How To Fix Hearthstone Won’t Start On Windows 10 Issue

Hearthstone is a popular online digital collectible card game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It can be downloaded for free and is available for the Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android platforms. In this turned based card game two players use their deck composed of 30 cards to play abilities or summon minions to reduce the opponent’s life to zero. Although this is a solid performing game there are instances when certain issues can occur. In this latest installment of our troubleshooting series we will tackle the Hearthstone won’t start on windows 10 issue.

What to do when Hearthstone does not start on your computer

Before performing any of the recommended troubleshooting steps listed below it’s best to restart your computer first. This action refreshes the operating system and remove any corrupt temporary data that could be causing the problem.

There are several factors that can cause this particular problem ranging from a corrupted game file to outdated drivers. Listed below are the recommended troubleshooting steps you need to do to fix this problem.

Repair Hearthstone 

One of the common issues that can cause this problem is a corrupted game file which is why you will need to repair the game.

  • Open your Battle.net desktop client.
  • Click on the Hearthstone tab.
  • Open Options and choose Scan and Repair
  • Wait for the process to finish.
  • Restart the game once the repair is done.

Try to check if the Hearthstone not starting on Windows 10 problem still occurs.

Update Hearthstone

You should make sure that you are running the latest patch/update of the game to ensure that any bugs from older versions are fixed.

  • Download the Agent standalone patch files from http://dist.blizzard.com.edgesuite.net/CS/Tools/Standalone/Battle.net-Agent-PC-Standalone.zip
  • Close any running Blizzard games and launchers (including the Battle.net App), and wait at least 30 seconds.
  • Right-click the Taskbar and bring up your Task Manager
  • Under Processes, check for Agent.exe. If it is active, stop it.
  • Extract the standalone patch files to the following location C:\Program Data\Battle.net. You should enable Hidden files and folders to see this.
  • Confirm that you want to merge and replace the files.
  • Start the Battle.net App or game launcher again and try to patch normally.

Check if you are still experiencing the problem on your Windows 10 computer.

Disable the antivirus of Windows 10

There are instances when the antivirus can interfere with the way the game works. To check if this is what’s causing the problem you should try to disable the antivirus program.

If you are using Windows Security

  • Select Start  – Settings  > Update & Security  – Windows SecurityVirus & threat protection > Manage settings
  • Switch Real-time protection to OFF

If you are using Avast

  • Search for the Avast icon in your computer’s system tray and right-click on it.
  • Click on Avast shields control.
  • Locate the options to disable the program – the options are to disable it for 10 minutes, an hour, until the computer is restarted or permanently (until you yourself turn it back on). Select whatever option suits you best and use it to disable the program.

If you are using AVG

  • Search for the AVG icon in your computer’s system tray and right-click on it.
  • Click on Temporarily disable AVG protection.
  • Choose how long you want AVG to be turned off and whether you want AVG to disable its Firewall too.
  • Click on OK to disable the antivirus program.

If you are using McAfee

  • Search for the McAfee Antivirus icon in your computer’s system tray and right-click on it.
  • Click on Exit.
  • You should see a dialog box warning you that McAfee‘s protection will be turned off. Click on YES in this dialog box to disable the antivirus program

If the issue does not occur when you turn off the antivirus then you should add it to the exception list.

Disable the streaming option in the Blizzard app

One factor that can cause this problem is the built-in streaming feature of the Blizzard app as it uses up to much PC resources. Try to disable this then check if the issue still occurs.

  • Click on the icon present at the top-left side of the Blizzard application and click on Settings.
  • Select the Streaming option from the left side of the window and uncheck the option Enable streaming.
  • Press Done to save changes and exit.
  • Restart your computer.

Check if the Hearthstone not starting on Windows 10 problem still occurs.

Update your graphics drivers

If your computer has outdated graphics drivers then it will likely face this problem. You should make sure to use the latest graphics drivers on your computer.

If you have an NVIDIA graphics card then follow the steps listed below.

  • Press Win+R (Windows logo key and R key) at the same time to invoke the Run box.
  • Type msconfig and click OK. Then the System Configurations will open.
  • When System Configuration opens, click the Boot tab. Under Boot options, check Safe boot then click OK.
  • When you’re prompted to restart your computer to apply these changes, click Restart then you will boot into Safe Mode.
  • Go to your local hard disk by clicking on This PC then Local Disk C. You should be able to see the NVIDIA folder right there. Right-click on it and choose Delete.
  • Click Start and type Run. Select Run, the Run dialog box will appear.
  • Type “devmgmt.msc” in the run box and click the OK button which should open the Device Manager Window.
  • Expand the “Display Adapters” field. This will list all network adapters that the machine has installed. Right click on the Nvidia adapter you want to uninstall and select “Uninstall”.
  • Click “OK” when prompted to uninstall the device. This will remove the adapter from the list and uninstall the driver.
  • Press Win+R (Windows logo key and R key) at the same time to invoke the Run box.
  • Type msconfig and click OK. Then the System Configurations will open.
  • When System Configuration opens, click the Boot tab. Under Boot options, uncheck Safe boot then click OK.
  • When you’re prompted to restart your computer to apply these changes, click Restart.
  • Download the latest NVIDIA driver for your computer from here https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx.
  • Run the setup file and follow the instructions which appear on screen. Choose the Custom Installation option and check all the boxes in the custom install options windows. Also check the box which states “perform clean install”.
  • Restart your computer

If you have an AMD graphics card then follow the steps listed below.

  • Download the AMD Cleanup Utility from here https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/gpu-601.
  • Locate the file where it was saved and double-click on the “AMDCleanupUtility.exe’ file.
  • A dialogue box should appear stating AMD Cleanup Utility has detected the system is not in safe mode and provide an option to reboot the system to run the Utility in safe mode:
  • Click “Yes” the system will be rebooted and AMD Cleanup Utility will run in safe mode.
  • The next dialogue box provides a warning message stating that the AMD Cleanup Utility will remove all AMD driver and application components.
  • Click “OK” to continue
  • After clicking “OK” the Utility will be minimized to the notification area (system tray) and the progress will be displayed as a tool tip.
  • The cleanup process will continue to run in the background.  To check the progress, hover the mouse over the AMD icon in the notification area.
  • Once the cleanup process is finished, a message is displayed stating it has successfully completed. Click “View Report” to see the list of components that were uninstalled, otherwise click “Finish” to exit the Utility.
  • Reboot your computer.

Once the drivers have been uninstalled it’s time to install the latest driver update. You can do this with the help of the AMD Driver Auto-detect tool  which you can download from https://www.amd.com/en/support.

  • Visit the AMD Driver and Support page and see section Auto-Detect and Install Radeon Graphics Drivers for Windows.
  • Click the DOWNLOAD NOW button to begin downloading the executable file for the tool.
  • Once download is complete, run the file to launch the Installer.
  • Click Install to extract the needed files.
  • After file extraction is complete the tool should automatically launch.
  • Review the End User License Agreement and information about the User Experience Improvement Program.
  • Click Accept and Install to continue or close the window to exit the AMD Driver Auto-detect tool.
  • After clicking Accept and Install, the tool will attempt to detect the installed AMD graphics product and operating system.
  • Upon successful detection of your system configuration, the tool will display the latest Recommended and Optional driver packages that are compatible with your graphics product, as well as the currently installed driver version
  • Select the desired version and choose Express installation.
  • After the driver package has been downloaded, installation should begin automatically.
  • Restart your computer

If you have an integrated graphics (Intel)

  • Press the Windows Logo key + R to launch a Run
  • Type devmgmt.msc into the Run dialog and press Enter to launch the Device Manager.
  • In the Device Manager, expand the Display adapters
  • Right-click on your graphics drivers, click on Uninstall and then go through the uninstallation wizard to uninstall the drivers.
  • Restart your computer. Once your computer boots up, it should automatically reinstall the same version of the graphics drivers.

Try to check if Hearthstone will not start normally.

Reinstall the game

In case the above steps fails to fix the problem then you should reinstall the game.

  • Open the Battle.net client, right-click on Hearthstone and uninstall it.
  • Navigate to Program Files and AppData and delete associated files.
  • Get back to the client and reinstall Hearthstone.

Check if Hearthstone will start in Windows 10.

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