Creative Cloud / Photoshop won’t launch on Surface Laptop 7 (ARM) – Error 0xc000007b

[Kai__P]

Hi everyone,

I’m using a Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 with Snapdragon X Elite (Windows 11 ARM 64-bit) and I’ve been running Adobe Creative Cloud, Photoshop, Illustrator (beta), and Lightroom without any issues until last week.

Since a recent Windows update or possibly an Adobe update, none of the apps will launch anymore – not even the Creative Cloud Desktop app itself.

When I try to start Creative Cloud (or Photoshop), I immediately get the following error message:

“The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b). Click OK to close the application.”

Here’s what I’ve already tried – unfortunately without success:

• Completely removed all Adobe components using the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool (option 1 = “Clean All”)

• Restarted the system

• Verified that the correct Microsoft Visual C++ 2022 Redistributable (ARM64) is installed (and removed all x64/x86 versions)

• Ran sfc /scannow and dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth to check system files

• Re-downloaded the Creative Cloud installer and ran it as Administrator

• Also tried the Microsoft Store version of Creative Cloud

Still, the same error appears right when launching Creative Cloud.exe.

In Task Manager, the process shows up as “Creative Cloud.exe (ARM64)”, so it’s definitely the ARM build.
Other users with Surface Laptop 7 / Windows 11 ARM have reported similar behavior (see threads #14902304 and #14996719).

Questions:

• Is there an officially supported ARM64 build of the Creative Cloud Desktop app for the Surface Laptop 7 (Snapdragon X Elite)?

• If yes, where can I download the correct ARM installer?

• Or is there any known workaround (registry edit, temporary DLL fix, alternate installer, etc.)?

• Do you need any specific system logs or configuration details to reproduce this issue?

Any help or official statement from Adobe would be highly appreciated.

Best regards,
Kai

[kglad]

here are the builds:

this page explains how to install cc apps by first installing the cc desktop app. the links at the page bottom allow you to select the installer suitable for your os, https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/creative-cloud-desktop-app-download.html

[Kai__P]

Thanks for your reply!
Yes, I already tried that exact page and installer several times — both the normal Windows download and the Microsoft Store version.

The issue isn’t about downloading or installing, but rather that the Creative Cloud Desktop app (and Photoshop) won’t launch at all on Windows 11 ARM devices such as the Surface Laptop 7 (Snapdragon X Elite).

The same installer that works fine on Intel/AMD machines produces the 0xc000007b startup error on ARM.
Several users with the same hardware are seeing identical behavior since last week’s update (both Adobe and/or Windows).

Could you please check internally if there’s a dedicated ARM64 build of the Creative Cloud app, or if the team is aware of a compatibility issue with the latest Windows 11 ARM update?

Thanks a lot!
Kai

[kglad]

those are the only builds available.  

check your cpu specs and see if you need to enable something, https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/system-requirements.html

[Kai__P]

Thanks for the hint!
I already checked the system specs — this is a brand-new Surface Laptop 7 with Snapdragon X Elite, running Windows 11 ARM 64-bit.
The CPU fully supports 64-bit instructions and virtualization, and Photoshop & Illustrator were working fine until last week.

The issue seems unrelated to hardware; it looks more like the Creative Cloud installer is still deploying an x64 build that doesn’t load properly on the new ARM runtime.

Could you please check with the engineering team if the ARM64 Creative Cloud desktop app build is still available or if it was temporarily pulled after the last update?

[kglad]

i have no direct access to engineering teams. we'd need an employee to start that (somewhat lengthy) process.

in thr meantime, specs haven't changed between the two most recent versions while recent wn 11 updates have triggered an avalanche of problems.  (and that is a windows error.)

[Kai__P]

Thanks for your reply!

Just to clarify — I already rolled back my entire system to a previous Windows restore point (from before the latest Windows updates) and then reinstalled all Adobe components from scratch.

The error still persists, even on that clean, earlier system state.
This means the issue can’t be purely Windows-related — it’s more likely related to the latest Creative Cloud desktop or runtime build when running under the ARM x64 emulation layer.

So even with Windows reverted, the same 0xc000007b error appears when launching CreativeCloud.exe.

I fully agree this needs input from the Adobe engineering team, since the problem seems specific to Surface Laptop 7 / Snapdragon X Elite devices and started affecting multiple users at the same time.

[kglad]

@Jeff_A_Wright 

[David__B · Accepted solution]

Hi @kai35998264eoot

Thanks for sharing all the details and info about what has been tried. It sounds like you've tried all the known solutions. I'd recommend reaching out to our support directly next. They can be reached here: https://adobe.ly/4o1dOZi

They will likely need you to run the log collector and share the logs with engineering.

Best,
Dave

[kglad]

(thank you, @David__B)

[Bewitched_view3592]

I have exactly the same issue which means I cannot install Lightroom Classic on my Dell with Windows 11 and Snapdragon. I have spoken 5 times with Adobe support who tried similar fixes to the ones you mention but were not able to help. Adobe finally told me to speak with Microsoft! It is just ridiculous that Lightroom Classic and othe Adobe products do not work with Snapdragon. If I has known, I would never have purchased Adobe Lightroom. I now will be cancelling and finding some other photo software.    

[Kai__P · Accepted solution]

I completely understand your frustration — I’m on a Surface Laptop 7 (Snapdragon X Elite) and facing exactly the same error.

I’ve been in contact with Adobe support; after several attempts they confirmed this is related to the x64 Creative Cloud build not running properly under the Windows 11 ARM emulation layer.
They mentioned that engineering is preparing a new ARM-compatible installer and promised to send me a download link within 48 hours.

It looks like Adobe is aware of the problem and is working on a fix — hopefully they’ll release the official ARM build soon.

[Kai__P · Accepted solution]

As an additional note:

I also had a remote support session with an Adobe engineer who connected directly to my system via their online support tool.
They tried multiple advanced steps (full cleanup, verification of runtimes, manual deletion, reinstall under admin privileges), but the issue still persisted.

So this confirms that it’s not a local configuration problem, but rather a compatibility issue with the current Creative Cloud desktop build on Windows 11 ARM (Snapdragon).

[kglad]

@Kai__P 

thanks for both those helpful contributions.

[TenchiZ06]

Same issue. Just noticed this happening today. Surface Pro 11. Ugh.

[Kai__P]

Thanks for sharing — this really helps confirm it’s a broader issue.
I’m on a Surface Laptop 7 (Snapdragon X Elite) and experiencing the exact same 0xc000007b startup error with Creative Cloud and Photoshop.

Adobe Support already connected remotely to my system via their online support tool and tried everything (Cleaner Tool, manual cleanup, reinstall, runtime repair, etc.).
They confirmed that the current Creative Cloud desktop build is failing under the Windows 11 ARM emulation layer.

I was told that engineering is preparing an updated ARM-compatible installer and that I would receive a download link within 48 hours — unfortunately, I still haven’t received anything yet.

The fact that more users with Surface Pro 11 / Surface Laptop 7 / Snapdragon devices are reporting the same issue shows this is a platform-wide problem.
The more of us report it, the faster Adobe can escalate and release a fixed build for all Copilot+ ARM systems.

[sbrich@hotmail.com]

Same exact issue for me. I have been running CC and LRC on my Lenovo laptop with no problems for a year. Today, they would not load after a system update. I have tried everything I can Google. Please let me know if you receive an update from Adobe.

[samantha_0301]

Did they provide the link? Would have though a soluton would be publicly available by now. Time to consder non-Adobe options for my needs, Expect better from a supposed tier 1 software provider like Adobe

[kristian_8984]

I'm experiencing the same issue described in this thread.

When launching Photoshop (which I regularly use) on my Surface Laptop 7 with Snapdragon X Elite, I encountered error 0xc000007b today. Lightroom also fails to start, showing Win32 API error 193.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

• Repaired and reinstalled Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables (x86/x64 and ARM versions)
• Uninstalled and reinstalled Creative Cloud
• Used Creative Cloud Uninstaller to completely remove and reinstall everything

Current situation:

• I can install the Creative Cloud Desktop app, but Photoshop fails to install via Creative Cloud. It stops at 2% with Error 101 and the following messages:

FATAL: Unhandled fatal error 'Unknown exception' occurred.
ERROR: Path:C:\adobeTemp already exists
ERROR: Failed to load hduwp dll from path C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Adobe Desktop Common\HDBox\HDUWP.dll
WARN: Unable to load library at path: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Adobe Desktop Common\HDBox\HDUWP.dll. Error: 193​

• I was able to install Lightroom via Creative Cloud, but launching it results in this error:

- Win32 API error 193 ("(unknown error)") when calling ::LoadLibrary(C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Lightroom CC\CameraRaw.dll) from getCFunction(WFVideoFoundationContextImp_load)​

Would appreciate any help or official guidance on how to resolve this on ARM-based Windows devices. Thank you!

[kglad]

if you also have an incompatible cpu you'll need to await a fix from adobe.

[Kai__P]

Thanks for sharing this — your detailed error messages are extremely helpful, because they match exactly what several of us are seeing on Surface Laptop 7 / Surface Pro 11 with Snapdragon X Elite.

I’m experiencing the same behavior on my system:
• Creative Cloud won’t launch (0xc000007b)
• Photoshop fails to start or install (depending on version)
• Lightroom fails to load CameraRaw.dll with Win32 API error 193
• HDUWP.dll load failures also appear in my logs

I was already in contact with Adobe Support — they even connected remotely to my system via their online tool and tried everything (Cleaner Tool, complete manual cleanup, reinstall, repairing all ARM/x64/x86 VC++ runtimes, etc.).

The agent confirmed that this is a compatibility issue with the current Creative Cloud desktop x64 build running under the Windows 11 ARM emulation layer.
Engineering is reportedly preparing an updated ARM-compatible installer, and I was told I would receive a download link within 48 hours.

Unfortunately, I haven’t received it yet.

The fact that more users are now reporting the same issues — and with identical DLL load errors — strongly suggests this is a platform-wide problem affecting all Copilot+ ARM devices after the recent build.

Hopefully Adobe can escalate this quickly and provide an updated Creative Cloud Desktop build for ARM64 systems.

[thomasm87878606]

Hi all, I've been having the exact same issue as @Kai__P & others here for the past week (Surface Pro 11 w/ Snapdragon X Plus in my case), after using Lightroom, Photoshop & CC without any problems several months. I've already tried some of the same solutions, all to no avail -- glad to find this thread & hope to see a new installer soon. One additional bit of information, fwiw: my ARM-native Luminar Neo also stopped launching at the same time. I get a "Something went wrong and the app couldn't start" message in that case. 

[Kai__P]

@thomasm87878606
This is extremely important information — thanks for sharing it.

The fact that even ARM-native Luminar Neo won’t launch anymore strongly suggests that this is not only a Creative Cloud regression, but a deeper issue in the Windows 11 ARM app loading / runtime layer that affects both ARM64 apps and x64 apps running under emulation.

In other words:
This is not a “CPU incompatibility” (as repeatedly claimed above), and it’s also not limited to Adobe software.

We now have:
• Creative Cloud failing with 0xc000007b
• Photoshop / Lightroom failing with DLL load errors
• Luminar Neo ARM64 failing to launch
• Multiple Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus devices hit at the same time

This clearly points to a system-level issue introduced by a recent Windows 11 ARM update.

Adobe Support already confirmed during a remote session on my machine that Creative Cloud did work flawlessly before last week and that the failure started suddenly with the latest builds.

This needs coordinated attention from Adobe Engineering and Microsoft’s Windows on ARM team.

[ram_4866]

Same exact issue as everybody else.

Tell me if im wrong but it seems HDUWP.dll while being installed at the correct location, is the x86 version instead of ARM.

kai35998264eoot
- Did you get an updated installer?

If yes I bet all of us would like to get our hands on it as well 🙂

Cheers

[bestpoutine]

I have had this problem for a few days too. Very annoying, and seemingly no resolution yet. This is a catastrophic error that renders the entire Creative Cloud unusable on Windows on ARM.