PvP.Net Patcher Kernel Has Stopped Working

/ Shayne Sherman

True fans of the League of Legends game surely know about this error. You’re enjoying the game and all of a sudden, “pvp.net patcher kernel has stopped working“!

The error pops up, and League of Legends crashes. Irritating, to say the least. Furthermore, the client program refuses to open again, and even reinstalling sometimes doesn’t work.

This error is different from the other kernel security check failure error.

The issue occurs quite randomly, and there are no special conditions per se that cause it. Many times, it happens when the game patch files are corrupt or when you run the program as a standard user instead of as an administrator.

SEE ALSO: What to Do When Steam Won’t Open

Try these fixes one by one and see if they solve your problem.

Fix 1: Run the program as an administrator

This is the simplest and easiest method to go around the error, and you should try it before embarking on another solution.

Executing the program as an administrator means that you’re notifying the system that the program is safe, and you need administrator privileges. Most standard user accounts run in normal mode, which means that the user has restricted access from performing executions that affect the operating system.

This is usually for the good of the user and the operating system itself as it prevents accidental deletions and unintended problems. Running as an administrator is taking back the privileges, and any operation you run will not perform without any hindrance from firewalls and system checks.

Step #1

On the application, right-click and select “Run as administrator“.

If the error goes away after running as an admin, then you can change the client properties to always have administrator rights or log into the system using an administrator account. Proceed as below;

Step #2

Navigate back to the application and right-click it again. Choose “Properties“.

Step #3

Navigate to the “Compatibility” tab

Step #4

Check the “Run this program” as an administrator option present close to the bottom of the window.

Step #5

Select “Apply” to save changes and then exit.

Fix 2: Ending the Program in Task Manager

This is another workaround that also works for many users.

Ending the program with the Task Manager closes it completely, kills background processes associated with the program, and frees the memory that had been used to store the application data.

Step #1

After closing the program, start it again by running it as an administrator.

Step #2

Open the “Task Manager” by pressing Windows + R and typing “Taskmgr” on the dialog box, or clicking on the taskbar and selecting “Task Manager“.

Step #3

Once in the “Task Manager,” navigate to the “Processes” tab and click it.

Step #4

Locate all the processes related to your program, for example, League of Legends Client (LoLClient.exe), Riot Client Patcher (LoLLauncher.exe), and LolPatcher.exe

Step #5

End all of these processes by right-clicking them and selecting End task.

Step #6

Re-open the program by running as administrator.

Fix 3: Removing Patch Files

The application refuses to work because the program patch files are corrupted, or there was a problem with their configuration. Removing these patch files could be the solution.

The application will automatically download any missing patch files after you remove them.

Step #1

Open “Explorer” and navigate to the directory where the League of Legends is installed on your computer.

Step #2

Open “RADS” folder.

Step #3

Once there, open “projects folder“, then the “lol_air_client” folder, and finally the “releases“.

Step #4

Within that “releases” folder, look for the latest folder inside and open it.

Step #5

Delete the files “S_OK” and “releasemanifest“.

Step #6

Now open the “Deploy” folder and delete the following files:

  • “Properties”
  • “META-INF“
  • “logs“
  • “LoLClient.exe“

Step #7

Restart your computer and then run the program as an administrator.