FIX: Windows photo gallery not working in Windows 10

Ivan Jenic
by Ivan Jenic
Troubleshooting Expert
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Users have reported that Windows Live Photo Gallery fails to start and they are greeted with the “Photo Gallery encountered an error loading WLXPhotoLibraryMain.dll and can’t start. Error code 0x8007007e” message.

According to the reports, it seems that Windows Live Photo Gallery is using MF.dll and MFplat.dll files, and if these files are missing from your computer then you probably won’t be able to start this application.

As for these two files, they are also used by Media Player, and if you don’t have Media Player installed, then you are probably missing these two files as well.

You might not know, but there is a version of Windows 10 that doesn’t come with Media Player, and you might have accidentally installed that version, but don’t worry, there’s no need to reinstall anything.

SOLVED: Windows Photo Gallery won’t open

Solution 1 – Download Media Feature Pack for Windows 10

  1. Go to Microsoft’s website and search for Media Feature Pack for N and KN versions of Windows 10.
  2. Download the file and install it, and it should install all the files that you need for Media Player, and in our case for Windows Live Photo Gallery.
  3. After the installation is complete your Windows Live Photo Gallery should work normally.

Solution 2 – Download Windows 10 with built-in Media Player

This is a more drastic solution, but you can download Windows 10 with Media Player preinstalled, and you’ll have all the files you need to run Windows Live Photo Gallery. If you don’t know how to do this, hire someone to do it for you.

Solution 3 – Use a different photo viewer

windows 7 image viewing adobe lightroom

This is one of the simplest solutions if you’re tired of trying to fix the Windows Live Photo Gallery tool. There are plenty of photo viewer tools out there that allow you to import, view, filter your photos, and much more. One variant which we really love is the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, a complete solution that offers much more than a simple gallery, and its proved to be very stable.  Here’s what this bad baby can do:

  • Edit pictures on the go, directly from a mobile, web or desktop application
  • Includes cloud storage for all of your pictures
  • Pre-defined tools will aid you in editing
  • Built for photography, but with a simple and easy to use design

⇒ Download Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August 2015 and has been updated for freshness, and accuracy.

 

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in August 2015 and was revamped and updated in August 2020 for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
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