Fortnite not starting in Windows 11: how to fix

Even big games like Fortnite sometimes need a little extra help to get them working. Here's how to fix Fortnite not starting in Windows 11.

Fortnite is one of the most popular battle royale games with hundreds of millions of players around the world. However, a very small minority of players sometimes need to troubleshoot Fortnite not starting in Windows 11 and 10. For some players, Fortnite may not start at all. Other players have reported the game crashing on startup when they start it.

If Fortnite won't launch on your Windows 11 PC, there are various ways to potentially fix it. Much depends on the specific causes of the problem. These potential resolutions can feasibly solve a wide variety of Fortnite launch problems.

Run Fortnite as an administrator

When Fortnite doesn't have full admin permissions, it doesn't have full system access. If so, configuring the game to run by an administrator can potentially fix the problem not starting. You will need to enable Fortnite to run as an administrator as follows.

• click on File Explorer on the taskbar.
• Open the Fortnite installation folder.
• Then open the sottocartelle FortniteGameBinariesWin64 inside the Fortnite folder.
• Right click on the FortniteClient-Win64-Shipping EXE (Application) file to select the option Property .
• Click on the tab Compatibility and select the option Run as administrator
• Select Apply to save the new compatibility settings.
• click on OK to close the active window.
• Repeat the previous steps to select the option Run as administrator per i file EXE FortniteLauncher, FortniteClient-Win64-Shipping-BE e FortniteClient-Win64-Shipping-EAC.

Furthermore, we recommend that you also run Epic Games with administrator rights. You can right-click on a link and select Run as administrator . To configure Epic Games to always work with administrator permissions, however, you'll need to select the Run as administrator option from its properties window.

Run Fortnite in compatibility mode

Playing Fortnite in compatibility mode can resolve game glitches. To do this, open the tab Compatibility for the FortniteClient-Win64-Shipping file in the Fortnite Win64 folder as mentioned for the first method. Then select the checkbox Run this program in compatibility mode for there. Choose Windows 8 or 7 from the drop-down menu and click the button Apply .

Repair Easy Anti-Cheat Service

Easy Anti-Cheat is an anti-cheat service provided with Fortnite to prevent potential in-game cheating. Fortnite may not start due to problems with the Easy Anti-Cheat service. Therefore, Easy Anti-Cheat Repair can also fix Fortnite not starting. This is you can repair that service in Windows 11.

• Displays the File Explorer utility.
• Go and open the Fortnite game folder.
• From the Fortnite game folder, click the FortniteGame subfolders > Binaries > Win64 > EasyAntiCheat .
• Then double click on EasyAntiCheat_Setup.exe in the EasyAntiCheat folder to open its window.
• Select Fortnite from the drop-down menu within the Easy Anti-Cheat window.
• Click the Repair Service button .
• Then press the Finish button.

Run an SFC scan

Your Fortnite game may fail to start due to some corrupted system files. Running a System File Checker (SFC) scan will replace those damaged files. You can run an SFC scan in command prompt as follows.

• Start the search tool in Windows 11 by clicking on the magnifying glass icon on the taskbar.
• Enter the Command Prompt in the Type here to search box.
• Open the command prompt with administrator rights by clicking on the Run as administrator option for the search result. Enter this command in the prompt window and press Submit :
• sfc / scannow
• Then wait for the scan to reach 100 percent and see a result.

Check the Fortnite files

When Fortnite fails to launch, some of its game files may be missing or corrupted. Verifying the Fortnite game files will likely be a solution in such a scenario. Epic Games software includes an option Verifica which you can select to repair game files. Here's how you can select that option.

• Open your Epic Games Launcher software.
• Click on library left of Epic Games.
• Then click the button with i dots suspension for Fortnite and select Verifica 
• Wait for the verification process to complete.

Play Fortnite with DirectX 11

Did you select the DirectX 12 option in Fortnite settings before having to fix the game? If so, configuring the game to start with DirectX 11 might be the solution. You can add a command line argument for Fortnite to use DirectX 11 this way.

• Open the Epic Games launcher.
• Click your user account button at the top right of the Epic Games window to select Settings .
• Then click on Fortnite in Settings to expand it.
• Select the checkbox Additional command line arguments.
• Enter D3d11 in the command line argument text box.

Update your PC's graphics card

You will be surprised how many gaming problems can arise from outdated graphics card drivers. If your PC's graphics card driver is somehow out of date, the update could kick off Fortnite. You can update the driver of an NVIDIA or AMD graphics card manually, with the driver update software, or by using the GeForce Experience and Radeon software.

Reinstall Fortnite

Reinstalling Fortnite is the last resort if nothing else fixes the game. This may be the only solution to repair a damaged game installation. Since Fortnite is a multiplayer game, with no saved games, you don't have much to lose by reinstalling it. You will need to uninstall and reinstall Fortnite via Epic Games as follows.

• Open the Epic Games launcher.
• Then select the tab Launch applications.
• Click the button with the dots of Fortnite suspension to open a menu of options.
• Select the option Uninstall.
• Click again Uninstall to confirm.
• To reinstall Fortnite, click on the game in the tab library in Epic Games.
• Push the button Shop by Department to choose a folder if you prefer.
• Then press the button Install .

Conclusions

These are some potential resolutions that gamers have confirmed that can fix Fortnite not starting in Windows 11/10. That doesn't mean those resolutions will kickstart the game for everyone, but there's a good chance they'll work for a lot of players.

If you still need to fix the game not launching after applying all the potential resolutions above, take a look at the. You can get in touch with the game's support service by clicking on Contact us from there. Then fill out the support request form and hit the button send an email request