Piper crashes on Windows with ucrtbase.dll error (Exception code: 0xc0000409)

[mehdihoore]

Summary of the problem:

Piper crashes immediately when trying to convert text to speech using the command line on Windows 10.

Steps to reproduce:

Downloaded piper-windows-amd64.zip (version 1.2.0) from the releases page.
Extracted the contents to F:\Code\piper.
Downloaded fa_IR-amir-medium.onnx and fa_IR-amir-medium.onnx.json from Hugging Face.
Moved the model files to F:\Code\piper\models.
Opened PowerShell.
Navigated to F:\Code\piper using the cd command.
Ran the following command: echo "سلام، این یک تست است." | .\piper.exe --model .\models\fa_IR-amir-medium.onnx --output_file .\outputs\test.wav
Piper crashes immediately. No output file is created in the outputs folder.
Expected results:
Expected to hear the synthesized speech and find a test.wav file in the outputs folder.
Actual results:
Piper crashes immediately. No audio is played, and no test.wav file is created.
System Information:
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (Version 22H2, Build 19045.3803)
Piper version: 1.2.0 (piper-windows-amd64.zip)
Model: fa_IR-amir-medium
Processor: Core i7-8850H
RAM: 32GB
Event Viewer Information:
Faulting application name: piper.exe, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x6553c5d8
Faulting module name: ucrtbase.dll, version: 10.0.19041.3636, time stamp: 0x81cf5d89
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x000000000007286e
Faulting process id: 0x3e60
Faulting application start time: 0x01db51e2cdd02cdb
Faulting application path: F:\Code\piper\piper.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\ucrtbase.dll
Report Id: c0acc70d-df58-4ce4-80c3-9a1f0beece74
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:
Troubleshooting steps taken:

Reinstalled Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable (both x86 and x64 versions).
Ran sfc /scannow in Command Prompt.
Ran DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth, DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth, and DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth in Command Prompt.
Temporarily disabled Windows Defender.
Tried running the application with administrator privileges.
Checked for driver updates for the sound card.
Ensured that the outputs directory exists.
Checked the piper.exe file with Dependency Walker and confirmed it's linked to the ucrtbase.dll in C:\Windows\System32.
Tried a clean boot.
None of these steps resolved the issue. The problem persists even when running piper.exe directly through PowerShell without the Python GUI.