How to install DXVK on Windows

Do the checklist above first. Which DXVK version suits your GPU is on the requirements page.

Step 1: Find your game’s .exe, its bitness and DirectX version

Drop the game’s program into the checker. It reads the file on your device and tells you whether it is 32-bit or 64-bit, which Direct3D version it uses, and which DLLs to copy.

Do it by hand

Start the game, open Task Manager, and open the Details tab. A 32-bit game shows (32 bit) after its name. We tested the file-header method the checker uses, not this Task Manager step on a desktop PC, so there is no screenshot of it. To find the Direct3D version, look up the game on PCGamingWiki.

Launchers vs the real game .exe

Many games start from a launcher, and DXVK has to sit next to the real game program. Examples: LaunchGTAIV.exe starts GTAIV.exe, and the Fallout: New Vegas launcher starts FalloutNV.exe. The Game Checker page lists the launchers it knows.

Step 2: Download DXVK

Download dxvk-3.1.1.tar.gz (about 18 MB) from the official GitHub releases page, and open it with 7-Zip or Windows’ own archive support. The download page explains which file to pick and how to check its hash with the verifier. We have no screenshots of the download steps (lab machines have no desktop browser session), so the page lists them as text.

Step 3: Copy the DLLs next to the game’s .exe

Copy only the DLLs your game needs from the matching folder: x32 for a 32-bit .exe, x64 for 64-bit. The map shows which files.

On Windows it is enough to put the files next to the program: our test programs loaded d3d9.dll, d3d11.dll and dxgi.dll from their own folder with nothing else changed (F02). A Direct3D 9 game needed only d3d9.dll (F38); a Direct3D 11 game needed d3d11.dll and dxgi.dll (F40).

Games in Program Files

Folders under C:\Program Files need administrator approval to write into. Windows asks for it when you paste the files; approve it, or move the question to a game installed elsewhere. We have not run the permission test (T-WIN-11) on a standard-user Windows desktop, so we cannot show the exact prompts.

Will Steam, GOG, EA or Ubisoft remove DXVK?

We have not tested this (T-WIN-10 needs real launcher accounts). A launcher’s “verify files” step compares game files with the original list, so it may delete or replace files it does not know; after a verify or an update, check that the DLLs are still there.

Step 4: Check that DXVK is active

Three signs, easiest first:

1. A log file next to the .exe. DXVK writes <exe>_d3d9.log or <exe>_d3d11.log (and a _dxgi.log) next to the game on Windows by default (F13).
2. The HUD. Setting the environment variable DXVK_HUD=1 shows the GPU name and FPS; full shows far more, including the DXVK version (F18). Our Windows lab captures are below. A dxvk.hud line in dxvk.conf is an upstream option (since 1.3.2); we tested the environment variable, not the conf line. Setting a Windows environment variable from the command line (setx DXVK_HUD 1, then restart the game launcher) is the usual method; we did not try it on a desktop PC.
3. The version line in the log: info: DXVK: v3.1.1 (F15). With log level warn this line is not written, so a missing banner alone does not mean DXVK is off (F16).

lab-w25 · Windows Server 2025 (26100)LAB DXVK 3.1.1

Close

This is a lab test machine without a GPU, running a Direct3D 9 test program: it shows what the HUD looks like, not a game.

If it still fails, see DXVK not working and decode the log with the errors page.

Step 5 (optional): Add a dxvk.conf

You only need one to change a setting, such as an FPS cap or the memory the game sees. Put dxvk.conf in the game’s folder, next to the .exe: DXVK reads it from the folder the game runs in (F23). Details: dxvk.conf guide and the Config Builder.

Undo it

Delete the DXVK DLLs from the game folder. In our test the same program loaded Windows’ own d3d11.dll again straight away and nothing else had changed (F12). Delete dxvk.conf and the log files too if you added them. The shader cache lives in %LOCALAPPDATA%\dxvk (F19) and can be deleted separately. More in the uninstall guide.

Did it work?

If the log file exists or the HUD shows the DXVK version and your GPU, DXVK is running. If not, work down the causes table above.

Does DXVK help on Windows?

Sometimes. DXVK can help older Direct3D 9 games that are limited by the CPU and games with driver problems; it can lower FPS elsewhere, and it does nothing for Direct3D 12 games. We have no game FPS measurements (our lab machines have no physical GPU), so this page makes no speed claim. See the measured page when it exists.

Windows-specific problems and fixes

Windows 10 vs Windows 11

The steps are the same. Our tests ran on Windows Server 2022 and 2025, which share the Windows 10 and 11 code bases, and not on a desktop Windows 10 or 11 PC. The one difference we expect is opening the .tar.gz: Microsoft says newer Windows 11 versions can open it in File Explorer, and 7-Zip works everywhere. We did not test either on a desktop.