Every product
Setup
Do all six steps before you open the loader. Most errors people report are one of these skipped.
- 01Uninstall your antivirus. Not turned off — uninstalled, through Add or remove programs. If you had one, restart the PC afterwards so its drivers are actually gone.
- 02Turn off real-time protection. Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Manage settings → switch off Real-time protection.
- 03Uninstall your mouse and keyboard software. Razer Synapse, Logitech G HUB, iCUE, SteelSeries GG. Closing them is not enough. Restart the PC after this.
- 04Close Rust completely. If you are not sure, end it in Task Manager.
- 05Format a USB stick to FAT32 and drag the loader onto the stick. No stick handy? Mount a virtual USB instead.
- 06Open the stick and double-click the loader from there. Running it from your Desktop or Downloads folder will not work.
Windows switches real-time protection back on every time you restart. Turn it off again after every reboot, before you open the loader.