A potential compatibility issue between Windows Updates and antivirus solutions caused browsers such as Chrome, Edge, and Firefox to crash with the error message “Application failed to start properly (0xc0000022), click OK to close the application. Lately, Windows Update has been fairly solid and stable, with fewer reports of major issues.
At the moment, Microsoft has released the April 2022 update for Windows 10 and Windows 11, and the company has not found any new issues. However, a series of users who have appeared in specific situations indicate that the patch may break some popular browsers.
This problem doesn’t occur on all machines, but according to reports from some readers and Microsoft’s own feedback center, 0xc0000022 errors occur when users try to launch Chrome.exe, msedge.exe, and Firefox .exe.
“After installing KB5012599, I got 0xc0000022 error when I started Edge, Firefox, and Chrome, so they no longer worked. Luckily, Vivaldi and Brave worked perfectly, so I could still go online. Uninstalling KB5012599 resolves this issue,” one user noted.
“After installing the most recent cumulative update KB5012592, all search engines (Edge, Firefox, etc.) reacted 0xc0000022 error code,” another reader explained.
How to fix errors on Windows 10 and Windows 11 0xc0000022
The report shows that the problem is caused by the latest Windows 10 and Windows 11 cumulative updates. However, our investigations have shown that compatibility issues between Windows 10/11 updates and lesser-known antivirus software such as ESET can cause applications to crash.
The error looks like it’s jumped to the handful of people running apps like Windows 10/11 and ESET. In response, the security firm said the reports had been passed on to the team, and they had deployed a potential fix, but the fix might still require manual action by the user.
“Currently, after updating Windows, the security mechanisms that protect the browser cause the browser itself to fail to start, and the protected browser does not start” or “the application does not start properly”, the security company said in the new document we found. “We apologize for any inconvenience caused to our customers,” the company added, highlighting two workarounds 0xc0000022.
Enable ESET LiveGrid from the settings menu
disable secure browser protection
It’s a nice easy fix that isn’t hard to fix on Windows 10 and Windows 11. So, if you’re running the April 2022 update and are frustrated by not being able to access your browser, this tip should give you a taste of the new search experience and other improvements included in the patch while using your browser normally. It is unclear whether this bug affects other antivirus solutions. If you receive the above error message, you can also uninstall the cumulative update or disable your browser’s security extension.