Fix Epic Games connection error, issues and problems on Windows 11/10

This post lists some general fixes for Epic Games connection errors, issues and problems on Windows 11/10. You may, sometimes, encounter connection issues while playing Fortnite or signing into the Epic Games Launcher.

When the connection error occurs on your computer, you may experience one or more of the following issues:

Error code while using the Epic Games Launcher.
Experience trouble while signing in to the Epic Games Launcher, downloading or updating the games in Epic Games Launcher, connecting to games in Fortnite, joining other teams in Fortnite, etc.
High latency or packet loss in Fortnite.

Fix Epic Games Connection Error

These are the things that you need to do to fix the Epic Games connection error-

Check the Epic Games Status page.
Turn off your Firewall.
Turn on Port Forwarding.
Switch to a wired connection.
Disable VPN or Proxy servers.
Edit Engine.ini file.

1] Check the Epic Games Status page

When you encounter a connection error in Epic Games, the first thing that you should do is check the Epic Games Status page. For this, you have to go to epicgames.com and see whether all the systems are in an operational state or not. After visiting the Status page, you will see the status as Operational or Under Maintenance.

Operational: This status indicates that the Epic Games server and other systems are in the operational state. Hence, the problem of connection error might be from your side.
Under Maintenance: This status indicates that the server and other services are under maintenance. Hence, you will experience the connection error until the issue is fixed and the status is changed back to Operational.

2] Turn off your Firewall

Windows Firewall is one of the most important security features. It protects users from malware attacks and other security threats. But sometimes, Firewalls block or decrease the internet connection speed. Hence, you can try to disable Windows Defender Firewall and see if it brings any changes. If you are using a third-party antivirus, visit its official website to know the procedure to disable its Firewall.

If disabling the Firewall fixes the issue, it means that you were experiencing the connection issue with Epic Games Launcher, Fortnite, and other Epic Games products due to the Firewall. In this case, you have to add the EpicGamesLauncher.exe as an exception to your Firewall. You will find this executable file in Win32 or Win64 folders at the following location on your computer:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Epic Games\Launcher\Engine\Binaries

If you are encountering the connection issue with Fortnite, you have to add the following executable files as exceptions to your Firewall:

FortniteClient-Win64-Shipping.exe
FortniteClient-Win64-Shipping_BE.exe
FortniteClient-Win64-Shipping_EAC.exe
FortniteLauncher.exe

You will find all these Fortnite executable files at the following location on your system:

C:\Program Files\Epic Games\Fortnite\FortniteGame\Binaries\Win64

The below steps will help you add these executable files to the Windows Defender Firewall. If you are using a third-party antivirus, please check with the vendor to know the steps to add an exception to its Firewall.

Do note that you should have the administrative rights to change the Windows Defender Firewall settings.

Launch the Settings app.
Click Update & Security.
Now, click Windows Security.
Click on the Open Windows Security option.
Now, you have to click on the Firewall & network protection option.
You will see a link named, Allow an app through Firewall on the right pane. Click on it.
A new window will open where you can add exceptions to Windows Defender Firewall. But for this, first, you have to click on the Change Settings button. Click Yes in the UAC prompt.
Now, click Allow another app button at the bottom right side.
Click on the Browse button and locate the executable files.
When you are done, click OK.

3] Turn on Port Forwarding

Some programs and video games require specific network ports to work properly. A WiFi router has some ports open by default but most of the ports are closed. If the ports that your game requires to transfer the data over the game server are closed, you will experience connection issues. To solve this problem, you have to open the ports manually that your game requires. This can be done by enabling the Port Forwarding. For this, sign in to your WiFi router as an administrator and add the following ports and port ranges to it along with the correct protocol as listed here.

80 (TCP/UDP)
433 (TCP)
443 (TCP)
3478 (TCP/UDP)
3479 (TCP/UDP)
5060 (TCP/UDP)
5062 (TCP/UDP)
5222 (TCP)
6250 (TCP/UDP)
12000-65000 (TCP/UDP)

4] Switch to a wired connection

Wired networks are generally more stable than wireless ones. Wireless networks sometimes result in packet loss and show high ping which causes several connection errors. Hence, if the Epic Games connection error occurs, again and again, switching to the wired network connection may fix your problem.

5] Disable VPN or Proxy servers

Sometimes, VPN or Proxy Servers may cause Epic Games connection issues. Hence, to fix this issue, disable your Proxy Servers or VPN.

Follow the steps below to disable the Proxy Server on Windows 10:

Launch the Settings app.
Click Network & Internet.
Select Proxy from the left side.
Under the Manual proxy setup section, click on the Use a proxy server switch to turn it off.

6] Edit Engine.ini file

Editing the Engine.ini file can fix the Epic Games connection error and also increase downloading speed of the Epic Games. You will find this file in the EpicGamesLauncher folder.

Follow the instructions below:

Click on the Windows 10/11 Search box, type %localappdata%, and press Enter. This will open the Local folder directly.

Scroll down and find the EpicGamesLauncher folder.

Now, open the Saved folder, then Config, and then the Windows folder.

In the Windows folder, you will find the Engine.ini file.

To edit the Engine.ini file, you have to open it. You need not require any specific software to open the INI file. Simply double-click on it and Windows will open the file in the default text editor which is Notepad in most cases. After you open the INI file, copy the following code and paste it into it.

[HTTP]
HttpTimeout=10
HttpConnectionTimeout=10
HttpReceiveTimeout=10
HttpSendTimeout=10
[Portal.BuildPatch]
ChunkDownloads=3
ChunkRetries=20
RetryTime=0.5

Now, save the Engine.ini file and launch the Epic Games Launcher and see if the issue persists.

Hope this helps.

How do I repair my Epic Games Launcher?

You can repair Epic Games Launcher from the Control Panel.

The steps for the same are as follows:

Click on the Windows 11/10 search box and type Control Panel. Click on the app from the results.
In the Control Panel, select Large icons in the View by mode.
Click Programs and Features.
Right-click on the Epic Games launcher and select Repair. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Why can’t I log into my Epic account?

There are many causes of Epic Games Launcher login errors, such as invalid login credentials, Epic Games server down issues, etc. You can check the Epic games server status by visiting the Epic Games official website. We have described the process above in this article.

That’s it.