[PC] SimCity hangs or won't launch on Windows 10
Are you having trouble launching SimCity? Does it hang on launch? Or the program reduces to the taskbar and won't open on Windows 10? This is usually something blocking the exe from reaching the Internet.
- Make sure your firewall and antivirus are not blocking SimCity.exe, and that it is added to the exception lists. I know when mine updates, it occasionally likes to change settings for no good reason. If you have BitDefender installed, disable it. Check the *Controlled Folder Access setting in Windows Defender (**see below instructions)
- If you have any mods installed, remove them
- Make sure your graphics drivers are updated to the most recent version. If you have the sound program Nahimic 2 from MSI installed, disable or uninstall it.
- Set the desktop icons to run SimCity.exe and Origin.exe as administrator
- In Origin, right-click SimCity icon, Game Properties, check the box that says "Disable Origin In-game"
- Set the SimCity desktop icon to run in Windows 7 or 8 compatibility mode.
If none of these work, try a clean boot and attempt to launch SimCity. If it launches, you'll have some detective work to do, enable one startup program at a time, reboot, try SimCity, until you find the program that is blocking it.
Once you find the offending program, disable or uninstall it. You should be able to launch SimCity. If you find a program that was blocking SimCity, please reply here and let us know. I'll add it to the list to help others.
**Changing Window's Defender - Controlled Folder Access settings
Thank you @doubleofficialm
@doubleofficialm wrote:
Hey there,
I was experiencing simillar issue with SimCity for 2 days.
Behaviour: I installed Origin along with Simcity after trying to turn it on, there was displayed Simcity logo but it didnt run as well, it gets back to the origin. So I was not able to see any error or anything because even launcher wasnt turned on as well.
Resolution: Issue was caused by Windows Defender feature called - "Controlled folder access".
Check if you have turned it on, if yes simply turn it off just by following these steps:
1. Open the Windows Security, and click/tap on the Virus & threat protection icon.
2. Click/tap on the Manage ransomware protection link under the Ransomware protection section.
3. Turn On or Off (default) Controlled folder access for what you want.
4. Click/tap on Yes when prompted by UAC to approve.
5. Simply close the Windows Security and let's play!
Hope it helps. 🙂
I decided to start this topic just to help troubleshoot the problem of SimCity not launching on Windows 10. Usually, it's a program that blocks access for some reason.
Check to see if you have the following most common offenders:
- MSI's sound program Nahimic 2 - disable or uninstall
- Older AMD graphic drivers - make sure your driver is updated to at least version 18.1.1; download most recent drivers from AMD's website
- Bitdefender antivirus - disable or uninstall
If you are still having a problem getting SimCity to launch, follow the steps in the first post to troubleshoot.
If you find any other programs that block SimCity from launching, please reply to this thread to help other users.
