7 Ways to Fix Rainbow Six Siege Not Launching on a Windows PC (2024)

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Here we look at how you can fix Rainbow Six Siege not launching on a Windows 11/10 PC. Is your Rainbow Six game failing to start? If yes, check out the troubleshooting methods below to kick start R6.

Matthew Adams 2023-12-15

Rainbow Six Siege

Rainbow Six Siege has been a popular tactical multiplayer shooter ever since its 2015 release. However, Siege still has its fair share of technical hiccups like any other Windows game. Many players have reported they’ve needed to fix Rainbow Six Siege not starting on Steam, Reddit, and Microsoft support forums. That game can crash at startup in different ways with or without an error message. However, players can’t play RSS regardless of how it crashes at launch. This is how you can fix Rainbow Six Siege not launching on a Windows 11/10 PC.

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Verify the Integrity of Game Files

First, try verifying the integrity of the Rainbow Six Siege game files. Running a verification scan will likely repair missing or corrupted game files, which is a common cause of gaming startup issues. Check out these Steam, Ubisoft Connect, and Epic Games support pages for instructions about how to verify files with those software packages.

Set Rainbow Six Siege to Run in Compatibility Mode

Rainbow Six Siege is a relatively old game now that almost predates the Windows 10 OS. So, it’s perhaps not entirely surprising some players have confirmed running RSS in compatibility mode can sometimes fix the game not starting. Try setting Rainbow Six Siege to run in compatibility mode like this.

Press the Windows key and E at the same time to activate Explorer and bring up the Rainbow Six Siege installation folder.
Right-click the RainbowSix file to select Properties.
Select Compatibility inside the properties window.
Click Run this program in compatibility mode to select that setting’s checkbox.
The Run this program in compatibility mode option
Select Windows 8 on the drop-down menu.
Also, select the Run this program as an administrator box.
Click Apply to set the compatibility settings and select the OK option to exit.

Uninstall the Overwolf R6 Tracker Software

Overwolf is tracker software for Rainbow Six. Some players say they fixed Rainbow Six Siege not starting by uninstalling the Overwolf R6 software. So, try doing that if you have Overwolf installed on your PC. You can remove that program with standard uninstall methods covered in this Microsoft help page.

Repair Installed Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages

There are various Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable on your Windows PC that Rainbow Six Siege and other software packages depend on. Corrupted Visual C++ packages can cause game startup issues to arise. So, you may be able to fix Rainbow Six Siege not launching by repairing Visual C++ packages as follows.

Disable Third-Party Antivirus Software

Antivirus software packages prevent Rainbow Six Siege and other games from starting by blocking the execution of their files. Some players have confirmed BitDefender to be one third-party antivirus utility that can cause Rainbow Six startup issues. If you have any third-party security app installed (BitDefender especially), check if it’s causing any issues by right-clicking its system tray icon and selecting to temporarily turn off its antivirus protection before launching the game.

Should this possible solution work, try adding Rainbow Six Siege to the antivirus software’s exceptions list. Your best bet is probably to add the whole installation folder for the game to the antivirus exceptions list rather than just one single EXE file. Or you could uninstall the antivirus tool to ensure it can’t block the game from starting.

Update Your Graphics Card’s Driver

If the graphics driver on your PC is years old or corrupted, installing a new GPU driver could be a possible solution for Rainbow Six Siege not launching. This is how you can manually update a NVIDIA or AMD graphics adapter driver.

First, open Run, enter dxdiag into the Open box and select OK to launch the DirectX Diagnostic Tool.
Click on the Display tab to view and note down the graphics card details shown there.
Open the Edge browser and navigate the AMD or NVIDIA driver download page.
The NVIDIA download page
Select the graphics card model and Windows OS for your PC.
Click on the Search or Submit option on the graphics card selection page.
Select the Download option for the latest available graphics driver for your PC’s GPU.
The Download option
Press Edge’s Ctrl + J hotkey and click the file for the downloaded driver package to open its installer window.
Select the Install driver option within the setup window.

Reinstall the Ubisoft Connect Game Launcher

The Ubisoft Connect Uninstall window

Reinstalling the Ubisoft Connect launcher software is one of the more widely confirmed ways to fix Rainbow Six Siege not launching. You can uninstall Ubisoft Connect via Programs and Features like most other desktop software packages. Restart Windows after uninstalling and select Download PC on this Ubisoft page to get the setup wizard for the latest version of the software. Run the downloaded Ubisoft Connect setup file to reinstall the software.

Other Ways to Fix Rainbow Six Not Launching

If Rainbow Six Siege still doesn’t start after applying the troubleshooting methods above, there are other ways you may be able to kick-start the game. These are some additional ways to fix Rainbow Six not launching:

Reinstall the Rainbow Six Siege game.
Select to disable fullscreen options for Rainbow Six Siege on the Compatibility tab.
Add Rainbow Six Siege to firewalls’ allowed lists. This help page on Microsoft’s help page includes guidelines for allowing apps through the Windows Defender Firewall.
Run a System File Checker scan as instructed on this Microsoft SFC guide page.

While I cannot promise guaranteed fixes for Rainbow Six Siege not starting, the troubleshooting methods in this guide are worth trying. Those ways to fix Rainbow Six Siege not launching have worked for some players. Consider contacting the Ubisoft help service from this support page if you still can’t play Rainbow Six.