A reader asks: How do I fix an “Application Starter/Parameter is Incorrect” error?

Writing from the Netherlands, reader Maarten Woerlee asks (via the CONTACT link):

Q: In Windows, sometimes there’s a pop-up window named “Application Starter” with the message “The parameter is incorrect.” What’s going on, and how do I fix this?

A: We can figure this out by looking at the two clues in your question: (1) the “Application Starter” generating the message, and (2) its “Incorrect parameter.”

What’s the “application starter?  My Windows reference systems have no native software called “application starter” (or anything similar) on their hard drives. So, my guess is your system has some kind of third-party “application starter” software (there are many such) that’s having trouble. We’ll have to track it down.

What’s an “Incorrect parameter?” This is a fairly vanilla, generic error message meaning that the software received an unexpected input — something outside of an allowable range, or of the wrong type, etc. It doesn’t provide any detail as to what, exactly, went wrong; just that the software was asked to handle something unexpected. Rather than crashing or going in a loop or failing some other way, the software reports “The parameter is incorrect” and exits.

What could be doing this? There are a number of add-on, third-party “application starter” tools available (scripting tools; game launchers; logon helpers; etc.) that can launch (start) other apps. The script automatically supplies the information — the parameters — that the apps need to work.

If one of these application starters is on your system, and it calls for (say) launching a nonexistent or bad app, or tries to use a software function that isn’t allowed, then you might well see an “Application Starter” window with the “Incorrect parameter” message.

I can’t know which application starter you have on your system, but you might try looking in Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features to see if you have anything with a name something like that; and/or searching your hard drive (e.g. via File Explorer’s Search box) for any app with “application” or “launch” in its name.

If that doesn’t work, try to notice exactly what you and your system are doing when the message appears; a likely culprit is one of the tasks/apps/actions that was started or launched immediately before you see the message. You also can use tools such as Windows’ Task Manager to see what’s running at the time of the error; or Windows’ Event Viewer to explore the error logs to see what might have been involved with the error.

Once you’ve tracked down the app, you can visit its publisher’s site to see how it’s supposed to be set up, and how to correct the “Incorrect parameter” problem.

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