SOLVED! “EAC Client Cannot Be Instantiated”

Table of Contents

Nowadays, to keep things fair and balanced, quite a few games feature anti-cheat measures and Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) is one of them. Usually, if players don’t cheat while playing games, EAC won’t give them a hard time. However, complaints about EAC still pop up from time to time and many share the same topic: “EAC client cannot be instantiated”. If that EAC error gets in your way whenever you launch a game, this article should be of use to you.

A List Of Suspects

Corrupted/Missing EasyAntiCheat (EAC) Files

For your information, EAC files on computers may become corrupted or go missing out of the blue. Needless to say, if you have corrupted/missing EAC files and launch an EAC-protected game, you would face errors. Keep coming across “EAC client cannot be instantiated”? In that case, you must take EAC files into account.

Old Windows

If your Windows version is out-of-date, it might be missing components including those that EAC requires to run. Unless you do something to address the obsolescence of the operating system, you should keep coming across EAC errors.

New Updates

Generally speaking, games receive updates every now and then to fix bugs, refine features and so on. For most of the time, the integration of updates won’t trigger EAC errors but game developers remain humans and humans make mistakes. Because of that, you should give new updates some thought while troubleshooting “EAC client cannot be instantiated”.

“EAC Client Cannot Be Instantiated”: Solutions

Repair EasyAntiCheat

Step 1: Navigate to Local Disk and open Program Files (x86).
Step 2: Look for the EasyAntiCheat folder then delete it.
Step 3: Launch Steam, sign in to your account and go to Library.
Step 5: Right-click the game you want to play, pick Manage and hit Browse Local Files.
Step 6: Open the EAC folder then run the EasyAntiCheat_Setup.exe with administrator privileges.
Step 7: Ensure your game is selected (it should be selected automatically) and choose Repair Service.
Step 8: After repair finishes, close everything and launch your game from Steam Library (DO NOT launch it from the desktop shortcut or any other shortcut you have). If things proceed smoothly, you could play your game as usual.

Uninstall And Reinstall EasyAntiCheat

Step 1: Launch Steam, sign in to your account and go to Library.
Step 2: Right-click the game you want to play, pick Manage and hit Browse Local Files.
Step 4: Look for the EasyAntiCheat folder and delete it.
Step 5: Delete the executable file of the game (it’s the .exe file with the game name).
Step 6: Open the game folder, click Binaries and delete it as well.
Step 7: Close the folder and return to Steam.
Step 8: Go to Library, right-click the game and pick Properties
Step 9: Click Local Files and hit Verify Integrity of Game Files.
Step 10: Steam is going to carry out a check on the game files. If there is nothing out of the ordinary, you will see a message that says, “All files successfully validated.” However, since we have deleted some files, Steam would report their absence and proceed to replace them.
Step 11: Go to Search bar search, type %AppData% and press Enter. There, delete the EasyAntiCheat folder. (Provigil)
Step 12: Download a new EasyAntiCheat folder and paste it into the %AppData% folder.
Step 13: Open Steam again and launch the game from your Steam Library.

Alternatively,

Step 1: Navigate to Local Disk and open Program Files (x86).
Step 2: Look for the EasyAntiCheat folder then delete it.
Step 3: Launch Steam, sign in to your account and go to Library.
Step 4: Right-click the game you want to play, pick Manage and hit Browse Local Files.
Step 5: Look for the EasyAntiCheat folder and delete it.
Step 6: Go back to Steam, click Settings, navigate to Downloads and then select Clear Download Cache.
Step 7: Type cmd in the Search, right-click Command Prompt and pick Run as administrator,
Step 8: In Command Prompt (Admin), run the command netsh winsock reset.
Step 9: Continue to run the command ipconfig /flushdns in Command Prompt (Admin).
Step 10: Close everything then reboot your computer.
Step 11: Launch Steam
Step 12: Go to Library, right-click on the game and pick Properties
Step 13: Click Local Files, select Verify Integrity of Game Files and wait until the process.
Step 14: Launch the game and see how things turn out.

Update Windows

Step 1: Open Start menu then hit the gear icon to access Settings.
Step 2: Select Update and Security and choose Check For Updates in Windows Update.
Step 3: If an update is available, allow Windows to download and install it. Last but not least, restart your computer and launch your game via Steam when the screen comes back on.

Tips And Tricks

EAC is designed from the ground up to prevent cheating. If you play games with mods, EAC could flag them as “cheating software” and ban you as a result. Therefore, to be on the safe side, it’s strongly recommended that you avoid installing mods to EAC-protected games.
Remember to make exceptions for EAC while setting up antivirus programs, firewalls, etc. If EAC is blocked by something, it’s only natural to see EAC errors.
Update your Windows from time to time.

Chris Livingston

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s.

Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he’d stop emailing them asking for more work. Since 2019, he started providing game reviews & tips for Grateful Dead Game. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He’s also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.

“EAC Client Cannot Be Instantiated”