Can’t seem to figure out why the WoW error 132 keeps crashing the game for you? Here’s everything a WoW player needs to know about the fatal error and how to fix it.
World of Warcraft has been a game that set the standard for all massively multiplayer role-playing games (MMORPG) that came after it. Going strong since the early 2000s, WoW has been the golden goose for Blizzard, which has also seen success in other franchises such as Diablo, Overwatch, and Hearthstone.
World of Warcraft is big enough in itself to be the center of attention of world eSports tournaments, which means that the company does not take issues with the game lightly. Although WoW servers seldom falter, there are certain system errors known to plague gamers every now and then, a recurring one being the WoW error 132 fatal exception error.
Why does WoW Error 132 Occur?
The error window appears when the game either crashes after launch or fails to launch entirely, displaying “ERROR #132 (0x85100084) Fatal Exception.” As Blizzard explains, this common error seems to pop up due to add-ons being outdated, corrupt game files, driver incompatibility, and hardware issues. Hence, there isn’t a particular issue that could pinpoint the problem, which means, there isn’t a single, universal fix to it either.
Fix #1: Use the Scan and Repair tool
- Right-click on the WoW game icon and select the Open file location option from the pop-up menu.
- Find the folder WoW.exe or WoW-64.exe within the file explorer.
- Double-click on the Battle.net launch app icon.
- Head over to the World of Warcraft game panel and click on the Options– Scan and Repair tool.
- Use the Scan and Repair option in WoW by pressing the Begin Scan button.
Fix #2: Reset the Game Files
- Remove any add-on managers you have installed for WoW.
- Open the Blizzard net app, click on Options and then select the Show in Explorer option.
- Launch the WoW folder and delete the Cache, WTF, and Interface folders.
- Re-launch the game so that the changes take effect.
Fix #3: Disable Antivirus for WoW
- Right-click on the antivirus app icon on the system taskbar and select Disable.
- Launch the game to see if it runs smoothly without showing the same error, which would mean that the antivirus was the culprit behind WoW 132 error code.
- Advance to dismiss the game from the antivirus scans by heading over to the antivirus app’s Settings page and finding the Exceptions setting.
- Click on Add and look for the World of Warcraft app file to include it.
Note: The antivirus software you are using determines where the setting to exclude apps is located.
Fix #4 – Update the Drivers
- Press Windows+ R on the keyboard.
- On the Run menu, type in DxDiagand click on the OK
- Wait for the DirectX Diagnostic Tool to load, and then click on the Display tab.
- The video card name and manufacturer should be listed in the Device The current version of the driver should also be listed in the Driver section.
- Fetch the most up-to-date driver from the manufacturer’s website.
Final Words
In some special cases, even World of Warcraft servers can cause the WoW error 132 to pop up, and although this phenomenon is rare, it has happened in the past. If none of the game fixes above seem to work for you, then the only option left would be reaching out to Blizzard or waiting for an official update for the game.