Guild Wars 2

I had a ticket open a couple months ago after Windows 10 came out. I have been unable to play Guild Wars 2 since I purchased and attempted to download and update my Guild Wars 2 client to Heart of Thorns. Guild Wars 2 worked on Windows 7. Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns did not. I downloaded Windows 10, and retried to download the client. Now it won’t even let me download the client fully.

I deduced it down to the fact that Heart of Thorns must have been the issue since it started there, and it was made worse by Windows 10. I recently opened a new ticket to have my account downgraded and refunded to just plain Guild Wars 2 so I could at least play.

No one has been able to find a solution. And no one has replied to my ticket to refund and downgrade. Please help me. I really love this game, and I am very sad that I can’t play. Thank you.

There is only 1 client. It doesn’t matter if you own HoT or not, you’ll download the same data.

How doesn’t it fully download? Gw2Setup.exe? The launcher gets stuck at 99%?

First, run through Windows update and fully update your system, including driver updates which may be listed as optional.

If you do not have GW2 installed, start by downloading Gw2Setup.exe. Create a GW2 folder on your desktop, rename Gw2Setup.exe to Gw2.exe and put it in that folder, which you can move wherever you want later. Right click Gw2.exe and run it as an administrator.

Assuming the launcher gets stuck downloading at 0 KB/s,

Right click Gw2.exe and create a shortcut. Right click the shortcut and select properties. Select the target field and edit it like so, substituting your own path:

Target: "C:\Example\Gw2.exe" -image -assetsrv drwkwiejruot6.cloudfront.net

Right click the shortcut and run it as an administrator.

If that wasn’t the problem, press WindowsKey+R to bring up the run dialog, then open msconfig. Under the boot tab check safe boot and select networking under it. Click OK and reboot, which will boot into safe mode with most software disabled, in case something was interfering. Now try running the launcher. Return to msconfig and uncheck safe boot to continue.

Unfortunately, I have already tried all of these methods. But, Thank you for trying.

Have you tried downloading the files on an other computer? You only need the Gw2.exe and gw2.dat so put them on a memory stick and run the exe. The computer doesn’t have to be able to run the game, just need to be able to start the launcher.

Well, I tried a VPN connection with the Laptop, the Laptop is older and can’t handle the game, when I login and try and play it all shows up black. But, through the VPN it wouldn’t allow me to share the game files. Windows 10 doesn’t have the (x86) in front that Windows 7 had, and I can’t seem to change any locations for my files either. So far, I can’t even login to the game from my computer to start the download. Just infinite login circle.

Would downloading the game onto a memory stick even work since I couldn’t share through the VPN, and since the location is different as well? If I try and download just the client, it won’t even let me login, so it wouldn’t fix it anyhow.

Any thoughts?

Well, not only that but, it is still in downloads since I can’t login. So, that is the most likely reason why I can’t choose the location, it hasn’t even gotten far enough for a location to be set.

Empress Alexandria.9126:

So far, I can’t even login to the game from my computer to start the download. Just infinite login circle.

You’re running Gw2Setup.exe? You’re encountering a bug where it displays a stripped down version of the launcher instead of the installation prompt. You can’t actually login when it’s like that because it’s not functional. In this case, simply rename Gw2Setup.exe to Gw2.exe and place it wherever you want to install it, such as
C:\Games\Guild Wars 2\Gw2.exe

You also don’t need to login to install or download the game. If you’re running Gw2Setup.exe and it’s downloading without ever prompting you where to install it, it has automatically defaulted to your %temp% folder, in which case you need to move it (Gw2.exe and Gw2.dat from %temp%).

-

If however you were not running Gw2Setup.exe,

Open notepad as an administrator and open the file
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

Ensure that there are no entries involving GW2. If so, remove them, save it and reboot.

Under the Control Panel, open your network adapters and disable all but the primary one used to connect to the internet.

Try launching Gw2.exe directly without a shortcut. If the problem persists, use the -diag option (Gw2.exe -diag) and attach the result.

Empress Alexandria.9126:

Would downloading the game onto a memory stick even work since I couldn’t share through the VPN, and since the location is different as well?

The game doesn’t need to be installed in the traditional sense. You simply need to combine Gw2.exe with Gw2.dat and you can place it wherever you want. If your memory stick isn’t big enough, simply use a compression program, such as 7zip, to split Gw2.dat into multiple parts.

You say VPN, but if your laptop is on the same local network as your computer, you simply need to use Windows file sharing and share your GW2 folder with public permissions or a password enabled account.

What are you system specs?

Unfortunately, now it keeps downloading the game over and over again. And it changed the file location on the shortcut to temp again. Any way to fix that?

Sounds like you’re running Gw2Setup.exe instead of Gw2.exe. Running Gw2Setup.exe is going to begin installing to your %temp% folder.

Locate the largest Gw2.dat, either from wherever you tried to install the game previously or your %temp% folder, and move it to a new location of your choosing, such as
C:\Games\Guild Wars 2\. Move Gw2.exe to the same folder. If you don’t have a Gw2.exe, rename Gw2Setup.exe to Gw2.exe. Delete all existing GW2 shortcuts and create new ones using Gw2.exe from the above folder.

Healix.5819:

There is only 1 client. It doesn’t matter if you own HoT or not, you’ll download the same data.

How doesn’t it fully download? Gw2Setup.exe? The launcher gets stuck at 99%?

First, run through Windows update and fully update your system, including driver updates which may be listed as optional.

If you do not have GW2 installed, start by downloading Gw2Setup.exe. Create a GW2 folder on your desktop, rename Gw2Setup.exe to Gw2.exe and put it in that folder, which you can move wherever you want later. Right click Gw2.exe and run it as an administrator.

Assuming the launcher gets stuck downloading at 0 KB/s,

Right click Gw2.exe and create a shortcut. Right click the shortcut and select properties. Select the target field and edit it like so, substituting your own path:

Target: "C:\Example\Gw2.exe" -image -assetsrv drwkwiejruot6.cloudfront.net

Right click the shortcut and run it as an administrator.

If that wasn’t the problem, press WindowsKey+R to bring up the run dialog, then open msconfig. Under the boot tab check safe boot and select networking under it. Click OK and reboot, which will boot into safe mode with most software disabled, in case something was interfering. Now try running the launcher. Return to msconfig and uncheck safe boot to continue.

-assetsrv drwkwiejruot6.cloudfront.net

Adding that to the end of the shortcut worked for me, tried it with and then without the “-image” section.

I hope this helps someone

P.S. Australian user

Empress Alexandria.9126:

Unfortunately, now it keeps downloading the game over and over again. And it changed the file location on the shortcut to temp again. Any way to fix that?

You have not first saved the GW2.exe but directly started it after the download.
In that case the files has been downloaded to your TEMP direectory and installs
the game there.

So .. use “save as” when downloading the file and save it where you want the game
to be installed. Like c:\gw2\games.
Then start the GW2.exe from there manually.