This comprehensive troubleshooting guide details exactly why and provides a breakdown of new, tested solutions to get your game up and running flawlessly. Why Is PES 2021 Settings.exe Failing to Launch?
Add the entire PES 2021 folder to your antivirus "Exclusions" or "Exceptions" list.
If nothing works, bypass the .exe entirely.
: Right-click settings.exe in the game folder and select Run as Administrator . Exclusions & Permissions : pes 2021 settingsexe not opening new
Add the entire PES 2021 folder to your Windows Security exclusions .
Scroll down to Exclusions and click .
If the app is running but not visible (check Task Manager for process "settings.exe *32"): If nothing works, bypass the
settings.exe is a 32-bit application, and it relies on specific runtime files from the x86 (32-bit) Microsoft Visual C++ package. This package often isn't installed by default on 64-bit versions of Windows.
If you tried all options and the program still refuses to open, you can entirely bypass the executable by manually inserting a pre-compiled settings file into your directory. The game reads a single file named settings.dat to understand your resolution and hardware preferences.
Even if you have DirectX 12, the old June 2010 redistributable contains legacy .dll files (d3dx9_43.dll, etc.) that Settings.exe calls. Scroll down to Exclusions and click
Download the DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer from the official Microsoft website.
Try moving your Steam library to a different drive (e.g., D:\Games).