Overview
A guide for installing and troubleshooting the Games for Windows Live DRM on Windows 10.
Opening
I am creating this guide after getting a new Windows 10 laptop and having to jump through the same hoops to get Games for Windows Live to sign in. The following information has worked successfully to re-download my GFWL profile on my new device. These instructions should also apply to any game using GFWL.
If this guide ends up helping you in any way, here are a few places where you can help me out:
Follow me on Twitch here. [www.twitch.tv]
Follow my Steam Curation page here.
If after reading everything below and you have a question or you want to add something to the guide, feel free to make a comment below. These comments have brought up the more obscure issues with GFWL and benefits those reading the guide today, your comment might do the same for those reading this in the future.
Initial SetupInstallation
Now before you get started trying to troubleshoot or get GFWL installed, I’m assuming in advance that you are on the latest updates on Windows 10, if you are not, you will need to update before moving forward.
You’ll need install the GFWLxlive prerequisites before sign-in to GFWL in-game will work. Otherwise, the sign-in prompt will just sit there attempting endlessly after you put in your credentials.
Now obviously you can get the gfwlclient from Microsoft, however I have run into issues in the past because the gfwlclient download that Microsoft provides doesn’t come with xliveredist. There are also a few GFWL games that require the GFWL Marketplace client installed to work. The PCGamingWiki community has been kind enough to package all 3 in 1 zip file and I’ve personally confirmed that they work on Windows 10 with no issues.
Download the zip file for all required GFWL files hosted on the pcgamingwiki here.[community.pcgamingwiki.com]
The zip file also includes the Sign-In Assistant install. However, you would only install the Windows Sign-In Assistant if you are still on Windows 7, I don’t have any Windows 7 devices anymore but in theory everything else should apply. Once you’ve installed gfwlclient, gfwlsetup, & xliveredist successfully, you can launch the game and attempt to sign in.
BE PATIENT, it took around 5 minutes after signing in with my Microsoft credentials before I was prompted for the CD KEY. Once that is done, you’ll need to wait around the same time for GFWL to download your profile from its servers. If everything worked successfully, you’ll be able to play onllne and get XboxGFWL achievements normally.
Troubleshooting
The notes below are a culmination of some fixes I remembered years ago, possible fixes mentioned by those who have commented on the guide across various GFWL games on Steam, & some random info that I’ve come across. If there is an additional fix that you ran into which isn’t mentioned here, please comment with that information and I’ll take a look to possibly include it for the guide.
Fixes that I’ve personally confirmed to work:
An old fix from years ago off the top of my head has been confirmed to work and this is specifically a GFWL problem. The instructions below are assuming you have followed the directions I’ve stated above.
If you have confirmed that you can log into any other Microsoft site but can’t log into the GFWL in-game client, this could be caused by your Microsoft password. If it is longer than 15 characters, this will prevent sign in. Once you have changed your Microsoft password to something lower, it should allow you to sign into the in-game client.
Possible fixes from the Steam community:
I personally didn’t have to do this but others have informed me that this was an additional fix for them when running into the “Please Wait” issue when trying to sign into GFWL in-game. There’s no harm in adding this step and there’s no harm in adding this small step. Before proceeding with the steps above, uninstall all forms of GFWL on your PC if it’s not working. Then run all 3 installation packages as administrator by right clicking on each file, clicking on “Run as Administrator” and proceeding normally.
Recently it was mentioned that 2 factorMultifactor Authentication may also cause a problem during sign-in. I personally have not run into this issue but it might be something worth trying if you’ve tried all other known fixes. Specifically, you would have to disable 2FAMFA to allow the initial sign-in to download your profile. Theoretically once that’s been completed and you signed in successfully, you can then turn 2FAMFA back on since you should be able to auto sign-in to any other GFWL game on your local device once you put in the GFWL game in for that game. It was also mentioned that the app password option that Microsoft provides on the Microsoft Account page doesn’t work. I suspect that’s probably true since I believe that was created after GFWL was created.
Random information from the Internet:
While this is random information that I haven’t really looked into, it seems that enough people use 3rd party firewalls that it’s at least worth mentioning. You’ll need to make sure that GFWLClient.exe is allowed both incoming and outgoing traffic.
Your router configuration can also play a factor in this. If for some reason, you aren’t using UPnP, then this last possible fix may be for you. GFWL (apparently?) uses TCP port 3074, UDP port 88, and UDP port 3074. You’ll need to make sure that those ports (or whatever ports that GFWL uses if this port info isn’t correct) are open if you’ve checked everything else.
In Closing
This guide has and continues to be tweaked and refined with additional information from me and the Steam community. I’d like to thank everyone who has been open in sharing what they’ve run into when trying to sign-in and helping to centralize this information.
I’d like to mention one more thing for those who run into DLC problems with GFWL games like Fable 3 or those who bought gamesDLC on the GFWL Marketplace in the past and can’t see their download history.
Please channel your efforts to Microsoft support in regards this problem. They have fixed it in the past for the client to work on Windows 10 only for them to break it again in 2017 with no change in 2020. You can submit a support ticket on the Microsoft support site here. [support.microsoft.com]