How to fix “PvP.net Patcher Kernel Has Stopped Working” issue?

League of Legends (LOL) is one of the most played video games around the globe. Not only is the game engaging, but also fun since it’s a team strategy game that supports multiplayer mode. If you’re among the countless fans of League of Legends, then you must have come across the ‘PvP.net Patcher Kernel has stopped working’ error. The error forces the game to close even before it starts, and each time you try to launch it, the same error message pops up, which states:

“Pvp.net patcher kernel has stopped working

A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available.”

Players who have tried to reinstall League of Legends reported that it didn’t fix the error. This post explores the different ways on how to resolve the ‘PvP.net Patcher Kernel has stopped working’ problem in Windows 10.

What Is “Pvp.Net Patcher Kernel Has Stopped Working” Error in Windows 10?

The ‘PvP.net Patcher Kernel has stopped working’ error is known to affect the League of Legends video game. The error appears randomly when a player tries to launch the game or run the Riot Client. Sometimes, the game might even stop suddenly when you’re in the middle of a battle and the client program refuses to run again.

In most cases, the ‘PvP.net Patcher Kernel has stopped working’ error pops up when you run LOL without administrator rights or if the game files have been corrupted. Such an error can be quite irritating, especially considering how addictive the game can be, and you’d want it fixed as soon as possible. Hopefully, there are several ways to resolve the issue once and for all.

How to Fix League of Legends “Pvp.Net Patcher Kernel Has Stopped Working” Problem

Fix 1: Run the Game as an Administrator

One of the easiest and most effective ways to get League of Legends up and running is to give it full administrator rights. Most players discovered that running LOL as an admin resolved the “PvP.net Patcher Kernel has stopped working” issue. The thing is, when you give a program administrative access, it operates without any restrictions from the system, such as firewalls. If this fix works, you can configure the game’s properties to always run with admin access. To run the game with admin rights, follow this simple guide:

1. Right-click the game’s icon on your desktop and select “Run as administrator”.
2. Relaunch League of Legends and if it runs without triggering the “PvP.net Patcher Kernel has stopped working” error, then proceed with the next steps below to permanently run the game with elevated rights.
3. Right-click LOL’s icon again and select “Properties”.
4. Switch to the “Compatibility” tab and check the “Run this program as an administrator” option.
5. Click Apply > OK to save the changes.

You should now be able to battle it out with other players without the game suddenly stopping midway.

Fix 2: Run LOL in Compatibility Mode

If League of Legends failed to function even after giving it administrative access, then you can try running the game in compatibility mode. Sometimes, newer operating systems like Windows 10 might not be compatible with some games. To proceed, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the game’s icon on your desktop and open its “Properties”.
2. Go to the “Compatibility” tab, and click on the “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” option.
3. Choose “Windows 7” from the drop-down list.
4. Click Apply > OK.

If the game refuses to run properly with “Windows 7” as your selected OS, try Windows 8 or Windows 10.

Fix 3: Restart the Game

Sometimes, a program may get stuck due to several reasons. Ending the program in ‘Task Manager’ closes all of its processes and helps to get the program back to its functioning state. For this reason, restarting League of Legends can also resolve the “PvP.net Patcher Kernel has stopped working” problem on your Windows 10 PC.

Here’s how:

1. Open “Task Manager” using the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keyboard shortcut or simply right-click your taskbar and select “Task Manager”.
2. Next, find all the processes related to League of Legends under the “Processes” tab, select them one by one, and click “End task”.
3. Once you’ve stopped all the processes related to the Riot Client, exit “Task Manager” and relaunch League of Legends as an admin to check whether the issue has been resolved.

Fix 4: Delete Game Patch Files

If the game patch files have been corrupted, then deleting them can get rid of the “PvP.net Patcher Kernel has stopped working” error. Once you delete all the files, the program will automatically download all the files again.

Here are the steps to remove LOL’s patch files:

1. Open “File Explorer” and browse to the directory containing the League of Legends files, which in most cases is the Local C drive. However, it depends on which drive you have the game installed.
2. Once you find the directory, open the “RADS” folder and go to this path: projects > lol_air_client > releases> “Select the latest folder present”.
3. Find and delete the “S_OK” and “releasemanifest” files.
4. Next, locate the “Deploy” folder and delete the following files:

• ‘logs’
• ‘META-INF’
• ‘lol.properties’
• ‘LolClient.exe’

5. Finally, restart your PC and launch League of Legends as an administrator.

Are you still running into the “PvP.net Patcher Kernel has stopped working” problem? If you are, then try the next solution below.

Fix 5: Use a Third-Party Repair Tool

Usually, we recommend that Windows users run regular maintenance on their PCs to eliminate speed-reducing issues and potentially boost the computer’s performance regardless of how old it is. For this task, you need an all-inclusive optimization tool like Auslogics BoostSpeed, which comes equipped with modules and wizards for practically any type of tweaks that your device might require.

The program does a pretty good job of cleaning and defragmenting your HDD, as well as optimizing your entire system for optimal performance. Whether it’s registry errors, junk files, or misconfigured internet settings interrupting the normal functioning of your operating system, you can trust Auslogics BoostSpeed to offer more services and features than most applications.

So, if you run games and other resource-hungry applications on your PC regularly, remember to schedule automatic maintenance to keep your machine running fast and efficiently.

We hope that the solutions above help you to fix the “PvP.net Patcher Kernel has stopped working” error on your Windows 10 computer. If you have any other solutions that worked and aren’t already mentioned in this post, feel free to share with our community by commenting below.