Fix: League of Legends won’t Open

League of Legends (aka LOL) is an online multiplayer battle arena game that was published by Riot Games and released in October of 2009. The game is one of the most played online games and is played all across the globe. However, quite recently a lot of reports have surfaced according to which the game does not launch even after executing the game’s executable. In some cases, the game shows up in the task manager for a while and then disappears.

What Prevents the League of Legends from Launching?

We investigated the issue after receiving many user reports and devised a list of solutions that solved the problem for most of our users. Also, we formed a list of reasons due to which the problem was being triggered which is as follows:

Now that you have a basic understanding of the nature of the problem we will move on towards the solutions. It is recommended that you try these solutions in the specific order that they are listed in to prevent any conflicts.

Solution 1: Launching Directly

If you changed the directory of the game or if the shortcut is corrupted the game will no longer launch through it, therefore, it is recommended to try to launch the game directly through the executable present inside the game installation folder.

Solution 2: Providing Administrative Privileges

Certain elements of the game require special permissions in order to function correctly. If the game has not been provided the administrative privileges it is possible that it might not launch properly. Therefore, in this step, we are going to provide the game administrative privileges. For that:

1. Navigate to the game installation folder.
2. Right–click on the “lol.launcher.exe” and select “Properties“.
3. Click on the “Compatibility” tab and check the “Run as Administrator” box.
4. Click on “Apply” and then “OK“.
5. Run the game and check to see if the problem persists.

   

Solution 3: Closing Other Applications

In some cases, it was reported that other applications such as “Steam” and “Razor Synapse” were interfering with the game and causing issues with the launch process. Therefore, in this step, we are going to be closing all the applications that are running on the background except for System processes. For that:

1. Right–Click on the taskbar and select “Task Manager“.

   

2. Click on the “Startup” tab, click on any application to select it and then click on the “Disable” button.

   

3. Disable all the applications in the list and restart the computer.
4. Without starting any other application, run the “lol.launcher.exe” and check to see if the problem persists.

Solution 4: Verifying Files

It is possible that the game might be missing certain files that are elemental in the launching process of the game. Therefore, in this step, we are going to verify the integrity of all the files and replace any missing or corrupt ones.

1. Navigate to the game installation folder and run the “lol.launcher.admin” executable.
2. Click on the cogwheel icon and select “Initialize Full Repair“.

   

3. Wait while the launcher verifies the game files.
4. Run the game check to see if the problem persists.

Solution 5: Replacing the “Projects” folder

There are important files inside the “Projects” folder that is necessary for the proper launch of the. However, sometimes these files might be corrupted or they might not be detected by the game launcher. Therefore, in this step, we are going to verify them. For that:

1. Navigate to the game installation folder and open the “RADS” folder.

   

2. Inside the “RADS” folder, right-click on the “Projects” folder and select “cut“.

   

3. Now right-click anywhere on the desktop and select “paste“.

   

4. When all the files have successfully been moved, launch the game executable.
5. The game will now begin to download the missing files.
6. Move the “Projects” folder back into the “RADS” folder without closing the download process.
7. Chose the “Overwrite” option whenever the notification prompts you to.
8. After the folder is moved, launch the game executable again.
9. The downloading process will now have jumped almost to the end.

   

10. After the download process finishes, the game will automatically be launched.

Solution 6: Forcing Client Update

In some cases, certain “.dll” files located inside the League of Legends directory can get corrupted. These files are not very large in size and can easily be replaced therefore, in this step, we are going to delete these files and then prompt the launcher to replace them. For that:

1. Navigate to the game installation folder and open the “RADS” folder.

   

2. Inside the “RADS” folder, open the “Projects” folder and delete the “lol_launcher” and “lol_patcher” folders.

   

3. Now navigate back to the main installation folder of the game and delete all the “aps_ms_win….dll” files.
   Note: Only delete the “aps_ms_win….dll” files, all the other “.dll” files are not easily replaced.
   

   

4. Now double click on the “lol_launcher” located inside the main game directory.
5. It will take a longer period of time to launch than it usually does and will begin to download an update to the client.
6. Wait for the process to finish and check to see if the issue persists.

Solution 7: Updating Graphics Card Drivers

The graphics card drivers should always be updated to the latest version provided by the developers because they often include several bug fixes and critical updates. Therefore, in this step, we will be checking to see if any updates to the graphics card drivers are available.

For Nvidia Users:

1. Click on the Search bar on the left-hand side of the taskbar
   

   

2. Type in Geforce Experience and press enter
3. Click on the first icon to open the application
   

   

4. After signing in, click on the “Drivers” option on the top left.
5. In that Tab, Click on the “Check for Updates” option on the top right
6. After that, the application will check if new updates are available
   

   

7. If the updates are available a “Download” button will appear
   

   

8. Once you click on that the driver will begin to download
9. After the Driver is downloaded the application will give you the option for “Express” or “Custom” installation.
10. Click on the “Express” installation option and the Driver will automatically be installed
11. After the installation is completed, run the game and check to see if the problem persists.

For AMD Users:

1. Right–Click on the Desktop and select AMD Radeon Settings
   

   

2. In the Settings, click on Updates in the lower right corner
   

   

3. Click on “Check For Updates”
   

   

4. If a new update is available a new option will appear
5. Click on the option and select Update
   

   

6. The AMD installer will start, click on Upgrade when the installer prompts you to
   

7. The installer will now get the package ready, check all the boxes and click on Install
   

8. This will now download the new driver and install it automatically
9. Restart your computer and try to run the game.

Solution 8: Changing Config File

In some cases, we can try to edit the config file and include some instructions in it that can instruct the game to launch normally. In order to do that:

1. Navigate to the default directory of the game.
2. Open the “RADS” folder and then open the “System” folder.

   

3. Right-click on the “user.cfg” file and select “Open With”.
4. Click on “Notepad” in the list and scroll down to find the following command listed inside the “.cfg” file.

   leagueClientOptIn = yes

5. Change this command to the following.

   leagueClientOptIn = no

6. Save your changes and launch the game.
7. Check to see if the game opens. If it doesn’t, navigate back to the main folder and delete the “LeagueClient.exe” file.
8. Launch the game from “lol.launcher.exe” as an admin and check to see if the issue persists.

Solution 9: Deleting File on macOS

In some cases, the error might be triggered due to glitch with the “lockfile” in macOS. Therefore, in this step, we will be deleting this file. In order to that:

1. Open the Finder and click on “Applications”.

   

2. Right-click on “League of Legends” and then select “Show Package Contents“.

   

3. Open “LOL” and then delete the “LockFile”.
4. Launch the League of Legends Client and this file be automatically be regenerated.
5. Now launch the game without deleting the lock file and it should work fine.

Solution 10: Reinstalling Game on macOS

If the issue still persists even after going through the above solution, the only option left is to reinstall the game on macOS. Firstly, remove League of Legends from your computer completely and then download and install it after restarting the computer.