6 Ways to Fix Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Not Launching on a Windows PC

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a great PC game when you can play it. However, Spider-Man 2 doesn’t start on some players’ PCs. One player reported, “So it (Spider-Man 2) was actually running fine last night. Now the game won’t even launch.” Spider-Man 2 can fail to launch in different ways, and the fixes players need to apply to get it started can vary. This is how you can fix Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 not launching on Windows PCs.

Verify the Spider-Man 2 Game Files

Verifying (repairing) game files is a potential fix that some players confirm can fix Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 not launching. A 2025 update made some mods incompatible with Spider-Man 2. Verifying the game will remove mods and might also fix corrupted or missing Spider-Man 2 files. Try running a verification scan for Spider-Man 2 as covered on Steam’s help page. You can check out this page for further details if you’re an Epic user.

The Verify integrity of game files option

Close Spider-Man 2 Running in the Background

Check if Spider-Man 2 is already running in the background before launching it. If it is, you might need to close the game’s process via Task Manager before starting it again. This is how you can close Spider-Man 2 running in the background:

1. First, right-click Start (on the taskbar) to select Task Manager.
2. Look for Spider-Man 2 on the Processes tab.
3. Right-click the Spider-Man 2 game processes and select End task.

The End task option

Turn Off Frame Generation

Disabling frame generation can fix Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 not launching, as confirmed by players who’ve applied this troubleshooting method. Frame generation is an AI feature for generating new frames in games. You can turn off frame generation for Spider-Man 2 like this:

1. Start Steam (or Epic Games) and the Spider-Man 2 launcher from there.
2. Click Settings in the Spider-Man 2 launcher.
3. Select Off for the Frame Generation.
   
   

   The Frame Generation option

4. Click OK in the Marvel Rival’s Spider-Man 2 – Setup window.

Run the SM2Launcher.exe File With Admin Rights

Running the SM2Launcher.exe file with admin rights might kick-start Spider-Man 2 for some players. To do this, you’ll need to select an option for running that file with admin rights. This is how you can run SM2Launcher.exe with elevated privileges:

1. Start Steam and right-click the Spider-Man 2 game in its Library tab to select Manage > Browse Local Files.
2. Open the Workshop subfolder from the Spider-Man 2 installation folder.
3. Right-click the SM2Launcher.exe file and select Run as administrator.
4. Then, click the launcher’s Play button.

If this works, consider setting the SM2Launcher.exe file to always run with admin rights. To do that, you must right-click the SM2Launcher.exe file to select Properties > Compatibility > Run this program as an administrator. Click on Apply to save the options and OK to exit.

Set Full Control for the Cmd.txt File

Setting full control for the cmd.txt file is a player-confirmed way to fix Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 not launching. You can set full permissions for that file by going through these steps:

1. First, open the Workshop > workspace subfolder from the Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 installation directory in File Explorer.
2. Right-click the cmd.txt file there to select Properties > Security.
3. Press Edit to change permissions.
4. Select the Full Control Allow checkbox.
   
   

   The Security tab

5. Click Apply to set the new permission option.
6. Select OK to exit the Permissions window.

Reinstall Spider-Man 2

Reinstalling might be a necessary troubleshooting method for some players who need to fix Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 not launching. A few players have said that uninstalling and reinstalling Spider-Man 2 worked for them. This is how you can reinstall your Spider-Man 2 game:

Steam

1. Run your Steam program to select Library.
2. Right-click Spider-Man 2 (on the left sidebar) and select Manage.
3. Click Uninstall twice to remove the game.
   
   

   The Uninstall option in Steam

4. Press Spider-Man 2’s Install button.

Epic Games

1. Run Epic Games and click that software’s Library tab.
2. Click Spider-Man 2’s three-dot button and select Uninstall twice.
   
   

   The Uninstall option in Epic Games

3. Then, click the uninstalled game in the Library tab to select Install.

Other Possible Ways to Fix Marvel Spider-Man 2 Not Launching

There are additional troubleshooting methods that could fix Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 not launching beyond those above. If the Spider-Man 2 game still doesn’t start, try applying these possible fixes:

• Disable background apps like MSI Afterburner, Discord, GeForce Experience, and Razer Cortex that include overlay features.
• Try temporarily turning off firewalls before starting the game.
• Apply the troubleshooting method of updating graphics drivers.
• Turn off Ray Tracing, DLSS Ray Reconstruction, and HDR from the Spider-Man 2 launcher settings.

The troubleshooting methods in this guide have worked for some players, but might not fix Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 not launching for everyone. You’ll probably need to apply multiple potential fixes for that game not starting to find one that works on your PC. Any players who’ve fixed Spider-Man 2 not starting in other ways are most welcome to share their methods in the comments below.