PC gaming has become a very important part of modern computing. More and more people are betting on this platform as a gaming center, since its power in relation to the price is much lower than that of a console. Also, on a high-end PC, we can achieve much better quality than on a console. However, although a computer has many advantages over a console, it also has drawbacks. And it is that, when an error appears when opening a game we can go crazy until we can solve it. And one of the most seen errors lately is the ” No OpenGL Context “.
The “No OpenGL Context” error is not a very common error, but it is affecting a large number of users. As the name implies, this error appears when running games that use the Open Graphics Library as a graphics accelerator. Specifically, this error message appears in games like Minecraft, when users have installed Windows 10 from Windows 7 or 8.1 instead of performing a clean installation, from scratch, of the operating system.
This error message appears as soon as you try to open the game, and you cannot interact with it at any time. The cause is because, having come from an older version of Windows, there are dependencies on our PC that cause a compatibility problem with the libraries required by these games.
Luckily, it is quite simple and quick to fix.
Solution to No OpenGL Context and Pixel format not accelerated errors in Minecraft
We are going to use Minecraft as an example, as it is one of the games that shows this error message, and other related messages such as Pixel format not accelerated . Minecraft is a game created in Java, therefore, in order to function normally it is necessary to have this component installed on the PC.
We can download the latest version of Java from this link . Once installed on the computer, we can try to open the game again to see if it has already been solved or we continue to have problems. If you are in the second situation, the problem may be precisely having a too new version of Java, something that happens, for example, if we use mods. So what we should do is the opposite, that is, download a slightly older version of Java and install it on the computer. For example, Java 8 Update 51 is one of the best compatibility offers with all versions of Minecraft.
It can also happen that the problem comes from using an old version of the graphics drivers. This is much more common than we can imagine, especially when updating from a previous version of Windows. Therefore, we also recommend updating the PC drivers to solve these (and other) problems and to be able to enjoy our games to the fullest.
Fix errors when playing on Windows
Minecraft is not the only game that may be affected by the “No OpenGL Context” error message. This message will appear, above all, in games that do not use Microsoft‘s DirectX technology , since they are the ones that usually opt for OpenGL.
In case of encountering this error, the first thing to do is make sure you have the latest version of the game installed on your PC . This can be found in the digital store where we have purchased it, or on the main website of the developers. It is also important to make sure you have the latest patches for Windows installed so that if there is any compatibility problem with the operating system, it can be solved.
It can also help us to solve this, and other errors, installing the new versions of the PC drivers , especially those of the graphics card. Thus, in addition to guaranteeing maximum compatibility, we can obtain maximum performance.
Finally, if we continue to have problems with the game, and it is an old game, it may be that the problem is compatibility with Windows 10. In that case, we either try the compatibility modes to run it with Windows 7, or a previous version, or we must resort to techniques, such as virtualization, to run the game inside a virtual machine without problems.
