# Sublab XL won't start on Windows 7 **URL:** \ **Category:** SubLab XL\ **Created:** [August 8, 2022, 10:21pm UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239 "2022-08-08T22:21:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oliver808](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c77e96/32.png) [@Oliver808](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/Oliver808)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2022, 10:21pm UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/1 "2022-08-08T22:21:49Z")
Hi, Sublab XL won’t start on my Windows 7 , I get an error message saying it’s missing the api-ms-win-core-winrt-string-l1-1-0.dll. I tried installing the program a couple of times with the same result. No issues with the old Sublab. Any way to fix this? Regards ---
**Author:** ![studiotaoproductions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@studiotaoproductions](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/studiotaoproductions)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 6:50pm UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/2 "2022-10-08T18:50:45Z")
Hi Oliver, I got the exact same issue but with latest regular Sublab, version 1.1.8… got the the same message when launching the standalone, and the vst versions don’t show up inside my DAW. Can the developper answer our support tickets please??? ---
**Author:** ![Gavin\_FAW](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/community.futureaudioworkshop.com/gavin_faw/32/291_2.png) [@Gavin\_FAW](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/Gavin_FAW)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 9:59am UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/3 "2022-10-10T09:59:08Z")
Hey guys, You’re missing a dll that is used during activation. It is present on windows 8 and higher. @Julia on support will more than likely have gotten back with a fix @Oliver808, we’re working through the backlog here this morning and she’ll get on to you today 👍👍 ---
**Author:** ![Julia](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/community.futureaudioworkshop.com/julia/32/981_2.png) [@Julia](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/Julia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2022, 10:43am UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/4 "2022-10-10T10:43:53Z")
Hey @Oliver808 & @studiotaoproductions just sent you a DM! ---
**Author:** ![EnergyCrush](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e57/32.png) [@EnergyCrush](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/EnergyCrush)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2022, 8:07am UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/5 "2022-10-16T08:07:32Z")
@Julia I also need a solution for this. Is there a workaround or fix to get this working? Since FAW completely abandoned offline installation, no hope there, but I still need this working like others. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Gavin\_FAW](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/community.futureaudioworkshop.com/gavin_faw/32/291_2.png) [@Gavin\_FAW](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/Gavin_FAW)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2022, 9:49am UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/6 "2022-10-18T09:49:53Z")
@EnergyCrush, there should be a work around that @Julia will communicate to you via PM. Thanks, Gavin. ---
**Author:** ![EnergyCrush](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e57/32.png) [@EnergyCrush](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/EnergyCrush)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 2:58am UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/7 "2022-10-25T02:58:31Z")
I have walked through the steps provided by Julia multiple times, uninstalling and reinstalling SubLab multiple times, but this continues to be a problem. It appears the Native Instruments maschine software also relies on these libraries, but works perfectly - unless removed in which case it fails until they are restored. This is clearly a problem with SubLab. The other literal hundreds of plugins I have on this box work perfectly as needed, it is solely SubLab that appears to be having this issue. I have responded to Julia with this information as well, and would like to know what the next steps are. Thank you very much, Mickey ---
**Author:** ![Gavin\_FAW](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/community.futureaudioworkshop.com/gavin_faw/32/291_2.png) [@Gavin\_FAW](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/Gavin_FAW)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 9:58am UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/8 "2022-10-25T09:58:10Z")
Hi Mickey, Can you let me know more info about Native Instruments relying on the same library? That might be the key to getting it working. Thanks for the patience, obviously we want to get it working for you but it can be a bit tricky. Best, Gavin. ---
**Author:** ![EnergyCrush](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e57/32.png) [@EnergyCrush](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/EnergyCrush)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 1:40pm UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/9 "2022-10-25T13:40:51Z")
Sure, I will help in any way I can. The second video walks through the installation of vc\_redist.x64.exe. In the process of testing, I removed this package, which I apparently already had installed to support Maschine, as when I restarted, the Maschine services produced an error - though different from the one from SubLab. I can get screenshots of that tonight if it seems it may be helpful. Reinstalling vc\_redist.x64.exe resolved issues with Maschine, but SubLab still can’t find the library. Both the 32 and 64 bit api-ms-win-core-string-l1-1-0.dll files are hidden on my system and owned by TrustedInstaller, so overwriting/replacing them wasn’t straightforward in testing. I had to unhide them and take ownership before I could remove them and try replacing them with the versions linked in the first video Julia referenced - the referenced ones were also substantially larger. In either case, even after rebooting multiple times, and removing SubLab and everything completely and installing one at a time with SubLab last won’t make the error go away. To test, I’m just attempting to open the standalone SubLab installation rather then the VST2 or VST3 in a DAW. Ultimately I’d only need the VSTs to work, but is it expected that the standalone version wouldn’t work and the VSTs would? I believe attempting to load the VSTs in a DAW (Renoise in this case, but I can try in Ableton, Cubase, Reason, Reaper, Maschine, or BitWig) doesn’t give me an error, but just won’t load, but I can also validate this tonight. If there is any testing or log gathering I can do to help, I’ll do whatever I can. It feels like the libraries are loaded on the computer correctly, and Maschine is able to, but SubLab can’t. It doesn’t seem like the files being hidden like a system file is or would be the issue - when I copied in the versions downloaded, I did not rehide them, but SubLab still wasn’t able to find them. I don’t recall if there is a way to validate the dlls were loaded in the GAC, but am happy to try anything that will provide insight. Thank you very much Gavin ---
**Author:** ![Gavin\_FAW](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/community.futureaudioworkshop.com/gavin_faw/32/291_2.png) [@Gavin\_FAW](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/Gavin_FAW)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 1:51pm UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/10 "2022-10-25T13:51:05Z")
Yes, please post the Maschine error @EnergyCrush! I think if SubLab can see the dll, it should work, the open question is where to place the dll so that SubLab can see it. We’re looking into it here 👍 and will update you here so stay tuned. ---
**Author:** ![Oliver808](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c77e96/32.png) [@Oliver808](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/Oliver808)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2022, 5:41pm UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/11 "2022-10-25T17:41:07Z")
Hi Gavin, Could it be the version number of the dll that is not right for Sublab XL on windows 7? I’m wondering because the correct dlls for windows 7 are already in my windows 32 and 64 bit folders, just not the same version as in the video. Also, I have no issues with the older Sublab, the vst launches fine, I suppose it also relies on these dlls to work. Hope this helps, let me know. Thanks, Olivier. ---
**Author:** ![EnergyCrush](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e57/32.png) [@EnergyCrush](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/EnergyCrush)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2022, 3:12am UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/12 "2022-10-26T03:12:37Z")
I wonder if Oliver808 has a point, though in my case it’s Sublab rather than XL. When I uninstall VC\_redist.x64.exe and reboot, I get the following errors from Native Instruments: ![Maschine_v1](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/uploads/circlesynth/original/1X/ecf479a72bd45595db1d95b4fa4a6fe42d4305fb.png) ![Maschine_v2](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/uploads/circlesynth/original/1X/4c863658617f802465c727ec383aa4afe5c15a41.png) I noticed when I try to start Sublab at that point, I then get this error: ![SubLab_v1](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/uploads/circlesynth/original/1X/8254ad34e452293fc36b6134838e9f003fb922da.png) The errors for NI go aware when I reinstall VC\_redist.x64.exe and reboot. I also attempted to run regsvr32 /i api-ms-win-core-string-l1-1-0.dll in the off-chance the dll wasn’t properly registered. This produced the error: ![SubLab_v2](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/uploads/circlesynth/original/1X/9221d112dbe435ad1a607f558dc3ba1f34d2d0c6.png) After digging around online, nothing I could find would allow this to work, including attempting to use regasm in case it was a .Net library, but it doesn’t appear to be. However, it seems this may not actually be an issue as there are many dlls that apparently don’t need to be registered this way to work as intended, and nothing else appears to be broken in reference to it. So … still not sure what is happening. I wanted to mention that I also tried putting the DLs from the videos in the C:\Program Files\FAW\SubLab dir, but Sublab still has the same error. ---
**Author:** ![Gavin\_FAW](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/community.futureaudioworkshop.com/gavin_faw/32/291_2.png) [@Gavin\_FAW](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/Gavin_FAW)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2022, 11:06am UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/13 "2022-10-26T11:06:43Z")
Just passing this info onto @Aymeric_FAW 👍 ---
**Author:** ![Ikez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8baadc/32.png) [@Ikez](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/Ikez)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 9:54pm UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/14 "2022-11-09T21:54:59Z")
Hi there, is any solution for the Windows 7 issues on the horizon? ---
**Author:** ![Gavin\_FAW](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/community.futureaudioworkshop.com/gavin_faw/32/291_2.png) [@Gavin\_FAW](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/Gavin_FAW)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2022, 12:31pm UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/15 "2022-11-10T12:31:58Z")
We’re looking into it at the moment @Ibez, I’ve had a chat to Aymeric and he’s trying to figure out why the library is not working. It should, but it doesn’t so its a bit tricky. ---
**Author:** ![FrogDick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@FrogDick](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/FrogDick)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2022, 5:59pm UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/16 "2022-11-29T17:59:38Z")
Can I get some assistance with this same issue? I just purchased SubLab because its compatible with Win 7. I’m getting this error message. System Error: The program can’t start because api-ms-win-core-winrt-string-l1-1-0.dll is missing from your computer. ---
**Author:** ![Gavin\_FAW](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/community.futureaudioworkshop.com/gavin_faw/32/291_2.png) [@Gavin\_FAW](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/Gavin_FAW)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2022, 11:18am UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/17 "2022-11-30T11:18:15Z")
Hey Matt…we’re looking at it. The issue with the win-core dll is new and introduced in version 1.0.7…can you hang on while we try to remedy the issue. In the meantime were totally fine with issuing a refund to you and I’ve also updating the minimum specs on the sublab home page. Gavin. ---
**Author:** ![FrogDick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@FrogDick](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/FrogDick)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2022, 12:21pm UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/18 "2022-11-30T12:21:25Z")
I can wait. Ill be upgrading to windows 11 in the next few months anyway. Its just a bit disappointing to buy something that doesnt work out of the box. ---
**Author:** ![Gavin\_FAW](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/user_avatar/community.futureaudioworkshop.com/gavin_faw/32/291_2.png) [@Gavin\_FAW](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/Gavin_FAW)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2022, 4:50pm UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/19 "2022-11-30T16:50:07Z")
I totally empathise with that @FrogDick 👍 ---
**Author:** ![EnergyCrush](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e57/32.png) [@EnergyCrush](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/u/EnergyCrush)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 4:16am UTC](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239/20 "2023-03-15T04:16:58Z")
Adding this information here as well. I want to believe this fix is intended to work for Sublab as well given it’s been part of the discussion. I finally got a chance to try this, and I was at least able to get to the activation screen of Sublab this time, so it seems the fix at least partially addresses the issue for Sublab as well. However, upon clicking Activate, I get the following issues - one is from Visual Studio, though obviously I don’t have symbols to work with. The last is when attempting to load it and activate as a plugin rather than standalone. This issue happens when running the standalone as Administrator as well (which I tried to see if I could just get it activated so could then use it): ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/uploads/circlesynth/original/1X/499454451c4b179049c8fc81f16c93659677125d.png) ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/uploads/circlesynth/original/1X/1077f2165a7d56da658cf4424402ec0828b65878.png) ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/uploads/circlesynth/original/1X/97074c6db23ffd0c2b6807806ba337b116da8d54.png) ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/uploads/circlesynth/original/1X/43d0ceab3d21d7487654c3db038fcf536788c829.png) [Next page](https://community.futureaudioworkshop.com/t/sublab-xl-wont-start-on-windows-7/1239.md?page=2)