15 Ways to Fix Elden Ring Won't Launch or Not Loading

In Elden Ring, you play an action role-playing game in an open world. Bandai Namco Entertainment has published it, and FromSoftware developed it. And currently, it is available on Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The game is set in the Lands Between.

This is where you can create your own character. And from there, you can embark on your quest to retrieve the Great Runes. You will eventually become the Elden Lord. And, Elden Ring not launching on Steam can be caused by several factors. You might have a corrupted game file, or you might have outdated graphics drivers.

But fortunately, there are several steps you should take to fix this. Continue reading to find them out.

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Fix Elden Ring Won’t Launch or Not Loading on PC

It’s a good idea to check your computer’s ability to run the game before attempting any troubleshooting.

How to Elden Ring Won't Launch or Not Loading

Because unless your computer meets the minimum requirements for the game, then no amount of assistance will be enough. And you will always experience significant problems.

Here are the requirements:

OS: Windows 10
Processor: INTEL CORE I5-8400 or AMD RYZEN 3 3300X
Memory: 12 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1060 3 GB or AMD RADEON RX 580 4 GB
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 60 GB of available space
Sound Card: Windows Compatible Audio Device

We will assume you have already checked this and been satisfied with your PC’s capabilities. So, below are some tips to help if your pc cannot launch Elden Ring.

Open Steam by Using Admin Access

Due to a permission issue, you can also expect to encounter this problem if you try to launch Elden Ring through Steam. And many Steam users have confirmed this scenario.

However, it can usually be resolved by forcing Steam to open with admin rights. So, follow these steps if this scenario applies and you would like to try this fix.

Firstly, right-click on the Stream executable in the folder where you installed it. Now, from the context menu that appears, choose Run as Administrator.

Once you’ve done this, launch Elden Ring through Steam once more. You should now be able to play it.

If you want to avoid repeating the steps above every time you launch Elden Ring, follow the steps below.

For this reason, you have to reconfigure the executable every time it runs to make it run as an administrator:

1. Close Steam and make sure no related processes are running.

2. Then, go to My Computer or File Explorer. And select the location where Steam is installed.

3. Steam is typically installed in the following location by default:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam

4. Right-click on Steam.exe. And, on the context menu that appears, click Properties.

5. Now, select the Compatibility tab on the Properties screen’s top ribbon menu.

Then, select Settings from the drop-down menu. And, mark the Allow this program to run as an administrator box.

6. To permanently save the changes, click on Apply.

7. Now, open Steam by double-clicking it normally with administrative rights.

But, in the case of Elden Ring still won’t launch even after reconfiguring admin permissions; move on to other methods.

Close Unnecessary Programs

The system resources can be depleted when too many programs run in the background, especially memory-intensive programs.

And as a result, the Elden Ring cannot be launched or opened.

So, close all non-essential programs before launching Elden Ring on Steam to resolve this issue. Here’s how:

1. Firstly, open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows logo key plus R at the same time.

2. Then, enter taskmgr in the box. And hit Enter button.

3. Now, select the program from the Processes tab. And, keep clicking End Task until you have closed all applications that are no longer needed.

After that, start your game launcher again.

Whitelist Steam Launcher + Elden Ring Executable

You should investigate an interference caused by a firewall component if the methods so far have not allowed you to launch Elden Ring usually. User reports indicate that this is relatively common with Elden Ring players.

You can expect your Steam connections to be blocked using an older Steam build. And this can occur when using a 3rd party firewall solution or when using Windows Firewall.

Note: Don’t run more than one firewall component simultaneously. Remove the others one by one. And, also be aware that steps to create a Steam whitelist rule will vary if you’re using a 3rd party.

If Windows Firewall is the default security suite, you need to whitelist the Steam launcher plus the used ports.

So, please ensure that Elden Ring’s connection to the game servers is not blocked.

Follow these steps to do so:

1. Open a Run dialog box by pressing the Windows key + R.

2. Then, enter ‘control firewall. cpl‘ in the box. And, then press Enter to launch the Windows Firewall. Then, grant admin access by clicking Yes in the User Account Control window.

3. Now, click the left-hand side of the main Windows Defender firewall menu. And, select Allow an application or feature through Windows Defender.

4. Then, click on the Change settings button in the Allowed apps menu. And, once the User Account Control (UAC) prompt appears, click Yes.

5. Now, go to the bottom of the screen once you’re given editing control. And, choose to Allow another app from the list.

6. And, click on the Browser tab. Then, select the game’s installation location.

7. And, add the Steam executable by clicking on Browse.

8. Then, click OK to save the changes after checking both Private and Public.

9. After you have completed step 8, return to the firewall menu. Select Advanced System Settings from the left-hand menu.

10. And, click Yes to grant administrator access when the UAC prompt appears.

11. Then, in the next step, click on Inbound Rules from the menu on the left, followed by New Rule from the right-hand pane.

12. After that, you should see a New Inbound Rule Wizard appear on the screen. Now, click on Port when asked what rule type you want before clicking Next.

13. And, select TCP from the next screen before choosing Specific Local Ports.

14. Then, copy and paste the following ports into the box to prevent any TCP ports used by Steam from being blocked:

27015–27030
27036
27015

15. The UDP ports will now need to be whitelisted. This can also be done by creating a second rule called UDP toggle.

16. Click on Specific Local Ports. Now, to prevent Steam from blocking UDP ports, please paste the following:

27015–27030
27000–27100
27031-2703
4380
27015
3478
4379
4380

17. Then, click on the Next button. And, you will be redirected to the Action Prompt menu.

18. Click on the Allow connection option in the Action Prompt menu. And, press Next one more time.

19. Now, save your changes by clicking Finish. And, restart your computer.

Run Steam when your computer restarts. And, check if Elden Rings can be opened or not. And, in the event that the same issue persists, move on to the next method below.

Update Steam Client

It has been reported by many Elder Ring players that you might be unable to launch the game because you are using an outdated Steam client. And, it usually occurs if you had previously disabled Steam’s auto-update feature.

So, you should keep in mind that Steam can now update itself automatically without user intervention.

However, this does not always happen. The problem often occurs when Windows 10 is updated.

Steam updates automatically if you simply restart the app. However, if necessary, you can force the update. To do so, go to the top ribbon bar.

Then, select Steam. And, then click ‘Check for Steam Client Updates.

Disable Screen Overlay Feature

The overlay feature can simply be uninstalled if you have no use for it, eliminating the possibility of a conflict.

Here’s how you can uninstall the potentially conflicting overlay tool:

1. Open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows + R. Write ‘appwiz.cpl‘ in the box. And, click the Enter key to launch the Programs and Features window.

2. Select Programs and Features from the menu. And, scroll through the program list to find the program you are looking for. Then, find the overlay software you want to uninstall.

3. Now, select it with the right-click. And, click Uninstall from the context menu that appears.

4. Now, when the uninstall screen appears, follow the instructions to complete the process. And, restart your computer afterward.

Reopen Elden Ring after your PC has booted up again and check if the issue still persists.

And, you can move down to the next method if you don’t have an overlay feature or if disabling it didn’t work for you.

Install Missing DirectX Dependencies

It is important to remember that Elden Ring uses DirectX 12 dependencies. But, sometimes there are some dependencies that aren’t automatically included in Windows 10 or Windows 11.

Therefore, to resolve this potential issue, you must make sure that DirectX 12 is up to date.

It appears the problem has been finally resolved for several affected users after they installed the DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer. They then installed each DirectX version missing from their computers.

This is how you can install the DirectX End-User Runtime Web installer on your PC:

1. The DirectX End-User Runtime environment can be downloaded from the DirectX download page.

2. Choose the language of the installer once you’ve reached the home page. And, once that’s done, click on Download.

3. The next step is to uncheck every Microsoft bloatware recommendation by clicking No thanks. Then click the DirectX End-User Runtime Web installer button.

4. Once you have downloaded the dxwebsetup.exe installer, simply follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation of every missing DirectX version.

5. Now, restart your PC. And, you can try launching Elden Ring again to see if the problem is fixed.

Continue on to the next method below if the problem still persists.

Update GPU Drivers

Elden Ring isn’t rendered by your PC if your GPU driver is outdated or your physics module is missing.

Also, unfortunately, the game is not very good at providing you with errors that will lead you closer to solving the problem.

So, if Elder Ring is not working from Steam, it may be because your GPU drivers are out of date or partially corrupt. Those dependencies are missing some key ones that the game is actively using.

But, by updating both the GPU drivers + the physics module that deals with in-game physics, you should be able to fix this issue.

So, follow the instructions below for instructions on uninstalling your current GPU drivers if you haven’t updated your GPU drivers in a while.

And, also, you will need to reinstall the latest versions of Elder Ring before you can play it.

1. Use the Windows + R to open up the Run dialog box.

2. Type ‘devmgmt.msc‘ in the run text box. Then, hit Enter to launch Device Manager.

3. Now, navigate through the list of installed devices in Device Manager once you have opened it. And, locate the Display Adapters drop-down menu and expand it.

4. Choose the GPU driver you want to update from the next menu. Now, from the context menu, select Update driver.

Both the dedicated and integrated GPU drivers need to be updated when you have a PC with both.

5. Select Automatically search for newer driver software from the next menu.

6. And, after the initial scan has been completed, follow the on-screen instructions to install the latest GPU driver identified by the scan.

7. Now, reboot your computer once the operation is completed. And, at the next system startup, launch Elden Ring to see if it is now working.

You can also update your graphics drivers with the proprietary software provided by your graphics card manufacturer if Device Manager is not able to find a new GPU driver version.

And, depending on your GPU manufacturer, you will need the following software:

GeForce Experience – Nvidia
Adrenalin – AMD
Intel Driver – Intel

However, in the event that the same issue persists, move on to the next method below.

Verify Elden Ring Game Files

You should start troubleshooting a possible corruption issue if none of the methods above allowed you to launch Elden Ring from Steam. There can be some corrupted files inside the installation folder that could be causing this error.

Note: It typically occurs when a network inconsistence interrupts the game installation process or the day one patch download.

Steam includes a check to ensure that the game installation folder is intact. And, they will re-acquire or replace corrupted or missing files with healthy equivalents if necessary.

Steps for verifying the integrity of the Elden Ring game files are as follows:

1. Launch the Steam app. Then, navigate to the game’s library page.

2. Now, look for Elden Ring on the left side of Steam. And, right-click on it. Then, click on Properties.

3. Now, on the left-hand side of the screen, click Local files.

4. And, the next step is to click Verify integrity of game files. Then, wait for the process to be completed.

5. You’ll be notified on your screen whether the operation found any corrupted files once it is complete. If any files failed to validate, Steam will automatically redownload them. That’s it,

Please move down to the next potential fix below if this method did not solve your problem.

Install Windows Updates

You should also update your Windows in addition to your drivers. New features and bug fixes are usually included in Windows updates. So, if you have a problem, install the latest Windows updates.

On Windows 10

1. Type check for updates into the Search box. Then, click the Check for updates button.

2. Now, select the Check for updates tab. And, updates will automatically be downloaded and installed if any are available.

And, be patient while the process completes. You will be prompted to restart your computer.

On Windows 11

1. Open Settings by pressing the Windows logo and I keys simultaneously on your keyboard.

2. Then, click on Windows Update.

3. And, click on Check for updates. If updates are available, Windows will begin to download them.

4. Now, click Restart now at the end of the process to restart your PC. You can also schedule a restart.

Run Elden Ring in Clean Boot Mode

You may also encounter this problem if you’re using a low-end PC. The game cannot render because it does not have enough free system resources.

And, FromSoftware does not provide an error message that properly allows players to troubleshoot the issue, making this problem even more frustrating.

There is also the possibility that a conflict between an optical burning software and the Steam installation could cause launch issues with Elden Ring.

So, it would be best to perform a clean boot procedure, since there are a lot of possible causes of this problem.

Your Windows will boot cleanly without any interference from third parties when you perform a clean boot operation.

And, the system will run only the startup processes and services it needs.

However, in the event that a clean boot state fails to resolve the issue, move down to the next possible fix.

Disable Nvidia Overlay

Please follow the instructions below to disable Nvidia Experience in-game overlays if you’re using it.

Here are the steps you need to take:

1. Turn off the game first. Then, launch Nvidia Experience.

2. Now, from the right-hand side of the screen, click on the Settings icon in Nvidia Experience.

3. The next step is to click on the General tab in the right-hand section of the Settings menu.

4. Move over to the left menu once you’re inside the right menu. And, turn off the toggle for the In-Game overlay.

Now, relaunch Elden Ring. And check.

Uninstall MSI Afterburner and/or RTSS

MSI Afterburner and Rivatuner (RTSS) may crash your game during startup if you are using these GPU-based features.

And, FromSoftware hasn’t provided an official explanation as of yet. However, community members suspect that the current version of the game may not be fully compatible with RTSS.

Actually, MSI Afterburner enables you to directly overclock your GPU from the software interface.

Meanwhile, Rivatuner is a freeware program that overclocks and monitors the hardware of Nvidia video cards. It also supports AMD video cards to a limited degree.

Please note that neither of these apps has a turn-off option. So, closing the apps from the Task Manager is the only way to turn them off.

You can open Task Manager by pressing CTRL + Shift + ESC. And, then search for MSI Afterburner in the process list and close it.

MSI Afterburner should close along with Rivatuner. However, if it doesn’t, close it manually. And, then open Elden Ring once more once you’re done with that. Check to see if it’s now fixed.

You can move down to the next potential fix below if this method does not work or you are not using overclocking tools like Afterburner or RTTS.

Disable Discord Overlay

In order to access Discord’s Overlay settings, you will need to go to the User settings. And, then on the Overlay tab, you can disable the overlay feature.

Here are the steps you need to take:

1. Make sure that the game isn’t running in the background. Once that’s done, open Discord.

2. You may need to open the system tray if you can’t see the screen right away.

3. Once the Discord window is visible, double-click on the icon to bring it forward.

4. Here, you can find the user settings at the bottom of the Discord app.

5. Now, select the Overlay tab from the vertical menu on the left of the User Settings menu.

6. Now, the toggle associated with Enable in-game overlay should be disabled from the Overlay menu.

7. Make the changes and save them.

Now, relaunch the game. And, see if it works now.

Uninstall Epic Games launcher

Ensure that the Epic Games launcher is not installed if you’re experiencing this issue when trying to launch the game from Steam.

The launch of Elden Ring via Steam is somehow hindered while also running the Epic Games Launcher in the background.

However, in most cases, FromSoftware will patch this problem in a future major update. But, to resolve the issue until then, the Epic Launcher can be disabled or uninstalled.

So, make sure the Epic Games launcher is not running in the background before trying to launch Elden Ring again.

Following the instructions below will uninstall the Epic Games launcher if the same type of problem persists:

1. Open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows + R. Then, type ‘appwiz.cpl‘ into the box. And you should then be able to open the Programs and Features menu.

2. Once you are inside the Programs and Features section, scroll down until you see the Install Apps section. And you will then find the Epic Games Launcher.

3. Then, right-click on it when you see it. And then click Uninstall.

Note: The Epic Online Services don’t need to be uninstalled as well. This isn’t a dependency that conflicts with Elden Ring.

4. The Epic Games Launcher can be removed by following the on-screen prompts on the uninstallation screen. Then, restart your computer afterward.

And, when your computer reboots, try relaunching Elden Ring to determine whether the problem has been resolved.

Run the Game as Administrator

An easy workaround for issues resulting from the lack of administrative rights is to run a program as an administrator. You can try it out and see if it works.

1. You will need to locate the installation folder for the game. Normally, you will locate it at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\ELDEN RING\Game.

You can also open Steam if you can’t find it in this directory. And click on the game and then right-click. Then, choose Properties. Select Manage. And then, select Browse local files.

2. Now, find the .exe file for your game. And right-click on it. Then, choose Properties.

3. Now, click on the Compatibility tab. And select the Run as administrator checkbox. Press Apply. Then click OK.

Now, relaunch your game after making the changes. And take a look at the results.

Conclusion

This is all about how to fix Elden Ring’s not launching issue in 2022. We have listed quite a number of methods that will help you fix this issue. So, go on and try them one by one. And, do comment which one worked the best for you.

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