The file "WoW.exe" could not be found.
First of all, I am no WoW Geek, but this problem fix might be helpful to some people
Error: The file “WoW.exe” could not be found. If this problem persists, you may be able to solve it by uninstalling and then reinstalling the game. If you are unable to correct this problem, please contact Blizzard Technical Support.
Fix: press windows key + r (you will get the “run dialog”), enter “regedit”, navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Blizzard Entertainment\World of Warcraft
Got a value called “install path” there? if so, you can fix the annoying error in 5 seconds.
Change the path there to the folder (including drive pre-fix) where you WoW Install is.
Re-run the patch. You are all done.
Here is an exemplary entry:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Blizzard Entertainment\World of Warcraft]
“GamePath”=”N:\\World of Warcraft\\Launcher.exe”
“InstallPath”=”O:\\World of Warcraft\\”
“UninstallPath”=”C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\Blizzard Entertainment\\World of Warcraft\\Uninstall.exe”
Hello, first of thank you for making this. I have had this problem for some time and I must say thank you for making this fix :) Cheers
Thanks for this. BTW, for users of 64-bit Windows, you need to change “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Blizzard Entertainment\World of Warcraft” to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Blizzard Entertainment\World of Warcraft”
@Austin: thanks for your addition, great site you have there!
thanks for this quick fix! saved me a lot of frustration.
An other option is to start WoW.exe as administrator. This recreates the registry configuration.
thanks for the contribution flash, much appreciated!
thanks a ton I moved the game from my old lappy to my new one and didn’t have those, regvalues at all but after reading this and the blessed Austin’s little x64 tidbit I wrote in the registery values that weren’t there (which I don’t recommend doing unless you know what you’re doing) and everything is peachy now. Thanks again.
Wow this guy is stupid, I spent 30 minutes trying to follow his instructions to see how another dummie does it. * talken about me * right, anyways.
Simply search for the patch your installing / failing on, find it copy it paste it to the root of your wow directory then install works 100% everytime.
wow… registry editing for nothen really…
I want to thank the author for this wonderful post, but I also want to than Austin for the x64 fix, as that’s what did it for me. Thank you both, this is great info
Brilliant… saved me having to reinstall the game from scratch when I moved from XP to Vista! And the comment from Austin further up in the comments about 64bit versions was great too!
Wow, thanks so much. I just got a new computer and got this error when trying to update my game.
thank you thank you thank you.
Quite an old post actually, but I couldn’t keep from thanking you. I was in trouble while trying to install WoW (after deleting the folders) and your post saved me. Thank you very much.
I tried this but the Blizzard Entertainment folder isn’t in my registry
it dont work for me:/ i dont have the folder called “blizzard entertaintment”…. but still looks like it works for alot others so gj :D
i already have all path’s set and still get the error
i cant do this can some one make a video or something to help plz???
um i dont know how to do this cause im far from smart :/ can u make a video plz
i dosent got the Blizzard Entertainment\World of Warcraft in my regedit.
Cool it worked, Thx m8!
you are welcome, thanks for taking the time to comment!