Epic Games Launcher Not Working? Try These 6 Quick Fixes

If your Epic Games Launcher is not working, you might miss out on exclusive offers, events, and the ability to play your favorite games. Common problems include the launcher showing a black screen, not launching games, or failing to download and install. In this article, you’ll learn practical solutions to fix these issues on Windows or Mac without needing expert help. From ending the process in Task Manager to clearing the launcher cache, we’ll walk you through six potential fixes to get you back in the game.

6 Methods to Fix Epic Games Launcher

Before getting started with the following solutions, it’s strongly recommended to create a system restore point. If you make any mistakes and need to undo changes, you will be able to roll back Windows to a previous, stable checkpoint. A better idea would be to create a full computer backup if you don’t do this regularly. You won’t lose any game saves or other important files this way.

1. End the Epic Games Launcher process in Task Manager

It might sound redundant for certain users, but restarting the process is the easiest way to fix Epic Games Launcher if it’s not working properly.

1: Press Ctrl+Shift+Del to launch Task Manager.

2: In the Processes tab, find EpicGamesLauncher.

3: Right-click it and choose End task.

4: With Epic Games Launcher closed for good, reopen it from the Start menu to see if it works now.

2. Adjust display settings

Customized computer display settings can interfere with any installed programs that use a graphical interface. If you or another member of your household has recently changed display options, it could be the reason why Epic Games Launcher is not working anymore.

On the bright side, you can swiftly solve this problem by restoring display settings to their factory values. Here’s how to do it:

1: Press Win+i to open Settings.

2: Go to System > Display.

3: Choose 100% (Recommended) next to Scale.

4: Choose the Recommended value next to Display resolution.

5: Select Scale or Advanced scaling settings, and ensure nothing is entered next to the custom option.

6: Exit (Windows 11) or choose Apply and then exit (Windows 10).

3. Change Epic Games Launcher properties

If Epic Games starts minimized to the desktop, you might have trouble trying to restore the window and reach your games. But you can fix this with a simple trick on Windows computers.

1: Find Epic Games Launcher in the Start menu and select Open file location.

2: Right-click the Epic Games Launcher shortcut (not the .exe) and go to Properties.

3: In the Shortcut tab, set Run to Normal window.

4: Click Apply and exit.

4. Update graphics drivers

An incompatible or old video driver is usually the cause of display settings. If the previous solution didn’t work or didn’t apply to your case, then you should check your video driver and make sure it’s updated to the latest version.

1: Press Win+R, type devmgmt.msc, and press Enter.

2: Double-click the Display adapters category to expand it.

3: Right-click your video device and choose Update driver.

4: Click Search automatically for drivers.

5: If the search is unsuccessful, click Search for updated drivers on Windows Update.

6: Restart your computer and try to launch Epic Games.

Unfortunately, Windows Update doesn’t always detect newer driver versions. If the above instructions didn’t work for you, then you should find out the name and current version of your GPU driver, in order to visit your manufacturer’s website and download a newer version.

Most PC users don’t want to do this because they risk getting an incompatible driver that could turn make the entire display go black. In that case, you should turn to a driver update software solution. It will identify the newer and compatible video driver automatically, then download and set it up on your PC. Plus, you can regularly use such a tool to keep all your device drivers in check.

5. Reinstall Epic Games Launcher

It’s possible that the Epic Games Launcher has corrupt files that can only be resolved by reinstalling the application. It applies particularly if you initially installed the app in a different location than the default. Don’t worry since you won’t lose access to your saved games.

How to reinstall Epic Games on Windows 11:

1: End the Epic Games Launcher task by following the directions outlined above.

2: Right-click the Start menu and choose Installed apps.

3: Click the three dots next to Epic Games Launcher and choose Uninstall. Follow the on-screen prompts to delete the program.

4: Download the Epic Games Launcher from the official website and install it once more.

5: Try again to launch Epic Games.

How to reinstall Epic Games on Mac:

1: Make sure to exit Epic Games Launcher.

2: Look in the Activity Monitor to check there are no processes associated with the app.

3: Go to the Applications folder and drag Epic Games Launcher to the Trash.

4: Check the following locations to make sure there are no Epic Games files left:

~/Library/Application Support
~/Library/Caches
~/Library/Preferences
~/Library/Logs
~/Library/Cookies
5: Download Epic Games and set it up on your Mac again.

6. Clear/Delete Epic Games Launcher cache

Epic Games Launcher functionality issues can be often resolved by deleting the temporary files created by the gaming platform on your computer. It has helped many users overcome gaming issues and could be the reason why Epic Games Launcher is not working for you.

How to delete the Epic Games Launcher webcache folder on Windows:

1: Close Epic Games Launcher if it’s open.

2: Press Win+e to open File Explorer.

3: Change the location at the top to %localappdata% and press Enter.

4: Open the EpicGamesLauncher > Saved folder.

5: Right-click one of the webcache folders (they might have numbers after the name) and choose Delete. Repeat for any other webcache folders you see there.