This article aims to help with any issues you may be having with the Elite Dangerous Launcher.
To find advice on how to resolve your issue, please select from the options below:
The launcher will not start, or crashes shortly after I try to load it.
If you've encountered a problem that is preventing the launcher from starting, or the launcher crashes shortly after you try to load it, please follow the steps below.
Note: If you are having issues downloading the game via the launcher, please see the 'Validation error' section below for details on how to resolve this.
RESTART YOUR COMPUTER
Restart your PC fully and then run the launcher again, making sure you're not launching the game as an administrator.
REINSTALL THE LAUNCHER
If the launcher refuses to function correctly, it may be caused by potential file errors or installation problems. This may be resolved by removing and re-installing the launcher.
- Uninstall the launcher from your computer using Programs and Features in Windows (or uninstall direct through Steam/Epic).
- Delete any files from where the launcher was installed. If the following folders exist, delete them:
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Frontier\EDLaunch
- C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Frontier_Developments\Products
- Restart your computer.
- If you purchased the game on Steam or the Epic Games Store, please redownload it from the platform directly.
- If you purchased the game from the Frontier Store, please download the launcher from here.
- Install the launcher as normal (do not run the installer as an administrator - it will ask for an administrator password automatically, if necessary.)
- Some players find that installing the game to a custom location is beneficial, for example, C:\Games\EliteDangerous.
- Use the launcher as normal to install Elite Dangerous.
REPAIR/REINSTALL MICROSOFT .NET
If the launcher is unable to run or is encountering regular errors preventing it from working normally, you may need to re-install Microsoft .NET. TechHit have created a complete and handy guide on how to reinstall and repair .NET on Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10: https://www.techhit.com/how-to/install-.net-3.5.1/
CHECK FOR 3RD PARTY MONITORING PROGRAMS
In some cases, third-party programs may prevent the Elite Dangerous launcher from working normally. Likely programs that cause this are third-party hardware monitors, graphics card companion programs, or programs that provide overlays such as EVGA Precision, Raptr, Lucid Virtu MVP, MSI Afterburner, Nvidia GeForce Experience or AMD Gaming Evolved. Please disable programs like these prior to starting the Elite Dangerous launcher. You can also perform a clean boot in Windows to prevent these programs from starting at all.
CHECK WINDOWS FOR CORRUPTED FILES
In some cases, Windows may have become damaged which can stop the launcher and other programs from behaving normally. Windows has a self-repair tool called SFC to help repair itself. You can find out how to run this tool here: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/929833
We hope that the above steps have solved any issues you're having with the launcher. However, if you are still encountering problems when loading the launcher that are not helped by the steps or articles linked above then you may wish to get in touch with the support team who will be able to help further. Please create a DxDiag file of your computer and then click the button at the bottom of this page to create a ticket.
I press play on the launcher; the game doesn't start, but then the play button reappears.
This problem is often caused by some missing or corrupt Windows components and the following guide should help make sure these are installed and working correctly.
ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE
The first thing to try is to disable your security software temporarily as this can interfere with the game launching. If you're familiar with your brand of software, you can whitelist the Elite Dangerous files. These files are called elitedangerous64.exe, and Watchdog64.exe. These can be found in either the EDLaunch folder or the game folder. You can find these by using the folder locations FAQ.
VISUAL C++ REDISTRIBUTABLES and .NET framework
-
Check for updates on your computer. ***This is a crucial step and must be completed before proceeding!***Go to Start/search --> type in 'windows updates' --> Check for updates
-
Open Programs and Features and uninstall all items beginning with Microsoft Visual C++...
-
Run Disk Cleanup in Windows. Make sure to tick the option to Delete temporary files
-
Restart your PC
-
Run the installers found here:
-
Open Windows Features by typing Windows Features in Start --> Search.
-
Turn off all available versions of .NET in this window (these should be v3.x and v4.x), click OK.
-
Restart your computer.
-
Open Windows Features again.
-
Turn on all available versions of .NET in this window (once again v3.x and v4.x). Click OK.
-
Restart your computer again. Windows Update should repair all .NET components at this point.
GPU DRIVERS
And lastly, please try a clean installation of your graphics drivers, you can find out how to do this from our guide here.
Should the issue persist please open a ticket with our customer support team by clicking the button below who will be able to look further into the problem for you.
Why is the game downloading very slowly or stopping completely?
If you are experiencing slow download speeds, or are finding that the download of the game is getting stuck at certain points, try temporarily disabling any anti-virus, firewall, or VPN software that you may have installed.
Restarting the launcher once disabling these programs should allow any slow or stopped downloads to continue and can sometimes improve your download speed.
If you continue to have issues please open Control Panel on your PC; select Internet Options. Select the Connections tab, select LAN settings, and make sure Automatically detect settings is unticked.
If you are still experiencing problems, please send us a ticket via the button below.
Sometimes the Launcher may provide you with an error message. Please select from the list below to find advice on how to resolve the error that you are encountering:
"Invalid Credentials"
This message occurs if your login details are incorrect. Please ensure you're entering your email address and password correctly. If you've forgotten your password, you can reset it here. If you require assistance recovering your account, please follow the steps outlined in this FAQ article.
"Unhandled exception: The process cannot access ***** because it is being used by another process."
To resolve this, simply restart your computer completely. If you run any security software, make sure that the file in question isn't being scanned, quarantined, or otherwise held.
"Invalid Security Code" (Also known as a Verification Loop)
If you close the verification code window and enter your verification code at a later time the launcher will present the error Invalid Security Code.
This is because each individual login will generate a new verification code, if you close the verification code window you will no longer be able to use that code.
If you consistently find that you cannot get past entering the verification code please leave the verification code window open and wait for each previous code to arrive via email. Normally this will only take a few seconds/minutes but in some cases, it could take a little while longer. Once you're sure that you have the latest code, enter it into the launcher and it should allow you to proceed.
If the problem persists, please get in touch with our support team via the button below.
Note that you should only need to manually enter your account credentials and verify via security code if you have a Steam key copy (pre-dating April 2019) or a Frontier store copy of ED.
When I log in I see "Please purchase/redeem Elite Dangerous to continue" or Demo only.
The "Please purchase/redeem Elite Dangerous to continue" message will appear when the launcher does not detect Elite Dangerous game access.
If you have purchased Elite Dangerous for Steam after 25th April 2019…
These newer licenses are non-key, and so require a link between your Frontier and Steam accounts, and use of the 'Steam log in' button. Customers who have bought a new copy of the game on Steam, but wish to use an existing Frontier account will also need to follow these steps in order to link their account.
Brand new Steam customers should be automatically linked during account creation. If you have not yet created an account, please follow the steps in this FAQ.
If you have purchased Elite Dangerous for Steam before 25th April 2019…
The Frontier account/email address you are logging in with does not have Elite Dangerous access.
Elite Dangerous purchases made prior to April 2019 came with a 25-digit key that grants access once redeemed to a Frontier account. This key is visible in Steam by navigating to your Library, right-clicking Elite Dangerous and selecting Manage > CD keys.
You can try redeeming your key to your Frontier account here: https://user.frontierstore.net/thirdpartykey/register
If you are told that the key has already been redeemed, it has been registered with a Frontier account under a different email address than the one you’re attempting to log in with.
Please try logging in with an alternative email you may have used upon your initial purchase of Elite Dangerous.
If you are unsure of the email address you could have used, please click the button below to contact our Customer Support team who will be happy to help you further.
If you have purchased Elite Dangerous from the Frontier Store…
The Frontier account/email address you are logging in with does not have Elite Dangerous access. Your access is very likely registered with a Frontier account under a different email address.
Please try logging in with an alternative email you may have used upon your initial purchase of Elite Dangerous.
If you are unsure of the email address you could have used, please click the button below to contact our Customer Support team who will be happy to help you further.
If you have purchased Elite Dangerous from the Epic Games Store...
As Elite Dangerous has recently been released on the Epic Games Store, these newer licenses are non-key, and so requires a link between your Frontier and Epic account, and that you use the 'Log In' button on the launcher.
Brand new Epic customers should be automatically linked during account creation. If you have not yet created an account, please follow the steps in this FAQ.
If you are still encountering problems with logging in, please click one of the buttons below to contact our Customer Support team who will be happy to help.
WatchDog64.EXE; MSVCP140.dll; or VCRUNTIME140.dll Missing errors
If you're unable to load Elite Dangerous from the launcher due to an error message mentioning WatchDog.exe, MSVCP140.dll or VCRUNTIME140.dll it's likely that you are missing some necessary files found in the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 package.
In order to install the missing files, please install the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 package available here.
If you're still experiencing issues with this, please contact our support team using the button below.
"The program can't start because XINPUT1_3.DLL is missing from your computer."
If you are seeing this message upon starting the launcher, it means this file has not been located and you may need to install or repair the DirectX 9.0c Runtime.
If this error message persists then you may need to repair your system files.
Please see Microsoft's guide on using the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files.
If you believe you are seeing this and you do have DirectX 9.0c installed, please contact the support team via the button below with an attached Dxdiag report and let them know.
How to fix XINPUT9_1_0.DLL Errors.
Xinput9_1_0.dll issues are caused by a missing or corrupt DirectX DLL file.
The xinput9_1_0.dll file is one of many files contained in DirectX. Since DirectX is utilized by most Windows-based games and advanced graphics programs, xinput9_1_0.dll errors usually show up only when using these programs.
[The following advice is courtesy of the good folks at pcsupport.about.com]
Important Note: Do not download the xinput9_1_0.dll DLL file individually from any "DLL download site." There are a number of excellent reasons that downloading DLLs from these sites are never a good idea.
The first thing to try would be to install the latest version of Microsoft DirectX. Chances are, upgrading to the latest version of DirectX will fix the 'xinput9_1_0.dll not found' error.
Note: Windows 7, 8, Vista, XP, etc. are all supported by this same DirectX installation package. It will install any DirectX 11, DirectX 10, or DirectX 9 file needed and supported in that version of Windows.
- Uninstall the game or software program and then reinstall it again. Something might have happened to the program files that work with xinput9_1_0.dll and a reinstall could do the trick.
- Restore the xinput9_1_0.dll file from the latest DirectX software package. If the above troubleshooting steps haven't worked to solve your xinput9_1_0.dll error, try extracting the xinput9_1_0.dll individually from the DirectX downloadable package.
- Update the drivers for your video card. While it's not the most common solution, in some situations updating the drivers for the video card in your computer could correct this DirectX issue.
If you are still receiving this error message, please contact our Support Team via the button below.
"Unhandled exception during project update: object reference not set to an instance of an object."
There may be a problem with your launcher or Microsoft .Net installations. Please see the relevant steps in the section titled "Help with common issues and error messages seen with the Launcher" above.
"Incorrect Manifest Checksum."
The Incorrect Manifest Checksum error typically occurs when you try and install or update Elite Dangerous and is usually due to your router filtering content when you download files from our servers.
You can usually overcome this issue by disabling web proxy filtering/web content filtering/firewalls in your router. Please check your router's settings and instructions on disabling these features.
If you're still experiencing issues with this error after running through the steps above, please open a ticket with our Customer Support team by clicking the button below.
"Update failed for file" Validation errors.
If you find that the launcher is unable to download the game fully, or you see "Update failed for file... (validation error)" when updating the game. You may need to clear the temporary files that the launcher stores to continue downloading normally.
REMOVE THE LAUNCHER'S TEMPORARY DOWNLOAD FILES
The launcher stores its current file download in .part or .progress files, deleting these can help refresh the download:
- Close the Elite Dangerous launcher.
- Locate your game's installation folder by checking this FAQ.
- To easily locate all these files, search the folder for files ending in .part or .progress.
- Remove all files that end in .part or .progress.
- Start the Elite Dangerous launcher as normal.
TRY CLEARING WINDOWS' CACHED DOWNLOAD FILES
In some cases, you may need to clear the cached files for Microsoft's .NET. framework:
- Close the Elite Dangerous launcher.
- Go to the Windows Start Menu and type Internet Options.
- Open the Internet Options dialogue.
- On the General tab, under Browsing History, click Delete...
- Tick Temporary Internet files and website files and Cookies and website data
- Click Delete.
- Start the Elite Dangerous launcher as normal.
I'M STILL HAVING PROBLEMS, CAN I DOWNLOAD THE GAME A DIFFERENT WAY?
Yes! If you continue to encounter problems when downloading the game via our launcher, you may wish to install the game via Steam instead. Adding the game to Steam is free and you can find out how to add Elite Dangerous to Steam here.
I CAN'T USE STEAM, WHAT ELSE CAN I TRY?
This error has historically appears when there is something altering the files that are downloaded from our cloud servers. This can happen in many ways, including:
- Internet security packages with anti-banner tools altering files
- Firewalls altering files
- ISPs altering files
If you experience this issue, our first piece of advice is to ask you temporarily disable your Internet security package or add the Elite Dangerous Launcher as an exception.
We would then also advise you temporarily disable any firewalls you have running. There may be a firewall built into your router that may need temporarily disabling too.
This should help prevent 'Unable to verify' and Validation errors when downloading Elite Dangerous for most users.
In rare cases, some Internet Service Providers filter content that may lead to validation errors. To resolve this you would need to contact your ISP.
For those using ‘Anti Banner’ protection, then you may need to place an exclusion into your Anti Banner tool within the application.
- Open Kaspersky Internet Security – instructions will be similar for other tools.
- Click on settings (Bottom of the main menu)
- Click on the Protection Centre and you will get a menu list. Scroll down until you see Anti Banner and click on it.
- Once you see the next menu make sure that 'Use the list of allowed URLs' is checked on.
- Click 'Configure allowed URLs' You now want to add a URL. - Click on Add and where you see http:// write after it cdn.zaonce.net Now check 'Active' and then press add.
- The URL will be added to your trusted URLs and should no longer be blocked.
This should help prevent 'Unable to verify' and Validation errors when downloading Elite.
If you're still experiencing problems, please send us a ticket by clicking the button below and we'll be happy to help.
"Failed To Communicate with Authentication Server"
ANTIVIRUS/FIREWALL
Often the cause for this error message cropping up is the result of an antivirus or firewall interfering with Elite Dangerous's secure connection.
The best way to ensure that this is not the case is to disable your antivirus/firewall program temporarily.
Please be aware that once disabled most antivirus programs still require that you restart your PC for them to fully turn off.
While your antivirus/firewall is disabled, start Elite Dangerous and proceed to the main menu. You should no longer be presented with this error message.
If you'd like to re-enable your anti-virus program, please check the following options:
- Kaspersky Internet Security - Untick Always scan encrypted connections
- ESET NOD32 - Disable Web Access Protection
- Avast - Disable HTTPS Scanning
You must restart your computer to apply these changes.
CLOCK SYNCHRONISATION
In some cases, you may need to resynchronise your system clock as explained below:
- Open the Start menu and type "Date and Time".
- The Date and Time configuration window should pop up, please open this.
- In this window, please change to the "Internet Time" tab.
- Click "Change Settings" on the "Internet Time" tab.
- Make sure Synchronise with an Internet Time Server is activated.
- Enter any public time server such as time.microsoft.com into the Server selection field and hit "Update now".
If you continue to get this error message when logging in to the game, please contact the Frontier Support Team via the button below and include your TelemetryCache.log file and your Netlog file which can both be found by checking this FAQ article.
Should your issue persist and the above steps haven't been able to help, please click the button below to create a ticket, and our support team will be happy to help. To help us solve your problem, please include your Client.log and Update.log files as shown in this FAQ article.