Windows 7 – Windows Movie Maker can’t start error message

Problem

After installing Windows Live Essentials, and selecting Movie Maker during the install, Movie Maker does not run.

When you try to open Movie Maker you receieve the following error message:

Sorry, Movie Maker can't start. Make sure your computer meets the minimum system requirements before trying to start Movie Maker again, and then try to update the driver for your video card if Movie Maker still doesn't start.

Solution

In my situation, the issue was due to the video drivers installed not being from the lasest from the manufacture.

The first step should be to check that you have the latest video drivers installed for your system. Below is a table of where to get these from popular system manufactures.

Acer	http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers
ASUS	http://support.asus.com/Download/Options.aspx?SLanguage=en&type=1
Compaq	http://www.compaq.com/country/cpq_support.html
Dell	http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriversHome/NeedProductSelection
Fujitsu	http://support.fujitsupc.com/CS/Portal/support.do?srch=DOWNLOADS
Gateway	http://support.gateway.com/product/?cmpid=supportnav
HP	http://www8.hp.com/us/en/support-drivers.html
Lenovo	http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/default.page?
MSI	http://us.msi.com/service/download/
Samsung	http://www.samsung.com/us/support/
Sony	http://esupport.sony.com/US/p/select-system.pl?DIRECTOR=DRIVER
Toshiba	http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/home.jsp?nav=Product%20Support#

Next, if this hasnt resolved your issue, make sure your system can run DirectX 10 or above.

This can be done by pressing the Windows + R keys on the keyboard to open the run window, then typing dxdiag and clicking ‘ok’

On this screenyou should see ‘DirectX Version:‘ the version needs to be 10 or above, if it is version 9 you will need to the software update to allow it to work with version 9 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2741355 .