How to fix League of Legends not opening?
How to fix League of Legends not opening?
League of Legends (LoL) is a popular online multiplayer video game developed and published by Riot Games for Microsoft Windows and MacOS. One can experience the thrill of being in a battlefield while playing this fast-paced action-strategy game and it’s widely popular among teenagers and adults.
However, launching League of Legends in a Windows PC can sometimes be more difficult than killing enemies while playing it.
Many players have complained that they are not able to launch the game due to various error messages or simply because nothing happens when they hit the play button. Regular gamers report that after clicking on ‘Launch’, the launcher disappears and the task manager shows that ‘League of Legends is running under background processes’ but it cannot be brought up anywhere. On trying to re-launch the game, ‘game is already running’ pop-up shows up but it cannot be accessed from anywhere.
League of Legends is a great game and this annoying little bug can be fixed by trying a few methods. If you are an ardent gamer and League of Legends is one of your favourites, not being able to play it after repeated trials must be very frustrating for you. Don’t worry. The solution to your problem is here. Today, I am going to discuss the various Launch issues that League of Legends players are facing along with easy solutions to them. So let’s get started!
Common League of Legends launch issues:
Some of the issues that gamers are facing while trying to launch League of Legends are:
- League of Legends won’t launch after clicking launch: This is a very common problem that a large number of users have reported. This usually happens due to applications such as Steam or Razer Synapse, so make sure to close all applications before launching the game.
- League of Legends won’t start or work on Windows 10, 8, 7: The launching issue sometimes occurs on all versions of Windows. The solutions that I am going to provide are compatible with older versions of Windows as well. So, you can try them even if you don’t have Windows 10.
- League of Legends doesn’t start at all: This can be caused by your shortcut so try running it directly from the installation directly. I will explain how to do that later on.
In the following paragraphs, I will give solutions to the various launch issues and hope this article helps to fix your problem.
Solutions:
1. Start the game right from the installation directory:
If League of Legends is not starting on your PC, it could be due to your shortcut. Sometimes, your shortcut may not work properly so to fix that issue, run the game directly from the installation directory. In order to do that, go to the installation directory, by default it should be C: Riot GamesLeague of Legends. Double-click on LeagueClient.exe.
If this solves your problem; you need to use this method every time you want to start the game.
2. Change user.cfg and delete LeagueClient.exe:
In some cases when the game is not starting, the problem might be your user.cfg file. Here’s how you can fix this problem:
- Go to your League of Legends install folder and then go to RADSsystem.
- Search for the user.cfg file and open with Notepad. Then change leagueClientOptln=yes to leagueClientOptln=no.
- Save the changes and try launching the game again.
- If it opens, delete the LeagueClient.exe file in the install folder and then go to the install directory and run lol.launcher.exe.
- If it still won’t open, try using the launcher lol.launcher.admin.exe instead.
3. Reinstall the game:
If you have tried solutions 1 and 2 and they are of no use, try reinstalling the game. This means you need to remove the game from your system and install it again. Now there are various ways to do it but I advise you to try uninstaller software.
This is a special application that will remove the selected program along with all files and registry entries associated with it. So your system will be totally free of the program.
Try using the IOBit Uninstaller to uninstall the game and then install it again. That should fix your problem.
4. Disable all running League of Legends processes:
Sometimes, certain League of Legends processes might be running in the background and that could be restricting your game from getting started. So you need to disable all game-related processes from Task Manager. Here’s how to do it:
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to start Task Manager.
- Search for LoLLauncher.exe and LoLClient.exe and end them by right-clicking and choosing End Task from the drop down menu.
- Then try launching the game again to see if the issue has been fixed.
5. Close applications that might be interfering with the game:
Some applications like Steam and Razer Synapse can interfere with the League of Legends software. This can give rise to issues such as the game not getting launched. So in order to avoid that, be sure to close all applications before you launch the game.
6. Reinstall your graphic card drivers:
As a gamer, you must be well aware of the fact how crucial graphics card is for your gaming sessions. It might happen that League of Legends is not starting due to issues with your graphics card.
In such cases, remove your graphics card drivers and use the default drivers instead. You can use a software like Display Driver Uninstaller to remove them. Once you remove them completely, restart your PC and Windows 10 should install the default drivers. Now check if the problem is there or not.
7. Update the gaming software:
One of the reasons League of Legends is not starting can be a corrupted installation. So to fix it, you need to delete certain files from the game’s directory. Here’s how to do it:
- Go to the installation directory. Go to RADS and then go to Projects.
- Delete both the air clients and lol launcher folder.
- Then go to the downloads directory and delete its contents.
- Then go to solutions directory and remove the client folder.
After this, restart your PC. When the PC restarts, locate the game’s shortcut and run it as administrator. This will force the gaming software to update itself and your problem should be fixed.
8. Repair the installation:
In some cases when League of Legends won’t start on your PC, the issue might be your installation. Sometimes your installation can get corrupted and hamper the launch of the game. In order to solve this issue, you need to repair your installation. Here’s how to do it:
- Right click on the League of Legends shortcut and select Run as administrator.
- Once the launcher opens, click the Cog wheel icon in the upper right hand corner and select Repair.
- The repair process will start. This might take a while so be patient and don’t interrupt it while the repairing process is going on.
Once the repairing process is completed, try starting the game again.
League of Legends not getting launched is a common yet annoying problem most gamers face. One of the solutions that I have discussed above should fix your problem. Try them step wise and do let us know if you have any suggestions. Hopefully this article helps you improve your gaming experience!
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