How to fix Genshin Impact Failed to Replace Files error on PC

There are plenty of live-service designed genres for games now, and Genshin Impact falls in the gacha style games. It’s not just at the forefront of its own genre, but one of the biggest games in the world. The developers are making millions on a daily basis, despite the game following a free-to-play model. It isn’t without its faults, however, and those usually are on the technical side. Many players have to jump through many hoops to get the game running properly, but for the most part, once you’re in the game, it’s fine from there. If you are on PC and are running into the Genshin Impact Failed to Replace Files error, here is how you can fix that.

We have extensively covered various issues players might run into after the latest 1.3 version. These include the infamous “Game verification failed” problem, the 9004 error, and how you can manually update from 1.2 to the latest 1.3 version.

Genshin Impact Failed to Replace Files

One of the less common errors is when you try to launch the game, and the launcher displays the “Failed to Replace Files” error prompt. This is what it looks like.

There are a few things you can try to fix this, and for the most part, a reinstall isn’t necessary.

Run the launcher as an admin

• On your desktop, right-click on the Genshin Impact launcher, and select Run as administrator
• Once it has launched, click Update to test it

Delete vcruntime140.dll

• Head over to the path shown in the error prompt, which in this case is the following (This might be different for you, but simply follow the path mentioned in the error prompt)

C:/Program Files/Genshin Impact/updateProgram/updateData 

• Now, delete the vcruntime140.dll file
• Run the launcher again to update it

Install the Visual C++ Redistributable package

• On your desktop, right-click on the Genshin Impact launcher, and select Open file location
• Here, find vc_redist.x64 and run it
• Click on Agree, and then install it
• Restart your PC

If during the installation, there’s an error. Follow the steps below.

• Head over to Add or Remove programs in Windows Settings
• Here, you want to uninstall Visual C++ Redistributable (x64) 2015 – 2019

Now, follow the steps mentioned above to reinstall it properly.

One of these methods should ideally work for you, and you won’t need to reinstall the game. Genshin Impact can benefit from better updating methods, and hopefully, after some patches, the process will become even more streamlined.

We hope this guide was helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments below.