The error “The specified module could not be found” happening in Windows 11

The “The specified module could not be found” error seems to have subsided on my Win11 desktop. Its been a number of weeks since I've seen this error, I suspect the issue may have been resolved by recent Win11 updates - we'll see...

I applied a few different "recommended" fixes (updating the policy, reinstalling "photos" and "TV & Movies" apps, doing a refresh of Win11) - they all had the same result - the error does stop, but only for a few days or so, it eventually starts happening again. I recently tried doing a full Norton system scan, and the error did stop, so I'm still waiting to see if the error starts happening again.

I have two desktops, I only upgraded one of my desktops to Win11, this error has only happened on the Win11 desktop, the error has never happened on the Win10 desktop. Both desktops are on the same LAN, so its not likely that only one of my desktops would be infected with some malware. So I've come to the same conclusion, given all the trouble shooting results, the most likely cause is a subtle bug in Win11 that happens in some configurations (as not all Win11 Desktops are reporting the bug)

I think some kind of debugging tool that would "trap" the state of the OS before, during and after the bug happens could show the root cause.

I have been having this same issue (specified module error trying to open mp4 and similar files) since updating to Windows 11. Am running a system scan now to see whether there's some malware or DLL issues. Seems more likely to be a bug, since I had no problems with Windows 10.

After a month or so of trouble shooting the results look like this:

I have applied many recommended "fixes" in a very systematic manner, unfortunately the behavior remains the same, "Photos" and "Movies & TV" eventually start having the error again.

I have 2 desktops, one runs Win10 the other was upgraded to Win11

Win10 desktop has never had this problem

The problem emerged after upgrading a desktop to Win11

I run anti virus regularly on both desktops

This problem only emerged after upgrading one of my Win10 desktops to Win11

So considering my results, at this point, the most likely conclusion is that for some configurations, Win11 causes this problem. This is not happening to every Win11 user, but it is happening to some Win11 users.

Doing "restores", "Win11 refresh", reinstalling the apps, refreshing the policy, reinstalling drivers does not solve the error. So to solve this I think you would need to provide some kind of debug tool that would be able to trap exactly what is going on when the problem re-emerges - you have to see the exact state of the OS when this happens to see exactly what process failed, what happened to prevent the OS from finding the jpg or mp4 file, my best guess is that addressing data is somehow being corrupted

Another idea would to provide a tool that would launch "Photos" "n" number of times, to see if there is some repeatable behavior (e.g., does this error always happen after "n" initiations?)

P.S. I have run Restoro on the Win10 desktop as well, the Win10 desktop has not yet had this problem, so its not likely that the issue is being introduced by Restoro.

"As a workaround I now just run the "Restoro" app (3rd party software, cost about $30 for a year) to temporarily fix the problem. I'm hoping that some future Win11 update may somehow fix this issue."

That's not a good workaround since the problem reoccurs. It is not good that the problem reoccurs as that means its continually breaking. You can't assume Windows is continually doing it.

If you use a 3rd party AntiVirus application (and Restoro includes this) you could try fully disabling that or maybe having to uninstall and rely on Windows Defender. See if it goes away.

Since you use Restoro, something like that could potentially also cause this while another function of it just happens to also fix it. Its totally possible. Cleaners/fixers like that are not in your best interest as they clean whatever and anything and sometimes very incorrectly.

You also cannot assume that if Restoro works on Windows 10 fine that it will be identical on Windows 11. There will be code differences due to OS version differences to a strong degree with how integrated this type of application has to be.

It could also be something is causing file loss but I'd expect to see more issues as a result so it should be something else if not.