Overwatch_loader.dll preventing startup

I’ve recently started getting an error when trying to open overwatch. In the battle.net app it shows “Launching”, then “Playing Game”, then just goes back to “Play” and doesn’t open. After some searching i’ve found that it looks like it’s related to the overwatch_launcher.dll (error message found through System Information on Windows).

I’ve tried reinstalling a few times, Scan + Repair, deleting the file and then Scan + Repair again to get it back, but nothing seems to be fixing it. Any help or tips are greatly appreciated :slight_smile:

Usually when you see an error with that file it’s because another app is causing it to fail when trying to load, not a problem with the file itself.

For assistance in this forum, you’ll want to provide system diagnostic files for other players to help you.

Click here to show/hide DxDiag report instructions
  1. Press Windows Key + R, then type DxDiag and press Enter.
  2. In the DxDiag window, click Save All Information.
  3. Name the file dxdiag and click Save.

After you have the report:

Note: If you have trouble posting the URL, highlight the link and click </> on the post editor toolbar.

While you wait for assistance, review the Windows Reliability Monitor (Win10) or Reliability History (Win11), which may show you what’s happening in the background to cause any errors.

Hi, thanks for your response :slight_smile:

Link here with whole dxdiag output: dxdiag - Pastebin.com

Looking at reliability history, the only errors that were showing up were for Overwatch Application, and each time the Fault Module Name was Overwatch_loader.dll (except for once where it was ntdll.dll).

The errors are reporting that Overwatch doesn’t have permission to access its files. You may have an antivirus, like Norton, McAfee, SentinelOne, etc., blocking the game, or the directory might be marked as read only by a recent Windows update.

There are also two sticky threads that could be related.

same here,
Win. Defender - deaktivated
Never installed any Razer Chroma Software
Directory’s are not on read only
Intel CPU
since the patch from October 29th, my game no longer launches from Battlenet or Steam. Before that I played and had to “update” the game after the round ended and since then I can’t get into the game anymore.

Steps tried:

  • Delete and reinstall overwatch
  • Delete and reinstall bnet
  • Scan + Repair overwatch
  • Delete overwatch_loader.dll, Scan + Repair
  • Updated windows to latest version
  • Updated BIOS to latest version
  • Updated chipset drivers
  • Updated graphics card drivers
  • Checked for any razer software and removed it

Not really sure where to go from here. I had this issue a couple weeks back but after reinstalling overwatch it started to work fine. Probably in the last 7-10 days since it’s come back and now been un-fixable.

Update → After reinstalling Windows Overwatch worked again.
I hope it stays that way now.

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.