Hoorah! It’s finally time to play your favorite video game. You open your computer, try to start the program, and… uh oh… something went wrong. Instead of the game loading page, you get a scary error that says: Application has been blocked from accessing Graphics hardware. Even though you haven’t made any changes to the game since the last time you played. So, what’s going on?
First of all, don’t panic. It’s annoying… but you’re not the only one experiencing this problem. We’ve heard many reports of this error from Windows users. And luckily, it’s a problem you can easily fix by yourself.
How do I fix this error?
This guide covers some easy but effective ways to fix the problem. Simply work your way down until you find the one that works for you.
Fix 1: Run System File Checker and DISM commands
This problem may occur if you have corrupted or damaged system files on your Windows computer.
Follow these steps to recover your system files:
1）On your keyboard, press Win+R to invoke the Run box. Type cmd and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to launch the Administrator Command Prompt.
Click YES when prompted by the User Account Control.
2) Type sfc /scannow and press Enter. Wait for the scanning to be 100% completed.
3) You may see different results. No matter what the scan result is, type the following commands and press Enter after each one.
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
4) Reboot Windows 10 and run your game software to see if it works. If it doesn’t, you can try our other fix below.
Fix 2: Update your display driver
This problem is mostly caused by a problem or outdated graphics card driver (otherwise known as a display driver or video driver). To fix it, you can either reinstall or better yet, update the graphics driver. Driver update means the old driver will be replaced by the new one, which can also give you the latest bug fixes and performance improvements.
There’re two ways you can update your display driver: manually and automatically.
Manually — To update the display driver, you can choose to download the latest one from your display adapter manufacturer’s website, such as Intel, AMD, NVIDIA…
Automatically — However, manual driver update is really time-consuming. If you are not tech savvy or, if you don’t have time and patience to do it manually, we highly recommend you update your display driver automatically using Driver Easy. It’s a simple process. Here’s what you need to do:
1) Download and install to run Driver Easy.
2) Click Scan Now. It will quickly detect the problem drivers in your computer. This includes your display driver.
2) Click the Update button next to a device driver to automatically install the latest correct 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 – you’ll be prompted to upgrade when you click Update All. Not sure if Driver Easy is right for you? It offers a 7-day free trial for you to test out all the Pro features. You won’t be charged until the trial ends.)
3) Reboot your Windows 10 PC and run your game software to see if it works.
We hope this helps resolve your issue. If you have any questions, you’re welcome to leave us a comment below.
