How To Fix League Of Legends Not Opening Issue

League of Legends is one of the popular multiplayer online battle arena video game titles developed by Riot games for Microsoft Windows and macOS. Here, players will control a champion with the goal of destroying the opponent’s Nexus. Although this is a solid game there are instances when certain issues can occur which we will be addressing today. In this latest installment of our troubleshooting series we will tackle the League of Legends not opening issue.

How To Fix League Of Legends Not Opening Issue

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There are several factors that can cause this particular problem ranging from a corrupted file to outdated graphics drivers.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

Manually launch the game

If you are trying to access the game using the shortcut on the desktop and this issue occurs then try accessing the game using the main executable file found in the installation folder. This way you can check if the shortcut is corrupted and causing this problem. In case the game will open then you have to delete the shortcut from the desktop and create another one.

Run the game as an administrator

Sometimes the game will require an elevated privilege to run. If it is not being run as an administrator then there’s a possibility that this problem can occur.

  • Go to the game installation folder.
  • Right–click on the “lol.launcher.exe” and select “Properties“.
  • Click on the “Compatibility” tab and check the “Run as Administrator” box.
  • Click on “Apply” and then “OK“.

Check if the  League of Legends not opening issue still occurs.

Close other running applications

There are cases when an application that is running on your computer can cause this problem. Certain applications such as Stream and Razer Synapse have been reported to affect the launch process of this game.

  • Right–Click on the taskbar and select “Task Manager”
  • Click on the “Startup” tab, click on any application to select it and then click on the “Disable” button.
  • Disable all the applications in the list and restart the computer.
  • Without starting any other application, run the “lol.launcher.exe”

Check if the  League of Legends not opening issue still occurs.

Repair the game

If the problem is caused by missing or corrupted game files then you will need to initiate a repair.

  • Go to the game installation folder and run the “lol.launcher.admin” executable.
  • Click on the cog wheel icon and select “Initialize Full Repair“
  • Wait while the launcher verifies the game files.

Check if the  League of Legends not opening issue still occurs.

Try replacing the Projects folder

The Projects folder contains files that are required for the game to launch properly. If these files are corrupted then it can cause this problem. To fix this you will have to replace the folder.

  • Go to the game installation folder and open the “RADS” folder.
  • From the “RADS” folder, right-click on the “Projects” folder and select “cut“.
  • Right-click anywhere on the desktop and select “paste“.
  • When all the files have successfully been moved try to launch the game executable.
  • The game will download the missing files.
  • Move the “Projects” folder back into the “RADS” folder without closing the download process.
  • Chose the “Overwrite” option whenever the notification prompts you to.
  • After the folder is moved, launch the game executable again.
  • The downloading process will now have jumped almost to the end
  • After the download process finishes, the game will automatically be launched.

Check if the  League of Legends not opening issue still occurs.

Update the game client

There are instances when the problem can be caused by corrupted .dll files of the game. If this is the case then you will need to delete this files. 

  • Go to the game installation folder and open the “RADS” folder.
  • Inside the “RADS” folder, open the “Projects” folder and delete the “lol_launcher” and “lol_patcher” folders.
  • Go back to the main installation folder of the game and delete all the “aps_ms_win….dll” files. Only delete the “aps_ms_win….dll” files.
  • Double click on the “lol_launcher” located inside the main game directory.
  • It will take a longer period of time to launch than it usually does and will begin to download an update to the client.
  • Wait for the process to finish 

Check if the  League of Legends not opening issue still occurs.

Update your graphics card driver

NVIDIA

  • Click on the Search bar on the left-hand side of the taskbar
  • Type in Geforce Experience and press Enter
  • Click on the first icon to open the application
  • Sign in then Click on the “Drivers” option on the top left.
  • In that Tab, Click on the “Check for Updates” option on the top right
  • The application checks if new updates are available
  • If the updates are available a “Download” button will appear
  • Click on the download button to begin the download process
  • After the Driver is downloaded the application will give you the option for “Express” or “Custom” installation.
  • Click on the “Express” installation option and the Driver will automatically be installed

AMD

  • Right–Click on the Desktop and select AMD Radeon Settings
  • Click on Updates in the lower right corner
  • Click on “Check For Updates”
  • If a new update is available a new option will appear
  • Click on the option and select Update
  • Click on Upgrade when the installer prompts you to
  • The installer will now get the package ready, check all the boxes and click on Install
  • This will now download the new driver and install it automatically
  • Restart your computer

Check if the  League of Legends not opening issue still occurs.

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