How to Fix League of Legends won’t Open

We’ll give you tips on How to Fix the League of Legends that won’t Open. You can try the solutions below to fix this error.

How to Fix League of Legends won’t Open

League of Legends is one of those games that a lot of avid gamers have come to love. It is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game, which has made quite a wave since its release in 2009 for both Windows and Mac operating systems. League of Legends is played all over the world, and it is one of the most-played online games. It seems like the perfect game that anybody will enjoy, but like everything that has to do with tech, issues will pop up from time to time. Many users have recently reported that they experienced an issue with the game. When they try to launch the game, it does not launch, and sometimes, it shows in the task manager for some time before it disappears again.

Some other issues come up in the game, and the developer, Riot Games, has released new patches to fix them. However, the problem of a League of Legends refusing to launch can be persistent. If the issue persists, we have highlighted some solutions in this guide.

Common Causes of League of Legends Won’t Open

• Administrative Privileges

Some parts of the game need special permission for them to function correctly. If you have not granted the necessary administrative permission for the game to run, the game may fail to launch.

• Corrupt Shortcut

Many PC users launch their games from a shortcut. If that is how you are starting League of Legends and you have a corrupt shortcut for the game, it will fail to launch. If you have changed the directory of the game, you have to change the old shortcut to a new one; otherwise, the old shortcut will not launch the game.

• Missing files

Every PC game, whether on Windows or Mac operating system, is made up of different files. All these files work together to ensure that the game runs smoothly. If an important file is corrupt or missing from your League of Legends game, the game may not launch.

• Old Graphics Card Drivers

If you have outdated graphics card drivers, the game may not work properly. To ensure that you never experience the problem of League of Legends not opening, keep your graphic card drivers updated at all times.

• Other applications running in the background

Some applications, when running, usually interfere with the smooth running of other applications on a computer. They use up so many resources, and other apps will find it difficult to run smoothly. Sometimes other applications may be responsible for the League of Legends game not launching. Razor Synapse and Steam are two of the most reported applications that interfered with the launching of League of Legends.

Solutions for League of Legends won’t Open

Now that we have checked out the common causes of this problem let’s take a look at the solutions when this problem arises.

Solution 1: Launch the game directly

If you are trying to launch League of Legends through a shortcut and it is refusing to launch, check out if the shortcut is still in the directory of the game or if it is corrupted. If it is, the game will fail to launch, and the only solution will be to launch the game through its executable file directly. The executable file is usually in the installation folder for the game.

Solution 2: Grant the game administrative privileges

The game will not work if some special permissions are not enabled. If you have not granted these privileges, the game might fail to launch, and you can fix it yourself. Follow the steps below:

• Open the installation folder.
• Find “lol.launcher.exe” and right-click. Click on “Properties.”
• Click on “Compatibility,” and right next to it, tick the box next to “Run as Administrator”.
• Now click on “Apply”.
• Click on “OK” and relaunch the game. See if the problem remains.

Solution 3: Close the Applications running in the background

Sometimes, other applications that may be responsible for League of Legends won’t Open. Razor Synapse and Steam are some guilty applications that have been reported to interfere with the game. Thus, the steps below will point out how to close all applications so that you can launch League of Legends again.

• Hover to the taskbar on your Windows PC and right-click.
• Click on “Task Manager,” and a small window will display the applications you have running in the background.
• You can click on “End Task” to close the applications momentarily but to permanently close the applications, click on “More details” with a drop-down. A complete list of all applications will be displayed.
• Click on “Startup” and click on the application you would like to close. Then, click on “Disable”.
• Do this for every other application and then restart your PC.
• Once your PC is back on, run the “lol.launcher.exe”.

Solution 4: Replace the Projects Folder

All the files that the game needs to launch and run are saved in the Projects folder. If one or all of these files are corrupt, your game might not launch. Follow these steps to replace the folder:

• Open the RADS folder in the game installation folder.
• In the RADS folder, right-click on “Projects” and click on“Cut”.
• Paste anywhere on the desktop screen.
• After pasting the files, launch League of Legends using the executable file.
• All the missing files will be downloaded automatically.
• Allow the download process to continue and return the “Projects” folder to the “RADS” folder.
• You will get a notification asking if you want to overwrite, select “Overwrite.”
• When the folder has been moved successfully, launch the game executable as you did in STEP 4.
• By this time, the download should be almost complete. Once complete, the game will launch successfully.

If the issues with the game are not resolved after the last step, check out the next solution.

Solution 5: Force-Update Client

Sometimes, the problem of League of Legends not launching might be because of some “.dil” files in the game directory that are corrupt. These files are usually small files that you can replace and force-update the client that way. Apply this solution with these steps:

• Go to the installation folder and then the “RADS” folder.
• When you open the “RADS“ folder, click on “Project” and select “lol_launcher,” then delete it. Also, select the “lol_patcher” folder and delete it too.
• Return to the game installation folder and delete every file with the tag “aps_ms_win…dll”. Make sure you leave all other ”.dll” files.
• In the game directory, double-click on “lol_launcher”.
• Wait for some minutes, and an update to the client will start downloading immediately.
• Allow the download to finish and see if the issue is still there.

Solution 6: Change the CONFIG File

Sometimes the CONFIG file might need some editing for League of Legends to open. When you edit the file and add some instructions to it, the game will get the right instructions to launch as expected. To edit the CONFIG file, below are the steps:

• Open the default game directory and then the “RADS” folder.
• Click on “System” right-click on “user.cfg” click on “Open with” and select “Notepad”.
• Change leagueClientOptIn = yes to leagueClientOptIn = no.
• Save the changes and launch League of Legends.

If the problem persists, go back to the main folder and locate the “LEagueClient.exe.” file. Delete it. Then try and launch the game by right-clicking on “lol.launcher.exe.” Run as administrator and then see if the game will run.

Conclusion

Many users who have experienced this problem have tried any one of the above solutions. And any of these solutions should work when you apply them. However. if the game still does not launch, let us know right away.