Dota 2 Keeps Crashing To Windows Desktop

Fix Dota 2 Crashing Problems In Windows

In this guide, we will be taking a look at how to fix Dota 2 crashing, if you are having problems with Dota 2 crashing to your desktop then don’t panic just yet as we have listed different methods below that you can do that should fix this.

Dota 2 is a fantastic free to play game but when you start having crashing issues with the game it can make it pretty boring fast, luckily there are things you can do to fix this after you have done each method below launch Dota 2 and see if it resolved the problem that you are having with the game.

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How To Fix Dota 2 Crashing To Desktop:

Below are the different methods to fix Dota 2 crashing on PC.

Fix 1: Check for Windows Updates

Updating Windows 10 can fix most problems and it’s a good place to start

Windows 10:

Right-click Windows 10 start menu > Settings
“Update & Security” > Click “Check for updates” button

Windows 11:

Right-click on the start menu > Settings
Windows Update and then “Check for updates“

Fix 2: Update or roll back GPU Drivers

If you have recently installed the latest GPU Drivers and since then Dota 2 has been crashing, then try installing the previous drivers. If you haven’t updated to the latest GPU drivers then update them:

Go to the manufacturer’s site for your GPU to install an older driver version. Check out this post on how to install old NVIDIA Drivers
Check out these posts on how to update NVIDIA and Intel drivers in Windows.

Fix 3: Background programs

Close down all background programs, if you have anything running in the background while playing the game then this could be conflicting with Dota 2 causing it to crash to your desktop.

Fix 4: Security software

Make sure your security software is not causing Dota 2 to crash, try disabling it temporarily, but just remember you won’t be protected while it’s disabled. Also, depending on what security you are using some come with a game mode so try enabling that

Fix 5: Game Mode

Make sure game mode is enabled as this will optimize windows 10 for games. If it’s already enabled then try disabling it just in case it is causing a crashing issue:

Right-click Start menu > Settings
Select Gaming
Click on Game Mode on the left menu and toggle “Game Mode” to “On” or “Off“

Fix 7: Run as an admin

Running Dota 2 as an admin could help resolve the crashing issues.

Open Steam >Right-click Dota 2 in your Library
Click on Local Files and then Browse

Steam showing browse local game files button.

Right-click the dota2 shortcut > Properties
Select Compatibility > Tick “Run this program as an administrator” then click “Apply” and “OK“

dota2.exe properties run this program as an administrator.

Fix 8: Clean up old temporary files

Clearing out old temporary files that are no longer required can help plus it will help speed up Windows.

Open the Start menu and search “Disk Clean-up” and open it
Select your “C:” and click the “Clean Up system files” button
Now select the options you would like to remove ensuring Directx shader cache and Temporary files are selected then click “OK” then “Delete files“
If you would like to do a better clean then check out our favorite disk cleaners here

Windows disk cleanup window with DirectX Shader Cache selected and other items.

Fix 9: Corrupted drive

Check for Corrupted Windows 10 files and scan hard drive for any errors.

Open File Explorer > Right-click on your C: Drive
Click on Properties > Then click on Tools
Underneath ‘Error checking‘ click on “Check” > Click on “Scan Drive”
If there any errors fix them > Then Restart your PC
Do this for all drives that Dota 2 is installed on