GW Launcher

Troubleshooting

Your browser blocked the download

Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, and others) increasingly block GW_Launcher.exe before the download even finishes, showing a warning like “This file isn’t commonly downloaded” or “Failed – Virus detected” with no obvious way to keep it. As with the antivirus warning below, this is a false positive — the browser’s Safe Browsing feature distrusts an unsigned, infrequently-downloaded executable — not a real threat.

If your browser won’t let you keep the file, lower its Safe Browsing level, download, then turn it back up if you like:

  1. Paste this into your browser’s address bar and press Enter:
    • Chrome / Brave / Opera: chrome://settings/security
    • Edge: edge://settings/privacy
  2. Find Safe Browsing (Edge calls it Microsoft Defender SmartScreen).
  3. Switch it from Enhanced protection to Standard protection, or temporarily turn it Off / to No protection.
  4. Re-download GW_Launcher.exe from the releases page.

You may still see a “keep anyway” prompt on the download itself — that one you can dismiss to keep the file. Once you have GW_Launcher.exe, you can set Safe Browsing back to its previous level.

Note: managed browsers (a work or school computer, or an enterprise antivirus that locks browser settings) can grey this out entirely. If so, download on a personal device, or ask whoever manages the machine to allow it.

“My antivirus flagged GW Launcher”

This is expected and a false positive. GW Launcher injects mods (GWToolbox, TexMods) into the game, which resembles the behaviour antivirus tools watch for. The launcher is open source and has been used by the Guild Wars community since 2010 — every component (gMod, GWToolbox, and the launcher itself) is on GitHub for you to inspect.

If your antivirus quarantines it, add an exclusion for the GW Launcher folder.

“The game is already running” / can’t launch a second account

Guild Wars allows one client per installation folder. To run multiple accounts you need a separate copy of the game for each — see Run Multiple Accounts.

A plugin or TexMod isn’t loading

  • Confirm Use mods in plugin folders is ticked on the account, or that the mod is in the account’s Mod Manager.
  • Check the file is in the right plugins\ folder (next to GW_Launcher.exe for all accounts, or next to that copy’s Gw.exe for one installation).
  • Remember mods load in alphabetical order, and for TexMods the first to claim a texture wins.
  • Garbled textures usually mean an invalid .tpf — convert it with TpfConvert (TexMods).

“Failed to wait for MainWindowHandle / WaitForInputIdle”

The client took too long to start. Try launching again. On a slow machine, raise the Launch timeout (seconds) value under Advanced in Settings (for example, from 20 to 30). This same setting controls both mod DLL loading and game-window readiness, and applies even without mods.

A launch needs admin rights

Some plugins and game paths (e.g. inside Program Files) need elevation. Tick Run elevated on the account, or run GW Launcher as administrator. Update All Clients will prompt to restart as admin when required.

I forgot my encryption password

The master password can’t be recovered. Delete Accounts.json and re-add your accounts. See Encryption & Passwords.

Still stuck?

Ask in the Discord or open an issue on GitHub.