How to Repair GTA V Social Club Failed to Initialize – Error Code 17

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Rockstar Games has launched the Social Club app, which offers Rockstar Games members in-game and online benefits. Users have exclusive access to cars, weapons, closets, hairstyles, stats, etc., available only to club members.

Many GTA V players have recently reported receiving the error message “Failed to initialize Social Club”. The error message “Error code 17” appears randomly when they try to start the game. Are you one of them? Don’t worry about it. Here are some possible workarounds.

What causes error code 17 “Social Club Failed to Initialize” in GTA V?

It turns out that most of the cases where this problem has been reported were due to a local configuration profile error. If this is the case, you can solve the problem by reinstalling the entire game folder by renaming some files with the .old extension.

If you run the game through Steam, check if the game name contains any special characters. Social Club is known to cause this error if the name contains special characters such as `#$%~`. Luckily you can easily edit your Steam profile and remove any special characters that could cause GTA V to crash.

If you are trying to run the game through Steam, another reason that can cause this problem is that your Steam name does not match. For some strange reason, Social Club causes a Social Club Failed to Initialize (Error Code 17) error when your Steam account contains special characters.

Another quite common reason for interrupting the GTA V launch sequence on PC is the severely outdated date and time. Social Club Launcher checks in the background if the server date and time match the end user’s date and time. If they don’t match, you can expect the “Social Club Failed to Initialize (Error Code 17)” error.

How to solve GTA V “Social Club Failed to Initialize” error code 17?



Check the game files

This error can be caused by corrupted files in the GTA V folder. Whenever you launch your game with the Steam client, it refers to specific game files to initialize the Social Club application. If these files are corrupted or missing, the process will fail and an error message will be displayed. So try restoring the problematic game files and see if that solves the problem.

1. Go to the Start menu, find Steam and click on the client icon when it appears in the results. You can also double-click the application icon on your desktop if you have one.
2. When Steam is open, go to the top of the window and click on Library.
3. When you see a list of games, find GTA V, right-click on it, and then select Properties.
4. Once you see the game’s properties page on the right, click on the Local Files tab.
5. On the “Local Files” tab, click the “Check Game File Integrity” button.
6. Now the client will start comparing game files on your computer with updated versions on their servers. If the game file does not match its counterpart, Steam will automatically replace it.
7. Keep in mind that the duration of the process depends on the overall speed of the system, the strength of your Internet connection, and the size of the files being replaced.
8. After the client confirms your game’s installation, restart it and run GTA V to check the problem.

Grant administrative rights to the “Social Club” application

It’s possible that “Social Club failed to initialize. Error Code 17” appears because the Social Club app does not have permission to run correctly. The main solution to this problem is to give the program administrative rights.

1. Launch the File Explorer window. You can do this by right-clicking on the Start button and selecting File Explorer. If you want to launch the application faster, click the folder icon in the taskbar or press the Windows key and the E key on your keyboard simultaneously.
2. When File Explorer is open, go to the left pane of the window and click on This PC.
3. Go to the right side of the window and open the Windows volume, which under normal circumstances should be the local C drive.
4. Once the local C volume is displayed, open the Programs (x86) folder.
5. While in the Programs (x86) folder, open the Rockstar Games folder.
6. Now find the Social Club folder in the Rockstar Games folder and open it.
7. Once you find the folder, navigate to the “subprocess.exe” file, right-click it, and then select Properties.
8. When the Properties dialog box opens, click the Compatibility tab.
9. On the Compatibility tab, select the “Run this program as administrator” check box, then click OK.

Reinstall the Social Club application

According to Rockstar Games, the most common cause of the “Failed to initialize” error is improper installation. If nothing has worked so far, consider uninstalling and reinstalling the Social Club app.

Uninstalling Social Club:

1. Press the magnifying glass on the taskbar or press the Windows key and the S key at the same time to open the search function next to the Start button.
2. Then type “Control Panel” without the quotes and click Control Panel when the results appear.
3. When the Control Panel window is open, click Uninstall a program under Programs.
4. When the Programs and Features window opens, find Social Club, click it, and then click Uninstall.
5. Accept all pop-ups and follow the wizard’s instructions to uninstall the application.

Now go to the Rockstar Games website, download the Social Club application, and then make sure you install the application in the correct directory – Program Files\Rockstar Games\Social Club – so you can access it properly. Also, make sure that you are logged into the correct Social Club account when making settings.

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