Updating office and getting an error message (Office for Windows)

My PC boots from SSD so i never put it to sleep.  This happened after a fresh boot.

My experience has been that this happens after waking my computer from sleep or hibernation with no office program running. So when it hapoens, as soon as the orange box appears, shut down your computer. Don’t wait for any error notice to appear. Don’t restart your computer until it has completely shut down. Then restart your computer and don’t open any Office program until after startup has completely finished. Your Office program should open correctly. If it doesn’t you’ll have to try one of the other fixes. The problem occures when an element of office fails to restart from Windows hibernation/sleep. Then leaving the orange application installation box to process through to the error allows Office to corrupt itself. So it won’t start and the only solution is the installation repair. Also, the issue requires different solutions depending on which version of office you’re using. The solution i am referring to here works in Windows 10 on a locally installed version of Office, not 360. 

Thank you!   I wish I had heard from you sooner.  Yes I frequently put my computer to sleep.  So  had I run repair and the n followed your advice, I would have been good.  Instead I upgraded  from Office2016 to 2019, because I was told by microsoft I had to uninstall 2016  and reinstall it.  And I did not have the credentials for reinstall nor can I buy  a reliable download of it.  So I bought 2019 at local Office depot and put computer in the shop for the upgrade.  And that required an upgrade to windows 10, of course.

My experience has been that this happens after waking my computer from sleep or hibernation with no office program running. So when it hapoens, as soon as the orange box appears, shut down your computer. Don’t wait for any error notice to appear. Don’t restart your computer until it has completely shut down. Then restart your computer and don’t open any Office program until after startup has completely finished. Your Office program should open correctly. If it doesn’t you’ll have to try one of the other fixes. The problem occures when an element of office fails to restart from Windows hibernation/sleep. Then leaving the orange application installation box to process through to the error allows Office to corrupt itself. So it won’t start and the only solution is the installation repair. Also, the issue requires different solutions depending on which version of office you’re using. The solution i am referring to here works in Windows 10 on a locally installed version of Office, not 360.

I have tried to open a word / excel document. 

It says it is updating, please wait a moment. 

After a few minutes I get a message saying: 

WINWORD.EXE - Application Error - This application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142). Click OK to close the application. 

Your answers seem to be a better alternative or a solution

Hi Cindy 

This seems to be a recurring problem this week for many users, follow these steps to perform a full repair of your Office installation . . .

Open Control Panel - Programs and Features

Click Microsoft Office in the list of installed applications

At the top, click 'Change'

On the resulting dialog, click 'Repair' - choose the Online Repair, it is a comprehensive fix

That should fix any issues with your Office Installation . . .

This does NOT work for many people!  Also, even uninstalling and reinstalling Office may not work.  Please read other answers.