Is your Battle.net desktop client refusing to initialize the World of Warcraft (WoW) update? If so, you may be about to ruin your vacation. Battle.net is one of the most popular game clients, so Blizzard updates it regularly. Despite this, many users have reported having problems launching or updating games.
Why did this happened? In this article, we will explain why WoW updates get stuck on initializing and the fixes you can apply to resolve the issue.
Why does WoW Update get stuck on initialization and how can I fix it?
WoW update fails to initialize when there is a problem with the Battle.net desktop client. On top of that, problems with your Internet connection, intrusions from your ISP, and conflicts with your antivirus, Windows Defender, or apps running side by side with Battle.net can also cause the problem. Also, the app cache can also be the culprit.
When WoW update stuck on initializing, you need to disable other apps and processes, update Battle.net client, rule out internet issues, clear Battle.net cache, whitelist Battle desktop client. net Windows Defender, update drivers, and rebuild corrupted and outdated game files.
First, do the preliminary checks
Before moving on to the main fixes, perform the following preliminary checks:
- Pause and resume the stuck update.
- Restart the stuck update after canceling it.
- Restart the Battle.net desktop client.
- look at World of Warcraft forum to see if other users are experiencing the same problem. If so, it’s a back-end issue, which will be resolved by Blizzard.
- Set the Battle.net desktop client to run as administrator. As a result, the client will gain elevated system rights, allowing it to access even restricted system files. If you’re not familiar with the process, check out our guide on how to always run an app as administrator in Windows.
- Make sure your device meets the minimum game requirements. Also, check if your video card is on List of supported video cards from Blizzard.
1. Make sure it’s not a visual error
The Battle.net desktop client can sometimes appear to be stuck during initialization due to a visual glitch. This means that the update may still be downloading, but the client may show the update progress bar as stuck during initialization. Therefore, it is imperative to confirm that first:
- Right click on Windows Beginning button and select Task Manager.
- See if the Battle.net desktop client is consuming any network resources in Task Manager.
- Then, open the folder where the game was installed.
- Check the total size of the WoW folder after ten minutes and note the size of the game files.
The growing folder size and network resource consumption in Task Manager indicate that the client is downloading the update. So the update stuck on initializing on the Battle.net desktop client is just a visual glitch.
However, if the progress bar really gets stuck on initializing, it’s time for some fixes.
2. Clear the Battle.net client cache
The Battle.net desktop client also caches some data for fast process execution, just like any other software. Occasionally, these files and folders can accumulate, become corrupted, or go missing, causing problems with the client or with installed games.
You must delete the client cache folder and let it rebuild from scratch to rule out this possibility. Follow these steps to do so:
- If Battle.net is running, close it.
- Close all Battle.net or World of Warcraft processes in Task Manager.
- After that, navigate to the following path:
C:\ProgramData\Blizzard Entertainment\Battle.net
- delete the Cache binder.
- Reboot your device and try to download the update again.
3. Rule out internet problems
The World of Warcraft update may get stuck on the Battle.net desktop client if your internet connection isn’t working. Run any process that uses a network resource to determine if the Internet is connected. If the Internet is not working, troubleshoot the Wi-Fi and the problem will be fixed automatically.
If you are sure that your Internet connection is working, follow the steps below:
- Reboot your router to clear its cache.
- Test your internet speed using any free internet speed test website. If it’s not fast enough, connect to a different connection.
- Your ISP may also block Blizzard’s servers. You can rule out this possibility by changing your DNS and running the update again.
If the Internet is not the cause of the problem, continue to the next step.
4. Terminate other processes
Do you have any resource hogging programs running on your computer that could be eating up your network resources or bogging down your bandwidth? If so, they may be causing the WoW update to hang when it tries to initialize.
So stop all active processes in your torrent client, instruct any download managers you’re actively using to stop downloads, and disable third-party apps like Microsoft Team and Zoom. You should also turn off any other game clients that are currently running such as Steam and Bluestacks as they can also trigger the problem.
Once you’ve disabled them, run the update again to see if it’s successful.
5. Whitelist Battle.net on your firewall
Microsoft Defender and third-party antivirus programs are excellent at detecting and removing threats. Sometimes, however, they consider even safe-running processes to be threats and block them. That’s when things start to get frustrating.
To ensure that the Battle.net connection doesn’t stop for the same reason, you need to whitelist the client in Microsoft Defender. Have you never done that before? We have a guide on how to whitelist apps in Windows Defender. Also, if you are running an antivirus program, disable it.
Enjoy playing World of Warcraft again
A stuck update hinders our weekend fun. Hopefully, with the fixes mentioned in this article, you can successfully fix and complete the stuck update. If none of the fixes work, you will need to reinstall the Battle.net desktop client from scratch and reinstall World of Warcraft.