How to Fix The World of Warcraft Was Unable to Start Up 3D Acceleration Error

World of Warcraft is one of the most loved online multiplayer role-playing games. It was launched a long time ago in 2004. Still, this massively multiplayer online game has millions of active players. People just love this game and are quite excited about it. However, there is an error that can finish all your excitement and can make you worry about the capabilities of your PC. We are talking about the ‘World of Warcraft was unable to start up 3D acceleration’ error that many players have encountered while they try to play this game.

First of all, let’s discuss why this issue occurs. Multiple reasons can make the game unable to start up 3D acceleration. Some of them are inappropriate settings of the game, issues related to graphics card, etc. So, now the question arises ‘How to fix this issue?’

How to Fix World of Warcraft Was Unable to Start Up 3D Acceleration Error

If you are also the one who is facing the ‘World of Warcraft was unable to start up 3D acceleration’ error, then do not worry about it. You can fix it with the help of some easy methods that we have below mentioned.

Make The Fullscreen Optimization Disable

One of the most common reasons for the error making World of Warcraft unable to start up 3D acceleration is the fullscreen optimization feature of your Windows PC. It is responsible for the gaming performance of the games that you play in the full-screen mode of your PC. Here is how you can make the fullscreen optimization disable on your PC.

1. Open the folder where you have installed the World of Warcraft.
2. Select the .exe file fo the game and right-click on it.
3. Now in the Properties dialog, you have to select the Compatibility tab.
4. Under the Compatibility tab, look for the Disable fullscreen optimizations option and mark the checkbox.
   
5. After that, select Apply and then restart your PC to implement the changes.

After following the above steps, run the World of Warcraft and check if the error still prevails.

Update Graphics Card Driver

Another helpful method to fix the ‘World of Warcraft was unable to start up 3D acceleration’ issue is updating your Graphics Card Driver. The best way through which you can do this Bit Driver Updater. Don’t judge us as biased. But the Bit Driver Updater is indeed the most efficient utility that we have ever tried to updater device drivers. You can use it for free as well by just downloading it from the button provided below.

Here are the steps that you have to follow to use Bit Driver Updater for updating your Graphics Card Driver.

1. Install it easily by the default installation wizard of the program.
2. After that, launch the software.
3. You do not even have to instruct the driver updater to scan for problematic drivers, Bit Driver Updater automatically does it for you once you launch it. If, in some rare cases, it doesn’t perform an automatic scan, then click on the Scan option.
4. Then, select the Graphics driver from the list of drivers that require an update.
5. Just choose the Update Now button to update the Graphics driver.
   

Make sure you restart your PC after the successful completion of the Graphics driver update. After restarting the PC, launch the game to check if the issue got resolved or not.

Update The Windows

Updating your Windows operating system is also a good option to resolve the issue of unable to start up 3D acceleration in World of Warcraft. In Windows 10, you require Windows Update to upgrade the DirectX. So, here are the instructions to update Windows.

1. Look for the Windows start icon at the lower-left corner of your screen and right-click on it.
2. Then, search for the Settings option in the list and click on it.
   
3. Choose Update & Security.
   
4. At last, choose Check for updates option.
   

After updating your Windows operating system, run the World of Warcraft again to check if the issue got resolved or not.

Windows 7 users can directly seek the update of DirectX from Microsoft’s Website. They do not have to update their Windows.

Try Launching The Game As An Administrator

Many players of the World of Warcraft claim that launching the game as an administrator can resolve the ‘World of Warcraft was unable to start up 3D acceleration’ error. Hence, we have included this method in our guide. Here are the required steps.

1. Open the folder where you have installed the World of Warcraft.
2. Select the .exe file fo the game and right-click on it.
3. Now just click on the Run as administrator option available in the context menu.
   

Try Rolling Back Your Graphics Driver

If you have recently updated your graphics driver and have started facing the unable to start up 3D acceleration issues with the World of Warcraft, then the problem lies with the driver update. Don’t worry as you can easily resolve this. You just need to roll back to the previous graphic driver. Here is how you can roll back your drivers on Windows 10.

1. Open the Device Manager. There are many ways to do so, but the simplest way is to search for it in the Windows Search box.
   
2. Now click on the arrow to expand the Display Adapters category and select the graphics driver.
   
3. Right-click on the driver and select Properties.
4. After that, choose the Drivers Tab.
5. Then, opt for the Roll Back Driver option.
6. At last, provide the reason for initiating the driver roll back and then choose Yes.
   

Once it gets complete, make sure you restart your PC. This will help you to implement the driver changes that you have made.

The World of Warcraft Was Unable to Start Up 3D Acceleration Error (FIXED)

So, here we like to end our guide to resolve ‘World of Warcraft was unable to start up 3D acceleration’ error. We hope that you have found your solution above. However, there are some more specific fixes like customizing some specific graphics driver. We have not included those fixes here because all of us do not use graphics drivers of a particular manufacturer.

Let us know if you want us to mention those driver manufacturer-specific fixes as well.