Call of Duty (COD) Black Ops Cold War (BOCW) – Game won’t Launch – How to fix

COD Black Ops Cold War won’t launch – It looks like a lot of people are having trouble in trying to get Call of Duty : Black Ops Cold War to launch or start. Here are some ways to fix the issue.

Call of Duty (COD) Black Ops Cold War (BOCW) – Game won’t Launch – How to fix

Another year, another Call of Duty game. And this time it is Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War. The game is finally here, and it adding on to the hype that was already there tell since the announcement of the trailer. People are thoroughly enjoying the title and you easily tell that by the booming Reddit page of Black Ops Cold War.

But as we all know, games these days don’t come without bugs and glitches. Same is the case with COD BOCW. A lot of players have been complaining lately, that they are being unable to launch the game via Battle.net. And this problem has nothing to do with their PC hardware. That is why we decided to put all the fixes recommended by the community of COD on Reddit in one place, so that players don’t have to check multiple sources for them.

How to fix this issue

Before you move further into the guide make sure you take a look at the minimum and recommended requirements of Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War. And also download the drivers optimized for Cod BOCW.

You can check out the system requirements from here. Nvidia users can download the latest drivers from here or via GeForce Experience. AMD users can download the latest drivers from here.

Are you sure that the Anti-virus on your System is not blocking the game?

In some cases, the executable of Call of Duty Black Ops may be getting silently quarantined by some antivirus software, preventing the game from launching. The developers are working to resolve this; in the meantime, you may need to disable Real-Time Scanning function or Real-Time Protection function of your Anti-virus to play. If you do not want to completely disable the software, then you will have to add the .exe (Black Ops Cold War Launcher.exe) of Cold War and Battle.net on the Exceptions list of your AV Software.

If you are using Windows Defender instead of a third-party AV software then here is how to add Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War on the exceptions list of Windows Defender:

Cod black ops cold war windows defender exception

  1. Go to Windows 10 settings
  2. Click on Update & Security
  3. Select Windows Security from the left sidebar
  4. Click on Virus & threat protection
  5. Under Virus & threat protection click on Manage settings
  6. Under Exclusions click on Add or remove exclusions
  7. Click on Add an exclusion
  8. Select File
  9. Select the .exe or executable file of COD Black Ops Cold War which in this case should be Black Ops Cold War Launcher.exe
  10. Restart your PC

Install the latest Visual Studio

Also please try downloading and installing the latest version of Visual C++ redistributable, as there’s a chance it hasn’t been installed correctly.

Try to repair the game once

Use the Scan and Repair feature of Battle.net Launcher to fix the missing or corrupted files of Call of Duty BOCW. Just open the launcher > Select COD BOCW > Click on Option on top > Click on Scan and Repair.

Blizzard Battle.net scan and repair

Run the executable directly as admin

Avoid the Battle.net once and try to run the executable file or .exe file of Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War (Black Ops Cold War Launcher.exe) as admin, directly from the installation directory. Here is how to do it:

  1. Go to the Installation folder of Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War
  2. Right Click on Black Ops Cold War Launcher.exe
  3. Go to Compatibility tab
  4. Check “Run this program as an administrator

Other Tips

  • As this game is fully online, please be sure to check you have an active and stable internet connection.
  • Some of your PC files may have become corrupt. Please attempt to use the System File Checker to see if it can fix them.
  • Confirm that your Windows operating system is fully up-to-date. At this time, COD BOCW runs best on Windows 10.
  • You may have a conflict with your audio source or your sound card drivers. If you are using a headset or external speakers, then try unplugging them temporarily. You can also attempt to uninstall and then reinstall your Realtek drivers.


These are all the fixes we have at the moment for people for whom Black Ops Cold War won’t launch. We will be adding more soon.

One thing to keep in mind, none of these methods are advanced and are pretty basic. There is no guarantee that these steps will fix your problem 100%. If the problem you are facing is a serious one then the best option would be contacting the support. I would suggest that you take a look at the official Black Ops Cold War Reddit. You will find a lot of players discussing about these exact same issues.

  • Check out this guide for the stuttering and freezing in Black Ops Cold War
  • And check out this guide in order to fix crashes in Black Ops Cold War.

If you think this guide had helped you then let us know in the comment section below. Also, you can check out the other Call of Duty : Black Ops Cold War guides on Frondtech. Good luck!


That’s all folks!

Last Updated on November 14, 2020

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