How to Fix “Something went wrong, We couldn’t start your program” – Office error in Windows 10

Home > Windows > How to Fix “Something went wrong, We couldn’t start your program” – Office error in Windows 10
ATTENTION, PLEASE!Malware may reinstall itself multiple times if you don't delete its core files. This may require tracking down dozens of files in different locations.
We recommend downloading Advanced System Repair to eradicate Malware for you (it should cut down the time to about 15 minutes).

There are instances when you might encounter an error that says, “Something went wrong, We couldn’t start your program” when you open any Office program. This could be due to an issue with the Office file and any Office app you open throws the same error message. This applies to Office 2019/2016, Office 365 Home, Office for Business as well as Business editions. In this post you will be guided in what you can do to resolve this error.

There are several potential fixes for this error, you might only have to restart your computer or you may have to repair Office from Apps and Features or you could also uninstall and install it back again. For more details, follow each one of the provided options below.

Option 1 – Restart your computer

You might be unable to launch any Office app due to some background process that got stuck or there might be some glitch in the system. Thus, the first thing you can do to resolve the error is by simply restarting your computer. Once you’ve restarted your computer, open the Office app again or you could also try to sign in back with your Microsoft account that’s connected to Office. If you’re not quite sure which account you were using, you can follow these steps:

  • Open any Office app.
  • Then click on File and look for your name located in the top-right portion.
  • Now click on it. This will display the email or Microsoft account that’s related with Office.

Option 2 – Try repairing Office from Apps and Features

Since Windows 10 offers some repair features that could replace some of the core files with the original files, you can take advantage of such feature to fix the “Something went wrong, We couldn’t start your program” error when opening any Office app.

  • Open Windows settings and click the Apps and Features option.
  • Next, scroll down until you see the Microsoft Office installation option. Select it and click on Modify.
  • This will open a window and from there, select Quick Repair or Online Repair and click on the Repair button.

Note: When you choose to repair, you might be given two options which depends on how Microsoft Office was installed. For instance, it was installed via Web Installer or Offline Installer (MSI based). In Web Installer, select Online Repair > Repair when you’re prompted on how you would like to repair Office. While in MSI-based, you have to select Repair under “Change you installation” and then click on Continue. The repair process makes sure that the app data remains untouched.

Option 3 – Try to uninstall and reinstall Office

If neither of the two given options above worked, then you might want to uninstall Office and reinstall it. All you have to do is download the Microsoft Office Uninstall tool from the official site of Microsoft and run it. This will remove any incomplete Office installation as well as unwanted files. It will also get rid of all the Office apps and settings in your computer.

If you are dealing with other system issues right now your Windows 10 PC apart from the “Something went wrong, We couldn’t start your program” when opening any Office app, there is a one-click solution known as Advanced System Repair you could check out to resolve them. This program is a useful tool that could repair corrupted registries and optimize your PC’s overall performance. Aside from that, it also cleans out your computer for any junk or corrupted files that help you eliminate any unwanted files from your system. This is basically a solution that’s within your grasp with just a click. It’s easy to use as it is user-friendly. For complete set of instructions in downloading and using it, refer to the steps below.

  1. Turn on your computer. If it’s already on, you have to reboot

  1. After that, the BIOS screen will be displayed, but if Windows pops up instead, reboot your computer and try again. Once you’re on the BIOS screen, repeat pressing F8, by doing so the Advanced Option shows up.
  1. To navigate the Advanced Option use the arrow keys and select Safe Mode with Networking then hit
  1. Windows will now load the Safe Mode with Networking.
  1. Press and hold both R key and Windows key.

  1. If done correctly, the Windows Run Box will show up.
  1. Type in the URL address in the Run dialog box and then tap Enter or click OK.
  1. After that, it will download the program. Wait for the download to finish and then open the launcher to install the program.
  1. Once the installation process is completed, run ASR to perform a full system scan.

  1. After the scan is completed click the “Fix, Clean & Optimize Now” button.