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Kai__P
Inspiring
November 11, 2025
Answered

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

  • November 11, 2025
  • 6 replies
  • 1688 views

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

    Correct answer Kai__P

    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.

    6 replies

    B
    bestpoutine
    Participant
    November 16, 2025

    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.

      K
      Kai__PAuthor
      Inspiring
      November 16, 2025

      Thanks for the additional confirmation — it’s becoming very clear that this is a widespread issue affecting multiple Copilot+ ARM devices at the same time.

      At this point, I think it’s essential that Adobe provides an official update on the status of this problem.

      I personally had a remote session with Adobe Support, and I was told that I would receive a working ARM-compatible installer within 48 hours.

      That deadline has now passed, and I have still not received any download link or follow-up communication from Adobe.

      Considering that many of us are paying Creative Cloud subscribers who currently cannot use any of the core applications (Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, Creative Cloud Desktop), it is absolutely reasonable to expect:

      • a timeline for when a functioning update will be available
      • or at least an official acknowledgement from Adobe Engineering confirming the issue and the expected fix

      Could Adobe please clarify:
      When can Windows 11 ARM users expect a working Creative Cloud Desktop build again?

      This is now affecting users on Surface Laptop 7, Surface Pro 11, Dell ARM and Lenovo ARM devices — it’s clearly not an isolated case.

      K
      Kai__PAuthor
      Inspiring
      November 16, 2025

      Quick note to everyone following this thread:

      If you are experiencing similar issues on Windows 11 ARM (Surface Laptop 7 / Surface Pro 11 / Dell ARM / Lenovo ARM, etc.), please feel free to share your device model, CPU (X Elite / X Plus) and the exact error messages you’re seeing (0xc000007b, Win32 error 193, HDUWP.dll issues, app launch failures).

      The more reports we gather, the easier it will be for Adobe Engineering to identify the root cause and prioritize a fix.
      Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far — let’s keep the information flowing.

      At the same time, it would be helpful to hear from an Adobe staff member regarding the current status of this issue.
      Several of us have already contacted Support, and in my case I was told I would receive an ARM-compatible installer within 48 hours — but no follow-up has been provided so far.

      Given the increasing number of affected users and devices, a short update or confirmation that this has been escalated to Engineering would be greatly appreciated.

        T
        thomasm87878606
        Participant
        November 15, 2025

        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. 

        K
        Kai__PAuthor
        Inspiring
        November 15, 2025

        @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.

          R
          ram_4866
          Participant
          November 16, 2025

          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

           

           

           

          K
          kristian_8984
          Participant
          November 14, 2025

          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
          Community Expert
          kgladCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          November 14, 2025

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

          T
          TenchiZ06
          Participant
          November 14, 2025

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

            K
            Kai__PAuthor
            Inspiring
            November 14, 2025

            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.

              S
              sbrich@hotmail.com
              Participant
              November 16, 2025

              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.

              B
              Bewitched_view3592
              Participating Frequently
              November 12, 2025

              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.    

              K
              Kai__PAuthorCorrect answer
              Inspiring
              November 13, 2025

              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.

              K
              Kai__PAuthor
              Inspiring
              November 13, 2025

              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
                Community Expert
                kgladCommunity Expert
                Community Expert
                November 11, 2025

                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

                K
                Kai__PAuthor
                Inspiring
                November 11, 2025

                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
                  Community Expert
                  kgladCommunity Expert
                  Community Expert
                  November 11, 2025

                  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

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