How to Fix Game Crash Error 0xC0000005 (Access Violation)

By FixMyError · Updated October 14, 2026 · 9 min read

What "0xC0000005" means

Every program on your PC runs in its own fenced-off area of memory. When a game tries to read from or write to a memory address outside its fence, Windows steps in and kills the process instantly. The error code for that event is 0xC0000005 — technically called STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION. If your crash log shows decimals instead of hex, the same code appears as 3221225477. You'll usually meet it as a sudden crash to desktop with no error dialog, or as "Exception code: 0xc0000005" buried in the Windows Event Viewer after the crash.

Here is the frustrating part: 0xC0000005 is the single most common crash code on Windows and the least informative one on its own, because nearly anything can produce it. A corrupted game file, an outdated graphics driver, an overlay program injecting its own code into the game, an unstable overclock, a conflicting audio driver, or genuinely faulty RAM can all end in the same code. That is why the first step in this guide is not a fix — it is reading the evidence Windows already recorded about your crash, so you fix the right thing instead of reinstalling everything blindly.

Common causes

• Outdated or corrupted graphics drivers: bad GPU drivers are one of the top causes of 0xC0000005 crashes across many different games.
• Corrupted or missing game files: a damaged DLL or asset makes the game read invalid memory and crash.
• Conflicting software and overlays: programs that inject DLLs into the game process — Discord overlay, Steam overlay, and audio tools like Nahimic — are a widely confirmed trigger, especially in anti-cheat games like Valorant.
• Insufficient permissions: the game lacks administrator rights to access memory or files it needs.
• Corrupted Windows system files: damaged core components like ntdll.dll or kernelbase.dll surface the crash.
• Faulty RAM or unstable overclock: bad memory or aggressive CPU/GPU/RAM clocks corrupt data in transit and crash the game.

How to fix "0xC0000005" — step by step

Work through these fixes in order. Test-launch the game after each step so you know which one fixed it.

1. Read the crash log in Event Viewer. Press Win + R, type eventvwr.msc, and press Enter. In the left pane, expand Windows Logs and click Application. Look for recent entries with Source "Application Error" and Event ID 1000 around the time of your crash. Open the entry and note two lines: "Exception code: 0xc0000005" (confirms the error) and "Faulting module name" — the module name is the real suspect. If it names the game's own DLL, the game files are likely corrupt. If it names something like a Nahimic, overlay, or audio driver DLL, that software is your culprit. If it names ntdll.dll or kernelbase.dll, those are usually just the messengers — look for the last non-Microsoft module in the stack.
2. Update your graphics drivers with a clean install. Go to the official site of your GPU maker — NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel — and download the latest driver for your exact card and Windows version. During installation, choose the "Clean installation" or "Factory reset" option (NVIDIA) or "Factory Reset" (AMD) so old driver files are fully removed. Restart your PC when it finishes, then launch the game. Corrupt driver installs are such a common cause of 0xC0000005 that this step alone fixes a large share of crashes.
3. Verify the integrity of the game files. Open Steam, go to your Library, right-click the crashing game, and choose Properties. Switch to the Local files tab (or Installed Files in newer Steam versions) and click "Verify integrity of game files." Steam will scan the installation and redownload anything corrupted or missing. If you bought the game on another launcher, use that launcher's equivalent scan-and-repair function — most of them have one.
4. Disable overlays and conflicting background software. In Discord, go to User Settings, then Game Overlay, and turn off "Enable in-game overlay." In Steam, right-click the game, choose Properties, and uncheck "Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game." Then open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), check the Startup tab, and disable audio enhancement tools like Nahimic, Sonic Studio, or third-party RGB software. Gaming laptops from MSI, ASUS, Lenovo, and Dell commonly ship Nahimic audio, whose DLL injection is a documented cause of 0xC0000005 crashes in Valorant, CS2, and Apex Legends. If you rely on that software, update it to the latest version rather than just killing it.
5. Run the game as administrator and disable fullscreen optimizations. Find the game's executable (or its desktop shortcut), right-click it, and choose Properties. Open the Compatibility tab. Check "Run this program as an administrator" and also check "Disable fullscreen optimizations." Click Apply and OK, then launch the game. Missing permissions can turn ordinary memory access into an access violation, and fullscreen optimization conflicts crash some titles outright.
6. Repair Windows system files with SFC and DISM. Press Win + X and choose Terminal (Admin) or Command Prompt (Admin). Type sfc /scannow and press Enter — let it finish, which can take 15 to 20 minutes. If it reports that it found and repaired corruption, restart and test the game. If problems persist, run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth in the same elevated prompt, wait for it to complete, then run sfc /scannow once more. Corrupted system files can both cause 0xC0000005 and mask its real source.
7. Test your RAM and revert any overclocking. Press Win + R, type mdsched.exe, press Enter, and choose "Restart now and check for problems." Windows Memory Diagnostic will scan your RAM and report errors on reboot. If it finds faults, try reseating the memory sticks or testing one stick at a time — and replace the faulty module. Separately, if you overclocked your CPU, GPU, or memory (including enabling XMP/DOCP profiles), restore default clock speeds in your BIOS/UEFI or overclocking utility. Unstable clocks corrupt memory contents and are a classic source of 0xC0000005 across all programs, not just games.

Did this fix it? Quick checklist

• The game launches and reaches the main menu without crashing
• You can play for at least 30 minutes without a crash to desktop
• Event Viewer no longer logs a new 0xC0000005 Application Error for the game
• The same fix holds after a PC restart

If 0xC0000005 still hits every game you launch — not just one title — the problem is almost certainly systemic: a bad GPU driver, failing RAM, or an unstable overclock. If it hits only one game after all seven steps, reinstall that game completely and check its official support forums for a game-specific patch, since some titles ship with known access-violation bugs that only an update fixes.