problem? I don't know, but if you can do without silverlight, it seems like a quick fix for the time being.

 

[PCaddiction]

2 days ago I reinstalled Windows 7 after purchasing new storage. I only installed all my drivers and windows updates and Geforce Experience. I noticed that same day that windows would pause to close something in the background before shutting down. Yesterday I installed all my programs including Razer Synapse. I noticed then that I was getting the CMD.EXE Error on shutdown (it actually happens when logging off). I tried turning off most of my start up programs (basically all of them except Samsung magician and GeForce experience) and it went away. I restarted multiple times while enabling one program at a time.

Enabling all my start up apps except Razer seemed to fix it for a few restarts (with no pause either), but then it came back. Then after disabling all the same start up apps again, it was still happening.

From what I observed it doesn't happen all the time unless all my start up apps are enabled and its not linked to any program I tried disabling. I haven't tried uninstalling Geforce Experience, but I will give that a shot to see if it works.

 

[Call of Daddy - Modern Dadfare]

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

Do you have Silverlight installed?