- Many Vulkan failures are due to conflicts of drivers, duplicate libraries or poorly fitted compatibility packages.
- Renaming the local vulkan-1.dll, cleaning up runtimes, and checking overlays often resolves initialization errors.
- In emulators and hybrid devices, selecting the correct GPU and maintaining BIOS and drivers up to date.
- Before reinstalling systems like Raspberry Pi, it's advisable to back up and restore configurations to avoid losing key settings.
Vulkan has become a key piece to get the most out of many current applications and games, but when something goes wrong with their initialization, the errors can be baffling: messages like “vkEnumerateInstance…”Sudden crashes on startup, strange emulator incompatibilities, or even the desktop failing to load on a Raspberry Pi after tweaking the settings. Although sometimes it seems like everything is broken, there's almost always a solution if you know where to start.
In this guide you will find a very comprehensive compendium of real-world problems that other users have encountered with Vulkan (in Windows, LinuxRaspberry Pi and emulators) and the most effective ways to solve them: from renaming a simple vulkan-1.dll so that your game Boot, including cleaning compatibility packages, repairing the system, checking drivers, BIOS, or recovering a broken environment on Raspberry Pi without losing your settings.
Vulkan initialization errors and vkEnumerateInstance type messages
One of the most common problems with Vulkan in PC games is the error message during the boot phase, with references to functions such as vkEnumerateInstanceExtensionProperties or similar. It usually translates to the game It doesn't even show the main menuIt closes on its own or displays a series of warnings that the Vulkan loader is missing or that there is no loader. hardware compatible.
In some titles, such as No Man's Sky, there have been cases where, despite having a fully compatible modern GPU (For example, with an RTX 2060 Super and up-to-date drivers), the game still displays Vulkan errors or stutters with a disastrous frame rate. Many users have spent days trying classic solutions without success before getting to the true source of the problem.
Among the usual checks that are usually done before getting into more aggressive changes is making sure that the card It officially supports Vulkan. y know what GPU you have, that the graphics drivers have been installed from the manufacturer's website (NVIDIA, AMD, Inteland not from third-party applications, and that the game is using the correct GPU on systems with hybrid graphics (portable with iGPU + dedicated GPU) instead of the integrated one.
It is also very common to perform a complete driver cleanup using tools such as DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) and reinstall the graphics drivers, including the Vulkan components. Some people even install the official Vulkan SDK or Runtime, or update components such as the C++ redistributables or the JDKalthough strictly speaking it is not always necessary for the games to work.
Once it has been tested update GPU driversIf the game is still throwing Vulkan errors or performing horribly only on modern hardware, it's time to check if the problem might be related to the game's own Vulkan library file. Try reinstalling the game from scratch and checking that you're using the correct card.
Advanced solution: Rename vulkan-1.dll in the game folder
In certain titles, especially under environments like Proton, Wine or specific configurations, it has been shown that the problem lies in the fact that the game forces the use of its own copy of vulkan-1.dll instead of using the system implementation (the one from the GPU driver). This can cause conflicts and prevent the Vulkan loader from correctly detecting the hardware.
A much-discussed case involves going to the game's installation folder, for example in a path similar to steam/steamapps/common/No Man's Sky/Binaries, locate the file vulkan-1.dll and rename it to something like vulkan-1.dll_OFFBy changing its name, the executable stops using that specific version and starts relying on the operating system's Vulkan library.
This same idea has also been applied in compatibility environments, where the path might be something like ~/.cxoffice/No_Man_s_Sky/drive_c/GOG Games/No Man's Sky/Binaries/vulkan-1.dllRenaming this file to vulkan-1.dll_OFF (or any other name) forces the game to use the implementation offered by the compatibility layer or the system itself.
With this simple change, many users have managed to get the game working. Start without showing errors vkEnumerateInstance…This prevents the system from freezing on startup and eliminates the random crashes associated with Vulkan. It's a little-known solution because it's not usually included in standard support steps, but in certain cases, it makes all the difference.
It is important to understand that this type of solution is recommended only after having tried The basic measures: updated drivers, correct GPU selected, DDU cleanup, game reinstallation, etc. If none of that works and you continue to see Vulkan initialization errors, renaming the vulkan-1.dll game locale It could be the missing step.
Crashes when launching games with Vulkan and how to identify software conflicts
Another fairly common scenario is that any game set to Vulkan mode It closes suddenly as soon as it starts.While using OpenGL, it works normally. Some users have discovered a curious trick: start the game in OpenGL, enter the game, switch to Vulkan in the options, and play without problems until the program closes. Upon the next launch, the problem reappears if it starts directly with Vulkan.
This pattern often indicates that Vulkan itself does workHowever, something is interfering right at the initialization stage when the game is first launched in that mode. When looking for the cause, check the error log It may not contribute much if they only appear crash dumps difficult to read for the average user.
In one specific case, after trying to delete the game's shader cacheAfter changing settings and ruling out typical problems, the source was an FPS monitoring program called FPSMonThis tool, which ran in the background to activate the frame counter when the user wanted, was causing conflicts with Vulkan initialization and ended up causing the games that used it to close.
Simply closing FPSMon completely before launching the games resolved the instant crashes. This is a good example of how services, overlays, and performance monitors can improve performance. interfere with graphics APIsespecially with Vulkan, which is more demanding in terms of resource and extension control.
Therefore, if your games launch in Vulkan and crash immediately after starting, you should check everything you have running in the backgroundFPS overlays, screen capture tools, GPU overlay apps, recording tools, and streamingetc. Deactivate them one by one until you identify the culprit; often the problem comes from one of these seemingly harmless add-ons.
Vulkan and DirectX 12 errors under Windows: Microsoft's perspective
There are situations where Vulkan's flaws are mixed with DirectX 12 problemsespecially when using emulators or applications that allow the use of both DX12 and Vulkan; that's why it's advisable check the DirectX version before proceeding with diagnostics. From Microsoft's support perspective, many of these issues are considered compatibility issues between the emulator and the GPU driverTherefore, the solution doesn't always lie solely with Windows.
Even so, certain diagnostic and repair steps can be applied within the operating system itself to rule out that the source is a Windows is corrupted, a driver is incorrectly installed, or there is a BIOS problem.Common recommendations include resetting the graphics driver to its factory settings, ensuring the BIOS or UEFI is up to date, and running system image repair tools such as DISM and CFS.
One rather drastic option proposed by Microsoft support is to run sysprep This process returns Windows to a state similar to a fresh installation, while preserving user data. It initiates a "first-run experience" of the system, which can resolve serious driver incompatibilities, although it carries risks and is always recommended. back up important files before trying it.
In addition, official support recommends going to the device or motherboard manufacturer's website to download specific GPU and BIOS drivers for the specific model. Having outdated firmware can cause compatibility issues with Vulkan and DX12 on newer hardware, especially laptops and compact devices.
On the other hand, to "clean and reconfigure" Vulkan on Windows, some guides suggest locating files such as C:\Windows\System32\vulkan-1.dll and temporarily move them to another backup folder (for example, C:\VulkanBackup), then reinstall the runtime or the latest distribution package from official sources such as LunarXchangeThis forces the system to use a Newly installed and clean Vulkan implementation.
Reinstall and repair Vulkan, DirectX 12 and the system itself
When Vulkan or DirectX files are suspected of being corrupt, a sensible way to proceed is to reinstall the runtimes or official redistributables. In the case of DirectX 12, Microsoft offers a redistributable package that can be downloaded and installed to ensure that all essential DLLs are in place and with the correct version.
Regarding Vulkan, although in many cases the API is included in the GPU drivers themselves, it is possible to download the Vulkan Runtime or the SDK from the official websites. For a typical user, the runtime is usually sufficient, while the SDK is geared more towards developers; however, there are cases where installing the SDK has helped some players fix problematic configurations.
In addition to reinstalling these components, Microsoft suggests as a complementary step running the following commands in an administrator console: commands:
DISM / Online / Cleanup Image / ScanHealth
DISM / Online / Cleanup Image / CheckHealth
DISM / Online / Cleanup Image / RestoreHealth
sfc /scannow
These tools analyze and repair the Windows image, ensuring that no system files are missing that may indirectly affect the loading of Vulkan or DirectX. If the problem persists after all this, the next logical step is to contact the support for the specific emulator or game, as they may offer assistance. specific patches for certain GPU models or Windows + driver combinations.
In summary, before blaming only Vulkan, it's worth reviewing the entire triangle: operating system, drivers and firmwareA discrepancy in any of these three elements can cause the most modern graphics APIs to behave erratically.
Vulkan problems in Android emulators (MuMu Player 12 and high performance mode)
In the field of emulators Android For PC, such as MuMu Player 12, problems related to Vulkan are also seen, especially when the user tries to switch to the so-called high-performance rendering mode and the emulator refuses to activate it. A message usually appears indicating that it's not possible to change modes, despite having a theoretically capable GPU.
In teams with dual graphics cards (Integrated + Dedicated) This error usually occurs when the system is using the integrated GPU for the emulator. If you switch to the integrated GPU and then try to enable high-performance rendering, the emulator may complain that it doesn't support it. The simple solution involves reselect the dedicated GPU (for example NVIDIA) and restart the emulator so that it picks up the correct configuration.
Another important point is to check in the Device administrator Windows Ensure that none of the graphics cards are disabled. Under the "Display adapters" section, if a GPU appears with warning icons or is disabled, the emulator might not recognize it for high-performance modes. Enabling the card and restarting the PC is usually enough to restore support.
Not all integrated GPUs fully support the high-performance mode offered by these emulators. Some models, such as Intel Iris Xe Graphics or Intel UHD 630 and below They may not be compatible, and certain low-end AMD cards are also not recommended for this use. If your machine falls into these categories, it's possible that you cannot use Vulkan or advanced rendering in the emulator even though the rest of the system supports it.
If the GPU is theoretically compatible but the mode still appears as unavailable, the next step is usually update the graphics card driver From the official website, restart your computer and then disable and re-enable the GPU in Device Manager. This forces Windows to reconfigure the adapterAnd in many cases the emulator already allows you to select high-performance mode after restarting.
When the program fails to start when choosing Vulkan or OpenCL/OpenGL
Some laptops and handheld consoles running Windows exhibit curious behavior: the program or game it doesn't start If Vulkan or OpenCL/OpenGL is selected in the launcher, it works, but it does work in other modes. This has often been linked to the presence of the OpenCL™, OpenGL® and Vulkan® Compatibility Pack from Microsoft, which acts as a compatibility layer for certain devices.
If the program closes or freezes when you choose Vulkan, OpenCL, or OpenGL, a very effective solution is to go to the section on Applications installed on Windows, search directly for “OpenCL, OpenGL and Vulkan Compatibility Pack” (or “OpenCL and OpenGL Compatibility Pack” in its previous version) and uninstall it completely from there.
After removing this compatibility pack, many users have found that the programs no longer They start correctly when selecting Vulkan or OpenCL/OpenGLThis step is also recommended if you experience significant delays when starting games, because that extra layer can introduce latency or conflicts with the GPU's native drivers.
If the problem still persists, another line of attack is to ensure that both the Device BIOS Since Windows and all system drivers are updated to the latest version, manufacturers often release patches that improve GPU stability and performance, as well as compatibility with modern APIs.
In these cases, the manufacturers themselves (for example, ASUS or others) usually also recommend using their official tools such as MyASUS or driver update utilities to keep both the BIOS and related drivers and components up to date. If none of this works, it's best to contact the manufacturer's technical service, as it may be a specific limitation of the model or a known bug.
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