One of the errors that affect players is the League of Legends error code 404 or 004, where the client displays a message stating that the patching failed and they don't know why. Patching generally fixes bugs, brings new features, and improves the gameplay experience. Hence, this error code usually appears when you're trying to update the game. Sometimes, the error can be fixed by restarting the game. However, this may not work for many users.
As it is impossible to pinpoint the exact issue causing the lol error code to appear, we recommend you try out all of these fixes one by one to see what works best for you. Below we list all of the proven solutions for error code 004 that have worked for a majority of players.
As simple as it may sound, running the game as an administrator has worked wonders for many players who were dealing with this error. A lot of the time, Windows inhibits certain functions of third-party applications when they are not running in administrator mode. This can cause certain applications to display an error.
Follow these steps to grant admin privileges to LoL.
1. Exit the game and close it completely through the task manager (CTRL + ALT + DEL)
2. Right-click the game icon on your desktop and go to Properties.
3. Now, head on to the Compatibility tab and select Run this program as an administrator.
4. Apply the changes and restart the game.
Check if the problem has been solved or not. If the error code still appears, move on to the next solution.
League of Legends can run into problems with your antivirus software during the patching process as it requires additional content to be downloaded and merged with the existing files. This process can in turn be regarded as a threat by the Antivirus, which then stops the game from patching.
If you are using Microsoft's built-in Windows Defender software, you can temporarily disable the software until the patching process is completed.
1. Log out of the game and right-click on the Start button, go to Settings.
2. Head on to Update and Security and choose the Windows Security tab.
3. From here, you need to go toward Virus and Threat Protection. A new window will open where you need to click on Virus and Threat protection settings.
4. Here, you need to disable Real-time protection by clicking on the button and turning it off.
This will disable Windows Defender. However, you have to turn it back on after the patch has been downloaded and installed. Additionally, you can also whitelist League of Legends as a whole on Windows Firewall, and this will avoid any further problems that may be caused due to League running into problems with Defender or Firewall.
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A major reason for the patch failing to download is that you do not have enough space on your hard drive to support it. This is one of the most common causes of this error, and a great many players have resolved the issue by freeing up space in their computers.
This can either be done manually, where you can delete unwanted programs and applications one by one and try to free as much space as possible, or you could use Windows built-in Disk Cleanup. To use the built-in feature, take the following steps;
1. Go to This PC on your desktop and Right-click whichever drive want to clean up.
2. Select Properties, and head over to the General tab, proceed to select the Disk Cleanup button.
3. A window will appear, displaying all the files that you can delete. Check the files that you don't wish to keep and select OK.
4. Then, proceed to the "Clean Up System Files" and repeat the process.
These steps will free up some space in the drive, which should be used by the game client to install the latest patch. If this is the case, the error code will no longer appear when you restart the game. However, if the problem persists, head over to the next fix.
Sometimes, the error code is caused due to corrupted Configuration files. These files basically act as storage for some settings that the game needs to consult while it's loading., corruption in these can lead to a host of unwanted issues.
In order to delete the LoL configuration files, you need to take the following steps;
1. Right-click the League of legends icon on your Desktop and select Open file location.
2. Once in the League of Legends directory, double-click on the Config folder to open it.
3. Inside the folder, locate and delete the 'game.cfg' file.
4. Leave the Config folder to go back to the main League of legends directory and head over to RADS > projects > league_client > releases.
5. Once you're in release, you need to delete the folder with the latest version number of the game.
After all these steps, you need to re-launch the game and see whether the error has been fixed. It is recommended to run the game as an administrator to avoid any problems. If the fix has failed to work, move on to the next method.
You should always have a stable internet connection when patching league of legends, you can't really download any update without it. However, sometimes the error code can be related to a Google DNS problem and you have to set it to resolve the error.
Follow these steps to set up Google DNS successfully;
1. Open the control panel via the search bar and head over to Network and Internet.
2. On the next window, select Network and Sharing Center
3. You can see the name of your network right next to the Connections option; click on it.
4. A smaller window will show up. Select Properties from the given options.
5. From the given list, double-click on 'Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4)' in order to change the DNS server.
6. Now, you have to select 'Use the following DNS server addresses,' and the dialogue box will open up.
7. Set the value of the Preferred DNS server to '8.8.8.8' and that of the Alternate DNS server to '8.8.4.4' and press OK.
Once done, restart your PC and log into the game as an administrator to see if the issue has been resolved. Additionally, you should also try refreshing your IP address and troubleshooting any network adaptor-related problems if applicable. However, if the error still doesn't show any signs of budging, move on to the next method.
The Hextech repair tool can be used to resolve a variety of in-game errors and bugs in League. Hextech is the publisher of League of Legends. Therefore, they offer this amazing tool that you can use to counter a lot of issues. The tool can be downloaded from Riot games' official site.
Follow these steps to troubleshoot the error using the Hextech repair tool.
1. Once downloaded, run the Hextech repair tool as Administrator on your PC.
2. Select the 'Force Repatch' option under the Game menu and press the Start button. Wait for the process to complete.
As the progress completes, you have to restart your PC and log into League to see whether the error still appears. In case you can still see the error, head onto our final solution.
You have tried every fix under the sun, but against all odds, the error is still persistent. Well, you only have one option left, which is to completely remove the game from your PC and start with a fresh installation. Follow the steps below.
1. Open the Control Panel through the Search bar.
2. Head over to Programs and select Programs and Features.
3. A list of applications will appear, choose League of Legends from the said list and select Uninstall/Remove. Follow the instruction on the subsequent window to uninstall the game.
4. Once the game is uninstalled, head over to the League of Legends directory and remove all the set-up files that you initially used while installing the game on your PC.
5. After restarting your computer, head over to Riot games' official site and download the latest version of League.
6. Re-install the game and the error code should be gone by now. Use this technique as the absolute last resort if all else seems to fail.
There can be a number of reasons that may lead to the error message appearing on your screen. Here are some of the most common reasons for the issue.
A lot of the time, the error code appears due to a lack of space on your hard drive. There needs to be some extra space available for a new patch to install.
Sometimes the game client faces issues that need to be resolved to remove the error.
The error can also be caused due to corrupt configuration files. These are unique for every user, and any problem with them may result in an error.
Your antivirus software might be blocking off some actions or files related to the patch, and this would, in turn, cause an error to occur.
The patch might have failed to download properly due to an unstable internet connection. There could also be a problem with your DNS server that might be causing the issue.
At times, the error code might also appear when you haven't granted administrator privileges to League of Legends. So, the PC doesn't allow the game to patch.
Sometimes the issue could also arise due to a corrupt installation that might've led to several game files being corrupt.
Now that we know some of the major reasons that result in the error code, we can finally move on to possible fixes for the problem.
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