What's Happening Here?
Error 0XC0262510 means your GPU's Output Protection Manager (OPM) thinks it's in theater mode. That's a state where the display is locked to prevent recording protected content — usually Blu-ray or streaming HDCP video. When the lock doesn't release, any attempt to create a video output fails with this code.
I've seen this on Windows 10 and 11 boxes, mostly with NVIDIA cards but AMD shows it too. The usual trigger is closing a video player that was playing protected content, or resuming from sleep right after watching something. The driver gets stuck thinking the theater is still on.
Here's the fix path. Start with the quick one, move up if needed.
Fix 1: Restart the Graphics Driver (30 seconds)
This clears the stuck OPM state in most cases. You're just rebooting the display stack, not the whole PC.
- Press
Win + Ctrl + Shift + B. Screen will flicker or go black for a second. - Try launching your app again.
No luck? Do a proper sign-out and sign back in. That resets the user session's graphics context.
Fix 2: Disable Theater Mode via Registry (5 minutes)
If the driver restart didn't cut it, the OPM flag is stuck in the registry. Don't bother with Display Driver Uninstaller yet — this is more targeted.
Open regedit and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OpmIf there's no Opm key, create it. Inside, look for a DWORD named TheaterMode. Set it to 0. If it's not there, create a DWORD (32-bit) with that name and value 0.
Reboot. That's the non-negotiable part — the driver reads this on startup.
Fix 3: Reset the GPU Driver State (15+ minutes)
If registry tweak didn't stick, the driver is holding onto the state in its own memory. A clean driver reinstall fixes that.
- Download the latest driver for your GPU from NVIDIA or AMD's site. Don't use Windows Update — it's always behind.
- Run Display Driver Uninstaller in Safe Mode. This wipes every trace of the old driver.
- Install the fresh driver you downloaded. Choose "Custom" install and check "Clean install" if it's NVIDIA.
- Reboot once more. Then test.
This nukes the OPM state from orbit. It's the fix I recommend to people who've tried everything else.
Why This Happens
The OPM state machine is fragile. It's designed to flip to theater mode when a protected video plays, and back to normal when it stops. But if the process crashes or the display goes to sleep mid-stream, the flip back doesn't happen. Then every new video output request gets rejected with 0XC0262510.
It's not a hardware problem. Your GPU isn't dying. It's just a stubborn software flag.
If Still Stuck
Check if you have any DRM-related apps running in the background. Things like Netflix, Hulu, or even some screen recorders can hold the OPM state. Kill them via Task Manager, then repeat Fix 1.
Also, update Windows. Microsoft has patched OPM handling in cumulative updates. If you're on an old build, that alone could be the culprit.
That's the full rundown. Usually Fix 1 or 2 does it. If you're unlucky, Fix 3 is the hammer.