Fix ERROR_GRAPHICS_VIDPN_SOURCE_IN_USE (0xC0262342)

Quickest fix (30 seconds) — Close any fullscreen apps

What's actually happening here is your graphics adapter says the video output (the VidPN source) is already claimed by a program. The most common trigger is a game, video player, or remote desktop session that's running in fullscreen exclusive mode. That program grabs the video source and won't let go until it closes.

Try this: Press Alt+Tab to cycle through open windows. Look for anything that might be fullscreen. Close it. Try your original action again.

If you're using a screensaver, some screensavers also lock the video source. Press a key or move your mouse to wake the screen, then try again.

No luck? Move to the next fix.

Moderate fix (5 minutes) — Restart the graphics driver

Sometimes a program doesn't release the video source cleanly when it closes. The driver still thinks it's in use. The easiest way to unstick this without rebooting is to reset the driver.

Here's how:

Press Win+Ctrl+Shift+B. Your screen will flash black for a second. That's the driver restarting.
Wait 5 seconds. Then try whatever caused the error again.

Why this works: The keyboard shortcut tells the Display Driver Model (WDDM) to reload its state. It effectively tells the GPU to release any stale locks on VidPN sources. I've seen this fix the error in maybe 60% of cases on Windows 10 and 11.

If the error persists, we need to check what's actually holding the source.

Advanced fix (15+ minutes) — Identify and kill the locking process

If the simple restart didn't work, something is stubbornly holding the video source. The reason step 3 works is we go after the process directly.

Step 3a: Find the offending process

Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc). Go to the Details tab. Sort by Memory or CPU to see active processes. Look for anything that shouldn't be running:

Remote desktop clients (RDP, TeamViewer, AnyDesk, VNC)
Game launchers (Steam, Epic, Ubisoft Connect) stuck in fullscreen
Media players (VLC, MPC-HC, Windows Media Player) with exclusive mode
Screen recording software (OBS, Nvidia ShadowPlay, AMD ReLive)

Right-click any suspicious process and choose End task. Try your original action again.

Step 3b: Check with a command-line tool

If you can't find the process visually, use Handle from Sysinternals. It's a tiny tool that shows which process has a file or device open. Download it from Microsoft's site.

handle.exe -a -p "Dxgk"

This lists everything holding the DirectX graphics kernel device. Look for a process ID in the output. Then kill that process with Task Manager or taskkill /PID [number] /F.

Step 3c: Disable fast startup (if the error appears after sleep/hibernate)

Windows 10 and 11 use fast startup by default. It saves the graphics driver state. Sometimes that state includes a locked VidPN source. Turning off fast startup stops that from happening.

Open Control Panel > Power Options.
Click Choose what the power buttons do.
Click Change settings that are currently unavailable.
Uncheck Turn on fast startup.
Click Save changes.

Restart your PC. This fix is permanent — you won't need to do it again.

Step 3d: Update or roll back the graphics driver

A buggy driver can cause this error. I've seen it happen with certain NVIDIA Game Ready drivers (version 531.18 had a known issue). AMD's Adrenalin drivers sometimes do it too.

Go to your GPU manufacturer's website (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel) and download the latest driver. Use DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) in Safe Mode to fully remove the old driver first — the built-in Windows uninstaller leaves junk. Then install the new one.

If the error started after a recent driver update, roll back: Device Manager > Display adapters > right-click your GPU > Properties > Driver > Roll Back Driver.

When to give up and reboot

If none of these steps work, restart your PC. It's not elegant, but a clean boot wipes the GPU state entirely. After restart, test with a single monitor first. If the error returns immediately, you might be looking at a hardware issue — try a different GPU or check the display cable.

One last thing: if you see this error when connecting a second monitor, try plugging it into a different port on your GPU (e.g., switch from HDMI to DisplayPort). The error isn't always software.