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Free Fix UI failed to load

Avast UI failed to load: the interface opens blank or never appears at all

11 min read Updated October 5, 2026 Antivirus & Endpoint Security

Fix it now

The Avast service is still running; the desktop application cannot draw its window. Avast treats this as a repair job rather than a reinstall, and the repair runs from the Avast Setup window that its uninstall entry opens.

  1. Restart the machine once. A repair on a machine with a pending restart tends to fail in the same place.
  2. Right-click the Start button and open Apps and Features. Find your Avast product, open the three-dot menu and choose Uninstall. Confirm at the User Account Control prompt.
  3. The Avast Setup window opens. Click Repair, not Uninstall, and let it finish. Restart if it asks.
  4. Open services.msc. For each Avast entry, open Properties, set Startup type to Automatic, apply, and press Start if the service is stopped.
  5. Avast names its own companion services here: Avast SecureLine VPN, Avast Cleanup, Avast AntiTrack Service, Avast Driver Updater and Avast BreachGuard. Check all of them, not only the antivirus.
  6. Reopen the interface. If it still will not draw, remove the product with the Avast Uninstall Tool in Safe Mode, restart, install a freshly downloaded package and sign in to your Avast account.

Avast’s own article for this failure names the messages it shows as “Sorry, we’ve crashed”, “Sorry, our screen didn’t load” and “Well, this is embarrassing”. The wording on your screen may differ from any of them; the repair is the same.

If the window draws and survives a restart you are done. If not, the next section explains which half of the product is broken and how to tell.

Why it happens

Avast ships as two things that have to find each other. A service starts with Windows, loads the filter drivers, keeps the definitions current and holds the subscription state. A separate desktop application runs in your own user session and draws everything you look at. It holds no protection logic of its own: it asks the service for state and renders the answer.

When the application cannot get an answer it has nothing to draw, and it says so. That is the whole message. It is not a detection, not an expiry and not evidence that the machine is unprotected – in most cases scanning carries on behind the blank window. What it tells you is that one of three things is true: the service is not running, the application’s own components are damaged, or something on the machine sits between the two.

Avast’s own remedy is a repair followed by a service check, in that order, and the ordering matters: repair replaces damaged application components while leaving settings, exclusions and subscription alone, and it fixes everything a reinstall would except an installation damaged beyond what repair can rewrite. The numbers that appear alongside are Windows service errors rather than Avast errors, and each one names a different repair.

A service Avast depends on has been removed or disabled

You have this one if Starting the Avast service fails with 1075, and other unrelated services on the machine are also refusing to start.

  1. Open the service’s Properties and read the Dependencies tab to see what it actually requires.
  2. Check that Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and RPC Endpoint Mapper are Running with Startup type Automatic.
  3. Undo any service-disabling tweak or optimiser profile that has been applied to this machine, then restart.
  4. Start the Avast service, then run the repair.

1075 is Windows saying the dependency service does not exist or has been marked for deletion. That is a Windows-level problem; repairing Avast on top of it will not hold.

The service logon account was changed

You have this one if The start attempt reports 1079, usually on a machine where someone has been changing service accounts or a domain password recently expired.

  1. Open the service’s Properties and select the Log On tab.
  2. Set it back to Local System account unless you have a documented reason for something else.
  3. Apply, start the service, and confirm it is still running after a restart.

Windows publishes 1079 as the account for this service differing from the account used by other services sharing the same process. It is a configuration mismatch, not a password you can retype your way out of.

An interrupted program update left mismatched components

You have this one if The failure began immediately after an Avast update, a forced restart during one, or a disk that filled up.

  1. Free disk space first. An update that cannot write cannot finish, and repair needs room too.
  2. Run the Repair option from the Avast Setup window as described above.
  3. If repair completes but the failure returns after the next update, remove the product with the Avast Uninstall Tool in Safe Mode and install a freshly downloaded package.
  4. Sign in to your Avast account afterwards so the subscription reattaches.

The machine has run out of a resource the service needs

You have this one if The start attempt reports 1450, usually on a machine that has been up for weeks or a virtual desktop with a small paging file.

  1. Restart, then watch Task Manager for a process climbing in handles or non-paged pool.
  2. On a virtual machine, raise the paging file and retest.
  3. Repair Avast only once the service starts reliably from cold.

1450 is Windows reporting insufficient system resources. Repairing an application does not create memory.

A second real-time scanner is loaded alongside Avast

You have this one if Another security suite is installed, or one was removed without its vendor’s own removal tool.

  1. Open Windows Security and look at Virus & threat protection to see what Windows regards as the active antivirus.
  2. Remove the other product with its vendor’s removal utility rather than only the entry in Apps and Features.
  3. Restart, then repair Avast.

Microsoft Defender is not the conflict. On a Windows client with a non-Microsoft antivirus registered, Microsoft documents Defender going into disabled mode automatically, and re-enabling itself if that product expires, is uninstalled or stops providing real-time protection.

Full reference

Reading the service numbers rather than guessing

Every number in the table below is a Windows service error, published by Microsoft, and each one points at a different repair. Avast is only the service that happens to be failing.

Code Microsoft’s published meaning What to do first
1075 The dependency service does not exist or has been marked for deletion Read the Dependencies tab; check RPC and RPC Endpoint Mapper
1079 The account specified for this service differs from the account used by other services in the same process Set Log On back to Local System account
1450 Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service Restart; look for a handle or non-paged pool leak
1051 A stop control has been sent to a service that other running services depend on Stop the dependent services first, or just restart

Repair, remove or reinstall

These three are not interchangeable and choosing wrongly costs you either time or your configuration.

Action What it does What you lose
Repair, from the Avast Setup window Rewrites the installed components in place Nothing
Reinstall over the top Depends on the build; often lands on the same damaged state Usually nothing, often also nothing gained
Avast Uninstall Tool, then a fresh install Deletes the Avast files while Windows runs in Safe Mode, then you install a new package Local settings and exclusions

Avast publishes the Uninstall Tool as a Safe Mode operation, and states that uninstalling a paid Avast Premium Security installation does not automatically cancel the subscription. So the removal route costs you configuration, not entitlement – but note your exclusions and custom settings before you take it, because nothing puts them back.

When the window still will not draw

  • Check the Application log in Event Viewer at the moment you launch the interface. An Application Error naming the Avast user-interface process tells you the front end is crashing rather than waiting on the service.
  • Check the System log for Service Control Manager entries around start-up. Events 7000, 7001, 7009, 7031 and 7034 all describe a service that failed to start or stopped unexpectedly, and they carry the service name.
  • Try a second Windows user account. A profile-specific fault – a corrupt local profile, or a policy applied to one user – produces a blank interface for that user and a working one for everybody else.
  • Confirm the machine is not short of disk space on the system volume. Repair writes before it deletes.
  • In an elevated Command Prompt, fltmc filters lists the file system filter drivers currently loaded. Remnants of a removed security product often show here. This is a diagnostic rather than a fix – do not unload anything by hand.

Whether you are actually protected while it is broken

Do not assume either way. The service and the interface are separate processes, so a blank window is consistent with full protection and also consistent with none. Check the service state in services.msc, then check what Windows believes: open Windows Security and look at Virus & threat protection. If Windows shows Avast as the registered antivirus, Microsoft Defender will have stepped back into disabled mode for it, so a broken-but-registered Avast is the one state you genuinely do not want to leave running.

That is the real urgency here. The message itself is cosmetic. The risk is a machine where Avast holds the registration and is not doing the work, because Windows will not double up on your behalf.

Every code this article covers

Code What it points at Source
UI failed to load Avast’s desktop application could not get state from the service and had nothing to draw. Avast publishes a troubleshooting article for the interface failing to load, but names the on-screen messages differently and does not publish a meaning for this exact string not published by the vendor
1075 The dependency service does not exist or has been marked for deletion Microsoft Learn
1079 The account specified for this service is different from the account specified for other services running in the same process Microsoft Learn
1450 Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service Microsoft Learn
1051 A stop control has been sent to a service that other running services are dependent on Microsoft Learn

Confirm the fix worked

  1. The Avast interface opens and draws its status page rather than an error.
  2. Every Avast entry in services.msc shows Running with Startup type Automatic.
  3. Windows Security reports one active antivirus provider under Virus & threat protection.
  4. Restart and open the interface again, to prove the fix survives a reboot rather than the current session only.
  5. Run a quick scan and confirm the file counter moves, which proves the engine behind the window is doing work.

Questions people ask about this

Does this mean my subscription has run out?

No. An expiry produces a renewal prompt and a clear message about the subscription, not a blank interface. Repairing the installation does not touch your entitlement, and Avast states that uninstalling does not cancel a paid subscription either.

Am I unprotected while the message is showing?

Check rather than assume. If the service is running, scanning continues with no interface. The state to worry about is the opposite one: Avast registered with Windows as the active antivirus while its service is dead, because Windows puts Microsoft Defender into disabled mode for a registered third-party product.

Will repairing lose my settings?

No. Repair rewrites the installed components in place. It is the Avast Uninstall Tool that discards local settings and exclusions, which is why it belongs at the end of the list rather than the start.

Do I have to reactivate after a clean reinstall?

If the subscription is tied to your Avast account, sign in and it reattaches. If you activated with a code, find that code before you remove anything.

Why does Avast tell me to check the VPN and Cleanup services for an antivirus problem?

Because its own troubleshooting article treats the interface as shared across the Avast product family, and names SecureLine VPN, Cleanup, AntiTrack, Driver Updater and BreachGuard as services to set to Automatic and start. A stopped companion service can be what the front end is waiting on.

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