How to fix stuck on updating office please wait a moment issue?

If your Office stuck on updating office please wait a moment splash screen on your Windows 10/11, here is how you can resolve this issue.

What is the issue and what causes it?

Nearly every Windows user uses Microsoft Office and there are some unfortunate ones only who encounter this error message while launching an Office app such as Word, Excel and etc. Some of the user receives the error with an error code message that says:

Unable to start correctly, error code 0xc0000142

Possible reasons

The issue is a common occurrence during the time of an Office Update. The possible reasons why you encounter this issue are:

Outdated System Windows – the latest Office update might have a conflict with the outdated version of Windows on your system
Corrupt Office Installation – the latest office update might not be properly applied to the office installation of your system and due to which the installations files are corrupt,
Fast startup – This is a Windows 10 feature that reduces the time your PC takes to boot up. Also, this feature prevents the PC in complete shutdown and thus may cause compatibility issue with apps that have the problem in hibernating.
Conflicting Office versions – more than one Office Installation like 64- bit Office 2019 and 32-bit Access 2010 on your system may conflict due to which the error occurs.

Now, we are moving towards the solution part. But, before we dive into this, we recommend you once check if launching Office applications in their safe mode clears this error. If yes, then try to find and remove all plug-in or add-on causing this issue. Also, some of the users got the solution just by unpinning the office applications from the System’s Task Bar.

The office stuck on updating office please wait a moment splash screen might be a result of some system based issue. There are many system related issues such as BSODs, EXEs errors, DLL errors, apps and programs’ malfunctions, virus infections and etc that occur time to time and you can fix them automatically using PC Repair Tool. The direct download link is provided below.

⇓ Get PC Repair Tool

Fixes for stuck on updating office please wait a moment issue

#1: Re-launch Office Apps as an Administrator

When you trigger this error because the Office is not able to access a protected system resource after the upgrade, you should run the Office apps with administrator privilege to resolve the issue:

Click on Windows and search for an Office application like Excel,
Right-click on it and select Run as Administrator,
When the Office application launches, operate it to see if it work fine.

#2: Restart the Click to Run Process and Service

The stuck on updating office please wait a moment error might have occurred when this service is stuck in an error after on Office update. In this case, you would require restarting the Click to Run Process and Service:

Right click on Windows and Open Task Manager,
Now, Right-click on the Microsoft Office Click-to-Run process and select End Task,
Next, Confirm to end the process,
After that, go to the Service tab and right-click on the ClickToRunSVc service and select the Restart button,
Restart the Office app and then see if the issue is gone.
If not, repeat the above steps twice and trice and check if the issue is resolved.

#3: Restart your System and Update Office to the latest build

The office error message might be a result of Office update could not be completely applied to the installation. You should require restarting the system and re-updating the Office installation in this case:

Press Windows key and click on Power,
Then, click on Shut Down and let the system powered off,
Wait for a minute the then and power on the device,
After that, check if any of the Office apps like Word can be opened without issue,
If so, open the app’s File and head over the Account,
Now, go to the Office updates section, click on Update Now and then on Update Now button in the result menu,
Once the Office app is update, re-launch it and see if the update issue is resolved.

#4: Update Windows to the latest build

The updated Office installation might be incompatible with the older Windows version. You should therefore check if updating the Windows to the latest version clear the office update issue:

Click on Windows and search for Check for Updates,
Now, click on the Check for Updates and in the update Window, click on the Check for Updates button,
If the update is available, download/ install it and then restart the system.

#5: Repair Microsoft Office

If the last Office update did not apply well, it may cause the corruption of the Office apps and that results in stuck on updating office please wait a moment splash screen on Windows this time. Here, performing a repair may solve the problem:

Right-click on Windows and open App & Features,
Expand the problematic Office Installation and click on Modify button,
Click on option Quick Repair and then on Repair button,
Follow the prompts to complete the repair process and then check if the Office is clear of the updating issue,
If not, then choose the other options in the step 3 and follow the prompts on the screen to check if the online repair has solved the updating problem,
If you are using an enterprise Office key, you may use the Have a key link to activate the Office,
If the repair is successful, open the Office app like Word and use the File> Account> Update> Options> Update Now to perform its update.

#6: Uninstall Microsoft Office’s conflicting version

You might have both Office versions installed and they may conflict with each other, causing the updating issue. In this context, uninstalling the older version or another architecture version like 32-bit or 62-bit may solve the problem:

Go to the Apps & Features and check for more than one Office Products installed,
If there is, expand the other or older version of the Office and click on Uninstall,
Confirm with Uninstall the Office and follow the prompts to complete the un-installation process,
Reboot the device the then and upon that launch the Office app and see if it clears the Office updating splash screen issue.

#7: Disable the Fast Startup of the system

The Fast Startup Windows Feature might overlook a resource essential for the operation of Microsoft office and hence the updating issue you encounter. Disable this feature on your system. This might be the required solution:

Right click on Windows and Select Power option,
Now, under the Related Settings, open the link of Additional Power Settings and in the result window, open Choose What the Power Buttons Do,
Then, click on Change Settings That Are Currently Unavailable and in the Shut down setting, uncheck the Turn on Fast Startup option,
Save the changes and reboot the device.

#8: Clean boot the PC and Disable the conflicting apps

Another application might conflict with Office resulting stuck on updating office please wait a moment issue. In this context, clean boot the device and disable the conflicting apps. This may solve the issue:

Click on Windows and search for System Configuration,
Head over the services tab and checkmark the Hide All Microsoft Services,
Click on Disable All option and head to the Startup tab of the system configuration the then,
Now, click on Open Task Manager, and disable every entry by right-click on each and select Disable,
Once disabled, apply the changes to the Task Manager Windows and System Configuration Windows,
Reboot the device the then and see if the problem is resolved,
If yes, you have to enable all disabled apps one by one till you find the problematic one,
Once found, either disable it or uninstall it, if it is not essential.

#9: Re-register the System DLLs

It is possible that the essential DLLs have been deregistered from the system’s Registry by a registry cleaner app or security of your system. Here, in this case, re-registering the System DLLs may resolve the problem:

Click on windows and search for command prompt,
Right-click on command prompts and run it as administrator,
Then, execute this command:

for %i in (%windir%\system32\*.dll) do regsvr32.exe /s %i

Exit the command prompt and reboot the device.

#10: Reinstall MS Office Suite

If the corrupt Office installation could not be repaired with Repairing Office online, you should perform re-installing the MS Office:

Right-click on Windows and open Apps & Features,
Expand the problematic Office Installation and click on the Uninstall button,
Confirm to uninstall the Office and follow the prompt to complete the installation process,
After that, restart the device and upon that reinstall the Office from the Office or organization portal,
Complete the reinstallation of Office and then check if the updating Office issue is cleared.
If not, launch a browser and steer to the Microsoft Office Uninstaller page,
In the option 2 of completely uninstall office with the uninstall support tool, click on Download and let the download complete,
Launch the downloaded uninstall as administrator and follow the prompts to complete the installation process.

Also Read: How to Fix Microsoft Office error code 30038-28 in Windows 10

Conclusion

That’s all. We have completed our guide how to fix stuck on updating office please wait a moment issue. We have mentioned all possible fixes and hope that these will definitely work in your case. The steps are so simple that anybody can perform by their own. Still, if you have problem in performing any steps, please comment us on the comment section below.