Troubleshooting: Why FIFA 21 Won’t Start – Solutions Inside

FIFA 21 is definitely an upgrade from 20 with an improvement to both career mode and ultimate mode. Despite this, players are encountering several issues like the game not launching. If you happened to be one of them, don’t worry. We’ve got several working fixes for you.

Try these fixes

You might not need to try them all; simply work your way down the list until you find the one that works for you.

1. Allow your game through Windows Firewall
2. Update your graphics driver
3. Disable in-game overlay
4. Verify the integrity of game files
5. Run the game as an administrator
6. Run FIFA 21 in compatibility mode for Windows 8
7. Change DIRECTX_SELECT value
8. Set the settings to default in FIFA 21 Launcher
9. Launch FIFA 21 in Windowed or Windowed borderless mode
10. Delete files from ProgramData (Origin)
11. Delete files from AppData (Origin)

Before getting started

Before moving on to the fixes, you need to make sure that your computer meets the minimum hardware and OS requirements to launch the game.

MINIMUM System Requirements

To check your system information, you can:

1. Press theWindows logo key + R together on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box.

2. Typedxdiag and hitEnter .

3. When theDirectX Diagnostic Tool window opens, under theSystem tab, you can check your system information listed.

Fix 1: Allow your game through Windows Firewall

Sometimes Windows Security may block your game from launching. So you should manually add your game to the list of allowed apps to prevent it from being blocked.

To do so, you can:

1. In the Search box, type windows security and click Windows Security from the results.

2. Select Virus & threat protection from the left pane. Scroll down and under the Ransomware protection section, click Manage ransomware protection .

3. Switch the Controlled folder access setting to On . When a window pops up asking “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device “, click Yes .
   Then click Allow an app through Controlled folder access .

4. Click Add an allowed app > Browse all apps .

5. Then navigate to the game’s installation folder and selectFIFA 21.exe , alsoFIFA 21 trial.exe & FIFAconfig.exe (only if you have them).

Also, if you’re using any antivirus software like Avast, AVG, you’re supposed to disable them before you launch your game. Because there is a possibility that this antivirus software is in conflict with your game launching.

Fix 2: Update your graphics driver

When you have problems launching a game, you need to check if you’re using an outdated or faulty graphics driver. As drivers can greatly impact the system’s performance. Therefore, if you can’t remember when was the last time you updated your graphics driver, definitely do it now as it may fix your issue immediately.

There are two ways you can update your graphics driver:

Option 1 – Manually – You’ll need some computer skills and patience to update your drivers this way because you need to find exactly the right driver online, download it and install it step by step.

OR

Option 2 – Automatically (Recommended) – This is the quickest and easiest option. It’s all done with just a couple of mouse clicks.

Option 1 – Manually update your graphics drivers

To update your graphics driver manually, you can go to the official website:

NVIDIA
AMD

Then find the driver corresponding with your Windows version and download it manually. Once you’ve downloaded the correct driver for your system, double-click on the downloaded file and follow the on-screen instructions to install it.

Option 2 – Automatically update your drivers (recommended)

Manually updating graphics drivers does take some time and patience. Also if you encounter other issues related to driver updates while playing the game in the future, you’ll again have to bother downloading and installing the latest drivers on your own. So to save you time, we highly recommend using Driver Easy as your great pick for driver updates.

Driver Easy is a useful tool that will automatically recognize your system and find the correct drivers for it. You don’t need to know exactly what system your computer is running or risk downloading and installing the wrong driver.

Here’s how you can update your drivers with Driver Easy:

1. Download and install Driver Easy.

2. Run Driver Easy and click the Scan Now button. Driver Easy will then scan your computer and detect any problem drivers .

3. Click the Update button next to the flagged driver to automatically download the correct version of that driver, then you can manually install it (you can do this with the FREE version).

Or click Update All to automatically download and install the correct version of all the drivers that are missing or out of date on your system. (This requires the Pro version which comes with full support and a 30-day money-back guarantee. You’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click Update All.)

The Pro version of Driver Easy comes with full technical support. If you need assistance, please contact Driver Easy’s support team at [email protected] .

After updating your drivers, restart your computer and try to launch the game.

Fix 3: Disable in-game overlay

If you turn on the in-game overlay, it could cause your game not to launch. In this case, you should turn it off onSteam orOrigin .

Steam

1. Launch the Steam client and select the tab LIBRARY .

2. Right-click on FIFA 21 and select Properties .

3. Select GENERAL and uncheck the box Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game .

After applying the changes, exit Steam and run your game to see if this fixed the issue. If the issue persists, try thenext fix .

Origin

1. Open Origin on your computer and click onMy Game Library .

2. Click onFIFA 21 . Scroll down and click onSettings (the gear icon), then selectGame Properties .

3. Uncheck the box Enable Origin In Game for EA SPORTSTM FIFA 21 Ultimate Edition and clickSave .

4. Exit Origin and relaunch your game to check if it works. If it doesn’t, try thenext fix .

Fix 4: Verify the integrity of game files

Verifying the integrity of game files is a recommended troubleshooting step you should take when you’re faced with the game not launching issue. It can help you verify if the integrity of your game files is intact. If it is not, it’ll then restore any missing or corrupted files. So you’re supposed to verify the game’s files onSteam orOrigin .

Steam

1. Launch Steam client. From the LIBRARY section, right-click on Phasmophobia and select Properties from the menu.

2. Select the LOCAL FILES tab and click the VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAME FILES… button.

3. Steam will verify the game’s files and this process may take several minutes. After it’s finished, launch your game to check if it works for you. If not, move on to thenext fix .

Origin

1. Go toMy Game Library . Right-click onFIFA 21 and selectRepair .
   This will analyze the local files of FIFA 21 and reinstate corrupted or missing files.

After the process is completed, clickUpdate Game to make sure that you have the latest version of the game. The new version of the game can have patches that fix errors.

2. Now clickOrigin and selectSign Out .

To make sure you’ve completely quit Origin, you can:

1. PressWindows logo key + R together on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box.

2. Typetaskmgr and pressEnter to open the Windows Task Manager.

3. Under theProcesses tab, scroll down and findOrigin . Right-click on it and selectEnd task .

Now restart your computer and launch your game to check if it does the trick. If it doesn’t, move on to thenext fix .

Fix 5: Run the game as an administrator

Granting the game administrator rights can solve many issues including not launching issues. So you should run FIFA 21 as an administrator.

1. Locate the file where you installed your game. Find theFIFA 21 .exe file and right-click on it.

2. Select theCompatibility tab. Check the boxRun this program as an administrator . Then clickApply > OK .

3. Now launch your game and check if it works.

Fix 6: Run FIFA 21 in compatibility mode for Windows 8

If you encounter the issue of your game not launching, running it in compatibility mode for Windows 8 may help. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Locate the file where you installed your game. Find theFIFA 21 .exe file and right-click on it.

2. Select theCompatibility tab and check the boxRun this program in compatibility mode for: (make sure that you selectWindows 8 ). Then clickApply > OK .

After applying the changes, launch your game again and check if the game not launching issue persists. If it does, move on to the next fix.

Fix 7: Change DIRECTX_SELECT value

Changing DIRECTX_SELECT value has proved to be working for many players. So you should give it a try.

1. Open the FIFA 21 folder and you can seefifasetup . Right-click on it and selectOpen with > Notepad .

2. If theDIRECTX_SELECT value is0 . You can change it to1 . If it’s1 , change it to0 .

3. After applying the changes, clickFile > Save .

4. Close the notepad and launch your game if it solves the problem.

Fix 8: Set the settings to default in FIFA 21 Launcher

You probably had changed the settings before in order to have a certain result. But it may cause some issues like the game not launching. So you’re supposed to set them to default. Here’s how you can do this:

1. Open your game and click onGame Settings .

2. When you’re guided to theGame Settings window, clickRestore Default .

3. Now try to relaunch your game.

Fix 9: Launch FIFA 21 in Windowed or Windowed borderless mode

Some players have reported that launching the game in Windowed or Windowed borderless mode helped fix the issue. So you’re supposed to give it a shot.

1. Open your launcher and click onGame Settings .

2. When you’re guided to theGame Settings window, under theDisplay Configuration tab, selectWindowed or Windowed Borderless mode. Then clickOk to apply the changes.

3. Now launch your game to check if it does the trick.

Fix 10: Delete files from ProgramData (Origin)

There’re some files that are corrupted, which would probably stop the game from launching. So you need to delete them.

1. Press theWindows logo key + R together on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box.

2. Type**%ProgramData%/Origin** and pressEnter .

3. Delete all the files from this folder, except theLocalContent file.

Fix 11: Delete files from AppData (Origin)

Deleting files from ProgramData might not solve the issue. In this case, you can also delete files from AppData.

1. Press theWindows logo key + R at the same time on your keyboard to open the Run dialog box.

2. Type**%appdata%** and pressEnter .

3. Right-click onOrigin and selectDelete .

4. In the address bar of File Explorer, click onAppData .

5. Double-click on theLocal folder. Scroll down and delete theOrigin folder.

After you’ve done all of these, restart and computer and launch the game to check if it does the trick.

So these are 11 fixes for the FIFA 21 not launching issue. If nothing works, you should consider completely uninstalling the game and then installing it again. For any questions or ideas, please leave us a comment below.

• Fifa

Also read: