How to Enable DirectX 12 Ultimate & Use It if It’s Disabled

Learn how to turn on a disabled DirectX 12 Ultimate, the newest iteration of the API

by Matthew Adams
Matthew Adams
Matthew Adams
Windows & Software Expert
Matthew is a freelancer who has produced a variety of articles on various topics related to technology. His main focus is the Windows OS and all the things... read more
Updated on
Reviewed by Vlad Turiceanu
Vlad Turiceanu
Vlad Turiceanu
Editor-in-Chief
Passionate about technology, Windows, and everything that has a power button, he spent most of his time developing new skills and learning more about the tech world. Coming... read more
Affiliate Disclosure
  • How to enable DirectX 12 Ultimate Intel/AMD? You don't have to do much to enable DirectX 12 Ultimate, and in this guide, we'll show you how to do that with just a few clicks.
  • One of the first things you can do is ensure your Windows PC platform is fully updated in order to avoid DX12 is not supported on your system.
  • How to use DirectX 12 Ultimate? To use DirectX 12 Ultimate on Windows, you must ensure that you have the latest drivers installed.

XINSTALL BY CLICKING THE DOWNLOAD FILE
To fix various PC problems, we recommend Restoro PC Repair Tool:
This software will repair common computer errors, protect you from file loss, malware, hardware failure and optimize your PC for maximum performance. Fix PC issues and remove viruses now in 3 easy steps:

  1. Download Restoro PC Repair Tool that comes with Patented Technologies (patent available here).
  2. Click Start Scan to find Windows issues that could be causing PC problems.
  3. Click Repair All to fix issues affecting your computer's security and performance
  • Restoro has been downloaded by 0 readers this month.

What is DirectX 12 Ultimate? DirectX 12 is Microsoft’s multimedia API (application programming interface) for rendering game and video graphics and playing audio.

That API is primarily for Windows 10, supporting older DirectX 11, 10, and 9 versions.

Windows 10 doesn’t include any specific option for enabling DirectX 12 Ultimate. However, you can do a few things to ensure you have the latest DirectX 12 version installed.

Furthermore, you might also need to configure specific in-game settings to enable DirectX 12 for some games. This guide will give you some quick ways to enable DirectX 12 Ultimate on your PC.

Can I get DirectX 12 Ultimate?

One important criterion to get DirectX 12 Ultimate is ensuring that your PC is running Windows 10 version Version 2004 or higher to be eligible to install DirectX 12 Ultimate.

If your PC isn’t the version mentioned above, then you can only install DirectX 12.

What are DirectX 12 Ultimate requirements?

  • Windows 10, version 2004 or above
  • Windows 10 SDK, version 2004
  • AMD Radeon RX 6000 series
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 series

You can head over to the official Microsoft website for more complete details.

Do I have DirectX 12 Ultimate?

  1. Press the Win + G button to open the Xbox Game Bar.
  2. Click on Settings.
  3. Select Game features.
  4. Check if your PC supports DirectX 12 Ultimate or not. This is how you can check if you wonder How do I know if I have DirectX 12 Ultimate?

How do I enable DirectX 12 Ultimate on my computer?

In this article

1. Enable DirectX 12 for Windows 7

A few select Windows 7 games, such as World of Warcraft, support DirectX 12. You can enable DX12 for selected Windows 7 games by ensuring your NVIDIA or AMD GPU has the most up-to-date driver.

Some users might also need to update GPU drivers to enable DX12 Ultimate in Windows 10. To ensure your graphics card driver is up-to-date, run a driver updater utility software.

Big-time gaming can be done without crashes, lags or freezes by keeping all drivers up to date and error-free. Manual checks are hard to perform, that’s why we recommend using an automate assistant that will scan for fresh driver versions daily. Here is how to use it:

  1. Download and install DriverFix.
  2. Launch the software.
  3. Wait for the newly installed app to detect all your PC’s faulty drivers.
  4. You will be presented with a list of all the drivers that have issues, and you can choose the ones that you want to fix.
  5. Wait for the driver download and fixing process to complete.
  6. Restart your PC for the changes to take effect.
DriverFix

DriverFix

Do not let a bad driver interfere with your games and installed software. Use DriverFix today and run them without a single issue.

Free trial
Visit website

Disclaimer: this program needs to be upgraded from the free version in order to perform some specific actions.

2. How to enable DirectX 12 Ultimate in Windows 10

  1. Press Win + I to open the Settings menu.
  2. Select Windows Update.
  3. Click Check for updates to see if there are available patch updates. If so, install the patch updates.

Expert tip:

SPONSORED

Some PC issues are hard to tackle, especially when it comes to corrupted repositories or missing Windows files. If you are having troubles fixing an error, your system may be partially broken.
We recommend installing Restoro, a tool that will scan your machine and identify what the fault is.
Click here to download and start repairing.

Although a DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer is available, that only reinstalls DX9, 10, and 11. Therefore, to enable DirectX12 on your Windows 10, you must follow the guidelines described above.

However, you might still need to configure some games to utilize Direct12’s graphics settings. Below are two examples of how to enable DX12 for Fortnite and Battlefront 2.

Although a DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer is available, that only reinstalls DX9, 10, and 11. Therefore, to enable DirectX12 on your Windows 10, you must follow the guidelines described above.

However, you might still need to configure some games to utilize Direct12’s graphics settings. Below are two examples of how to enable DX12 for Fortnite and Battlefront 2.

Note icon
NOTE
If you wonder how to download DirectX 12 Ultimate on Windows 11, we’ve got you covered with our dedicated article.

3. Enable DirectX 12 for Fortnite

  1. Launch the Fortnite game.
  2. Click the Menu button at the top right of Fortnite’s title screen.
  3. Click Settings to open game options.
    The Fortnite menu enable directx 12
  4. Scroll down the Video tab to the DirectX Version option.
  5. Click the arrow button for the DirectX Version setting to select DirectX 12 (Beta).
    The DirectX Version setting enable directx 12
  6. Press the Confirm button.
  7. Click the Apply option.
  8. After that, restart Fortnite for the DX12 changes to take effect.

As you can see, it’s simple to enable DirectX 12 in Fortnite, as long as you follow the instructions from above.

4. Enable DirectX 12 for Battlefront 2

  1. Start the Battlefront 2. 
  2. Open the Home screen in Battlefront 2.
  3. Select Options to open tab selections for different setting categories.
  4. Select the Video tab.
  5. Then toggle the Enable DirectX 12 set on if it’s off.
    how to enable direct battlefront 2
  6. You’ll need to restart Battlefront 2 to apply the new settings.

This is the only way to enable DirectX 12 in Battlefront 2, so try it out.

We also have an article on how to fix Battlefront 2 error codes that you can check out.

Is DirectX 12 and DirectX 12 Ultimate the same?

DirectX 12 Ultimate is the newest version of DirectX and is considered a gold standard for new-age gaming and is different from DirectX 12.

It comes equipped with a new API version and supports ray tracing, mesh shaders, variable rate shading, and sampler feedback; all meant to take the gaming experience to the next level.

That’s how you can ensure DirectX 12 is fully enabled in Windows 10, Fortnite, and Battlefront 2. You’ll need to look through the advanced graphics settings for DX12 options to turn on DirectX 12 in other games.

We hope that this article helped you enable DirectX 12 Ultimate on your devices and games.

This article covers:Topics: