When I start GTA 5 on Steam it says Error: The Rockstar Games Launcher is already running but when I try to open Rockstar launcher by itself it doesn't open

[Hypher]

Pls help

[ARNOLD]

Close the Rockstar Games Launcher

[psykoteky]

It won't open because it is already running? Or it won't open after a clean restart of your pc? Obviously you can try to close it in taskmanager, or force close with tasklist/taskkill commands. There's a bunch of different ways to have problems here - usually permissions/admin related, vcredists problems, problems with my docs / rockstar games, connectivity issues, and more.

I'd definitely start with some of the basics first -
open my documents - RENAME rockstar games to rockstar games-old
open c / program files / rockstar games / launcher / redistributables / vcred
Try reinstalling/repairing with both of those.
Restart pc, and try gtav. Don't open the launcher. Open through steam.
Don't work? You can quick test closing steam entirely, rightclick it, run as admin - try again. (some users try setting r* launcher to run as admin, some users need both, or all, or even none at all----and this can change with updates -.-)

There is much more info in the link below if you don't give more details - when it last worked, when you last played, anything else you've tried, used mods, verified game files, if onedrive, controlled folder access, other 3rd party av/security is involved, if you can open r*/social club websites, and if there was any progress/change in errors from the steps above, etc.

This is the information I've used to fix this countless times -
https://steamcommunity.com/app/271590/discussions/0/2253434652389187525/#c2253434652389483301

Annoying? Yes. Sometimes this stuff changes after R* launcher/social club updates too.


edit ----
Did you look at the link? Was steam set to run as admin? How about c / program files / rockstar games / launcher / launcher.exe ? Gta5.exe?

What happens if you remove run as admin on all of them (including restarting steam)? If you did more than one step at a time, and didn't test between, we might have overshot what was necessary to make it work.

Definite progress.

Related / error in video -
https://steamcommunity.com/app/271590/discussions/0/3463850618795156776/#c3463850618795335564


edit - launcher.exe exists wherever you installed the rockstar games launcher.
Default is usually c / program files / rockstar games / launcher
(in this case user is using e:/launcher)
Turn on file extensions if you need to see .exe -
Else you can rightclick the launcher icon, and go open file location to find it.

[Hypher]

I cant rename it because it says "This action cant be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program" and when I fully shut off my computer and didn't open anything and tried again it still said the same thing and also for some reason I cant close Rockstar Games through cmds nor task manager.

[Hypher]

We have progress

[Hypher]

https://streamable.com/i2b5az

This wasn't happening before but its still not working what do I do now.

[Hypher]

no there's no launcher in the rockstar games folder

[Hypher]

https://streamable.com/xxx8xm

This is the error that keeps popping up everytime I launch gta

[psykoteky]

No, that error is now changed from what was in the video.

edit - friend/chatted - currently working using info linked/above.

[ketchup]

Originally posted by Hypher:

I cant rename it because it says "This action cant be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program" and when I fully shut off my computer and didn't open anything and tried again it still said the same thing and also for some reason I cant close Rockstar Games through cmds nor task manager.

What did you do to fix this? I'm having the same problem