My PC goes to desktop while gaming [TROUBLESHOOT]
Many Windows 10 users reported encountering a frustrating issue while playing games. The users get kicked to desktop, without the game crashing. The game does minimize though, and usually gets paused. Most players reported that they are able to toggle back to the game, but it could kill important progress, especially when playing online.
In order to help you fix this issue, we came up with a series of solutions, described below.
Why does my PC kick me to desktop while gaming?
1. Update GPU drivers
- Press the Windows logo key + R on your keyboard > type devmgmt.msc in the Run box to open the Device Manager.
- Expand the Display Adapters section > Right click on each available driver > select Update driver.
- Select Search automatically for updated driver software.
- Wait for the process to find and install the new driver
- Restart your PC and see if it had any effect.
If the steps above seem like too much of a hassle, and you want to maintain your drivers up-to-date at all times, we recommend you try dedicated updater software.
This type of utility will automatically find missing, damaged, or outdated drivers and install the latest versions available.
We suggest you try DriverFix because it is very easy to use and it is also proven to always find the best driver for your hardware.
It is lightweight software that can be used on pretty much any device. You can set it up to do regular scans and update your drivers automatically.
2. Scan for malware
- Press the Start button > open Settings.
- Select Update & Security.
- Choose the Windows Security tab > click Virus & threat protection.
- Select Run a new advanced scan > select Full scan > click Scan now.
- After the scan is finished, restart your computer and check to see if it fixed the issue.
Windows Defender is a very good protection tool, but we recommend you to get a third-party antivirus as well.
Dedicated software generally has greater detection rates and more protection features to make sure that your system is always safe.
You can find many Windows 10 compatible antivirus software that offers a similar user experience to that of Windows Defender. They all have a scan feature that will search for threats, block/remove them, and give you a final report.
3. Turn off applications working in the background
- Right-click the Windows Taskbar > select Task Manager.
- In the Task Manager, open the Processes tab > identify unnecessary open apps, select them > press End task > click OK.
- After closing most of the background running apps, close the Task Manager and see if this had any effect.
4. Disable Game Mode
- Press the Windows logo key + G while in a game.
- In the Game Bar that’s opened, find the Game Mode icon in the right side.
- Click on the Game Mode icon to disable it.
- Click the game and press Esc on your keyboard to hide the game bar.
- Check to see if this change had any impact.
We hope that you could find at least one fix from the list of solutions we provided. If you found this article helpful, leave a comment in the comment section below.
