Quick answer for advanced users: Switch the app to borderless windowed mode, or clean install your GPU driver using DDU, then reinstall DirectX runtime from Microsoft.
This error code, 0XC0000159, translates to STATUS_FULLSCREEN_MODE. What's actually happening here is that your app (usually a game or a media player) tries to call a function that needs the display to be in windowed mode, but the display is in full-screen mode. The DirectX runtime returns DXGI_ERROR_NOT_CURRENTLY_AVAILABLE because the swap chain can't be flipped. The reason this triggers is almost always a driver mismatch or a corrupt DirectX component — not a hardware failure.
I see this most often on Windows 10 22H2 and Windows 11 23H2 when launching games like Overwatch 2, Forza Horizon 5, or older titles like Far Cry 3. The trigger is usually a driver update that didn't clean up properly, or a Windows update that messed with DirectX files.
Fix Steps – Do Them in This Order
- Switch to borderless windowed mode
Open the game's video settings and change from "Fullscreen" to "Borderless Windowed" or "Windowed Fullscreen". This bypasses the full-screen exclusive mode that triggers the error. Doesn't fix the root cause, but it's the fastest workaround. - Clean install your GPU driver
Download Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU). Boot into Safe Mode (hold Shift while clicking Restart), run DDU, and select "Clean and restart" for your GPU. After reboot, install the latest driver from NVIDIA or AMD – don't use Windows Update. The reason step 2 works is that old driver remnants can hold onto full-screen state information that conflicts with new drivers. - Reinstall DirectX runtime
Download the DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer from Microsoft's site. Run it – it'll replace any broken DLLs. Then rundxdiag(Win+R, type dxdiag) and check the Display tab – if DirectX 12 shows as "Not available", you've got a bigger issue that probably needs a Windows repair. - Disable full-screen optimizations
Right-click the game's .exe file, go to Properties > Compatibility tab, check "Disable full-screen optimizations", and click OK. This forces Windows to use an older rendering path that avoids the error. - Set graphics performance preference
Open Windows Settings > System > Display > Graphics. Add the game's .exe, click Options, and set it to "High performance". This ensures the system dedicated GPU handles the full-screen call, not the integrated one.
If Those Don't Work – Alternative Fixes
If the steps above fail (like on older games from 2005-2012), try these:
- Run the game in compatibility mode for Windows 7 or 8. Right-click .exe > Properties > Compatibility > check "Run this program in compatibility mode for" > select Windows 7.
- Disable overlays from Discord, Steam, or NVIDIA GeForce Experience. Overlays inject into the rendering pipeline and can cause full-screen detection to break. Turn them off entirely.
- Set a fixed resolution in the game's config file. For some older games, the error pops up because they try to change the display mode mid-flight. Edit the config file (usually in Documents/My Games) to set the resolution same as your desktop, and set FullscreenMode to 0 (windowed).
Prevention – Stop It From Coming Back
The prevention is boring but works: never install a GPU driver without using DDU first. NVIDIA and AMD installers don't clean old files, and those stale files are what cause this error after a driver update. Also, keep Windows updated – the February 2024 patches included a fix for a DirectX 11 full-screen issue that could trigger this error.
Final thought: If you're still getting 0XC0000159 after all this, boot into Windows Safe Mode with networking, and the error won't appear because the GPU driver is disabled – that confirms it's driver-related. Then just clean install the driver again with DDU, and you're done.