Word from Office 365 won't open even in safe mode.

Question

Word from Office 365 won't open even in safe mode.

Tom B 5

Tried all the usual fixes, no help. Word 365 won't open even in safe mode. Norton scan no issues. "Microsoft Office repair" even online no help. Deleted and reinstalled Office 365, no help. Command prompt scan no issues found. Office 2010 was uninstalled no help. PPT and Excel open ok. Using Windows 10 will all updates.

Tried all fixes I could find, no help. Uninstalled and reinstalled Office multiple times no help.

Always same message "Word couldn't start last time. Safe mode could help....." Will not open in Safe mode even Winword.exe /safe.

My old Word 2010 will work but is no good for large files.

Any help appreciated.

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Answer recommended by moderator

Tom B 5

Thank you for your kind help. Took MS tech support chat 3 hours with 3 escalations to fix. The fix was to uninstall my Norton antivirus then manually remove all remnants of Office everywhere. They have special scripts to do this for Command Regedit Permissions, etc.luckily it was fixed 10 minutes before we lost power.

Thank you again for your kind help.

i recommend using the MS Support chat service if “repair” doesn’t work.

Stefan Blom 352K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-08-03T16:53:53.1533333+00:00

Thanks for the follow-up. I'm glad you got it sorted.

I am going to mark your reply as a Recommended Answer.

1 additional answer

Your answer

Stefan Blom 352K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-08-03T16:53:53.1533333+00:00

Thanks for the follow-up. I'm glad you got it sorted.

I am going to mark your reply as a Recommended Answer.

Answer 1

Stefan Blom 352K MVP Volunteer Moderator

What happens after you have clicked away the error message? Does Word crash? Does it display further errors?

If everything else fails, you will have to perform a manual uninstall of Office; see https://support.microsoft.com/en-US/Office/lifecycle/manually-uninstall-office . Before you reinstall, run the System File Checker in case something is broken in the operating system. For more, read the support article at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/experience/backup-recovery/using-system-file-checker-in-windows.

Tom B 5 Reputation points

2026-07-31T18:51:08.2066667+00:00

After click to open in Safe mode, hour glass for a few seconds then nothing.
Stefan Blom 352K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-31T18:56:28.96+00:00

Do you see an option to NOT use Safe mode? What happens if you select that option? Are you back at the original error message then?
Tom B 5 Reputation points

2026-07-31T18:58:04.2233333+00:00

Have uninstalled and reinstalled Office 365 several times, reboot etc. no help. I rsn the SFC system file checker 3 or more times. No help.

confirming: Excel and PPT work in Office 365, not Word. Word/Excel/PPT 2010 worked, but have uninstalled to avoid conflicts.

The Office 365 with non working Word is being downloaded from my subscription at Microsoft.com not a rogue.
Tom B 5 Reputation points

2026-07-31T18:58:53.02+00:00

No option to use anything but Safe mode.
Stefan Blom 352K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-31T19:01:58.0433333+00:00

Thanks for the follow-up. You mentioned multiple reinstalls, but did you also try the manual uninstall which I suggested in a previous reply?
Tom B 5 Reputation points

2026-07-31T19:10:00.3733333+00:00

Thank you. I will try the special manual uninstall in those instructions tomorrow am when home.

I have only done the Apps repair or uninstall method. I did delete the root 16 stuff once but I will completely follow all the manual uninstall instructions.

Thank you again for help. I will report back.
Stefan Blom 352K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-07-31T19:14:04.4666667+00:00

Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that a manual uninstall will work, of course. It should provide you with a "clean" start for the system files repair and subsequent Office reinstall, though. Do report back with your results.
Tom B 5 Reputation points

2026-07-31T19:16:01.5366667+00:00

Thank you.
Tom B 5 Reputation points

2026-08-01T15:40:39.6566667+00:00

Went through manual uninstall. Reinstalled Office 365, tried to open Word then stopped. Now same use Safe but Safe won’t open.

i will try manual reinstall again.
Stefan Blom 352K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-08-01T17:24:34.4766667+00:00

I'm sorry to learn that you have had no progress so far. :-(

Did the Windows System File Checker complete successfully?
Tom B 5 Reputation points

2026-08-02T18:30:25.4033333+00:00

Norton boot scan shows no malware but Office\root\Templates\1033\….zip archive corrupted.I deleted root folder, ran DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth, and sfc /scannow. No issues found.
Tom B 5 Reputation points

2026-08-02T18:30:44.5566667+00:00

Still same problem.
Stefan Blom 352K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2026-08-02T22:51:53.2133333+00:00

I'm afraid I'm running out of ideas here. :-(