Are you unable to play or participate in an game online because Windows 10 is denying access to graphics hardware?

Are you getting an error message which says “application has been blocked from accessing graphics hardware”?

If yes, this post is just for you.

This, as you might be able to guess, is a graphics issue. Often it can be very difficult to ascertain any specific reason behind it.

In this post, we have provided three solutions that could resolve the error “application has been blocked from accessing graphics hardware”

You don’t have to try every solution given here. Start with the first solution. If that doesn’t work for you, try the next solution and so on.

Let’s get started.

Why are you seeing the “application has been blocked from accessing graphics hardware” error message?

One of the common scenarios that can lead to this error is your PC getting stuck while playing a game. This event leads to misconfiguration of the graphics driver, and when the application tries to access graphics driver next time, it just fails, and as a result you get an error message.

The problem may also occur due to non-compatibility of the graphics driver. Such compatibility issues usually crop up after installing a major Windows update.

In most scenarios, GPU takes longer time than usual to respond to operating system’s request and fails. This could be one of the reasons for such an error message.

Now let’s take a look at the solutions.

Solution One – Run System Maintenance Troubleshooter

Windows 10 has a System Maintenance Troubleshooter that is periodically run by the operating system to fix any issues that it detects.

Run the System Maintenance Troubleshooter tool and see if it helps. Here are the steps to follow.

• Click Start and type troubleshoot in the box and hit Enter on the keyboard

• Click Troubleshoot from the list of results
• Click Hardware and Devices

• Click Run the troubleshooter

• Follow on-screen instructions

Try running the game or application which was denied access to graphics hardware. If the issue persists, try the next solution.

Solution Two – Uninstall and reinstall the graphics driver

As mentioned earlier, the graphics issue can arise due to incompatible drivers. A simple solution to this problem is downloading and installing the latest graphics driver. Here are the steps to follow.

• Press Windows logo key and R simultaneously on the keyboard to bring up command prompt window
• In command prompt window, type devmgmt.msc and click OK
• 
• In the Device Manager window, click Display adapter to expand it
• Right-click graphics adapter and click Uninstall

• In next window, click OK
• Restart your PC after the driver is uninstalled
• Now go to the manufacturer website and download the latest drivers for your graphics adapter. You need to install the driver in the Windows 10 compatibility mode. here are the steps to follow.
• Right-click on driver setup file you just downloaded and click Properties

• Click Compatibility tab and tick the option – Run this program in compatibility mode

• From the drop-down list, select right Windows version of the driver

• Click Apply and then click OK to install the graphics driver in compatibility mode.
• Restart your PC

Try to run the game or application which was denied access to graphics hardware. If the issue persists, you might want to update your graphics card driver using a reliable driver update tool. It is possible that the driver present on your PC might be a general one or an old one.

In such a case, updating your graphics driver would help. The easiest way to update your drivers is by using driver update tool.

Automatic driver update tools offer many benefits, the most important ones being:

• You can update device drivers automatically
• The software scans and updates all outdated or missing drivers at one go
• The tool picks the right drivers for your device and operating system, so you won’t have to worry about installing an incorrect driver by mistake
• Automatic driver updates are 100% safe

Driver Updater is one of the best driver update tools out there. Outbyte Driver Updater will give you access to a database of over 1 million drivers. It will regularly scan your PC, suggesting new driver versions to install. Driver Updater contains drivers for a variety of Windows devices. With just one click, you can update drivers in your system.

Step 1
Click here to Install and launch the app

Step 2
Scan all devices

Step 3
Install or update drivers automatically

 

Start Download

 

Solution Three-Run SFC tool and DISM commands

Step One – Run SFC tool

You can get the “application has been blocked from accessing graphics hardware” if the system files have become corrupted. A simple solution to this problem is to use the SFC tool to check the integrity of system files and allow it fix the issues.

SFC stands for System File Checker. It is a command-line tool built in Windows to resolve issues with system files. When you run the SFC tool, it scans the system file for any corruptions. If it finds any issues, it replaces the corrupt files with most recent cached versions.

Here are the steps to run an SFC scan.

• Click Start and type cmd in Cortana search box
• Right-click Command Prompt from the list of results and click Run as administrator

• In the user account control window, click Yes
• In the command prompt window, type sfc /scannow and hit Enter on the keyboard

• Wait for the SFC to complete the scan and repair process.

Step Two – Run DISM commands

DISM stands for Deployment Image Servicing and Management. It is a command-line tool that is used to service a Windows image. Sometimes the SFC tool is unable to fix some system files that have become corrupt or broken.

In such cases, the DISM can be used to repair Windows image(.wim) files, which will then allow the SFC tool to fix any issue that was not fixed in the earlier session. Here are the steps to follow.

• Open command prompt window with admin rights. You can refer to the steps above to open an elevated command prompt
• Type the following commands and press Enter on the keyboard after each command.

• exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth
• exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
• Close command prompt window
• Reboot Windows

Note – You need to run the SFC tool again to allow Windows to fix system files that were not fixed in earlier SFC scan.