Office: There’s not enough memory or system resources to start
Symptoms
These error messages are displayed when selecting a Word (.docx), PowerPoint (.pptx) or Excel (.xlsx) file in the Windows Explorer preview pane:
- There’s not enough memory or system resources to start PowerPoint
- There’s not enough memory or system resources to start Word
- Excel displays an error message with a red cross icon ❌ and no text
Solution
This happens when the 32-bit version of Microsoft Office is installed after having uninstalled the 64-bit version. This leaves references in the registry to the 64-bit Preview Handlers.
To fix these errors and repair the preview pane, run Regedit as administrator and delete these registry keys:
Microsoft Excel previewer
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID{00020827-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
Microsoft PowerPoint previewer
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID{65235197-874B-4A07-BDC5-E65EA825B718}
Microsoft Word previewer
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID{84F66100-FF7C-4fb4-B0C0-02CD7FB668FE}
Microsoft Visio previewer
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID{21E17C2F-AD3A-4b89-841F-09CFE02D16B7}
Important
A logoff/logon or reboot is required.