[crt] api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll is missing when opening Microsoft Office file

I am facing this .dll library missing error:

This programme can't start because api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll is missing. Try to reinstall this.

When I try to open an Microsoft Office file.

How do I solve that?

This question is related to crt

The answer is


While the answer from alireza is correct, it has one gotcha:

You can't install Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 redist (runtime) unless you have Windows Update KB2999226 installed (at least on Windows 7 64-bit SP1).


Recursively update Windows 7 until it shows no more updates, using Windows Update check option in Windows 7.

Then download and install Visual C++ Redistributable vc_redist.x64.exe from the Windows website.

Then try to run Apache server.


In case nothing of the previous answers worked, add one of these paths to your PATH environment variable:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Redist\ucrt\DLLs\x64
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Redist\ucrt\DLLs\x86

Of course, make sure they exist first and that they contain the DLL files needed. If they don't exist, try installing "Windows Universal CRT SDK" from the Visual Studio 2015 or Visual Studio 2017 installer.


This error is usually caused by the missing Visual C++ Redistributable file, which is a required dependency for most of the application on Windows Computer.

Download Visual C++ Redistributable from here and install it. After installing this, Reboot the system.

Link: Visual C++ Redistributable


if anybody unable to update windows online, I suggest you go to http://download.wsusoffline.net/ and download Most recent version.

Then install update generator -> select your operating system. and hit START, just wait few minutes let him download updates and complete all it's process. hope this help.

Image of Offline update generator


  1. Delete all temp files
    • search %TEMP%
    • delete all
  2. Perform a clean boot. see How to perform a clean boot in Windows
  3. Install vc_redist.x64 see Download Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015
  4. Restart without clean boot

This is old post and I am sorry but even installing of KB2999226 will not help if you don't have April 2014 update rollup for Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 (2919355) update package. Without it the installation of KB2999226 returns error "The update is not applicable to your computer". Typically you will get this problem if you have some offline envinroment for example dev virtual machines without access to the WSUS or Windows Update services and old ISO images of Windows 8.1, Server 2012 R2.