Recently, a horde of users have reported facing the error HF-1 on Overwatch, either labelled as an “unknown error” or as “error applying update”. This usually signifies corrupted game files. That being said, it isn’t as serious as it may sound. In this post, we’ll go over the steps you can take to troubleshoot this error.
Firstly, delete temporary Overwatch files.
Before you meddle with the game files, make sure you end all processes related to it. To do so, open up your task manager by right-clicking on the taskbar, and force stop anything related to Overwatch, Blizzard, and Battle.net.
To do this, go into the Windows search bar and search up “Run” or use the shortcut, Win+R. In the dialog box that shows up, type in: %localappdata%. Look for and open up the “Blizzard Entertainment” folder.
In this folder, look for the folder named “Overwatch” and delete it. Don’t worry, we aren’t deleting any files vital to the game’s functioning.
Next, repair Overwatch on the Blizzard App.
This is a recommended step for any errors related to Blizzard games. Open up the Battle.net app on your desktop. Look for the icon of the game you are experiencing issues with, in this case, Overwatch. Look for the cogwheel icon next to the play button and select “Scan and Repair” and then “Begin Scan”.
Once the scan is complete, the HF-1 error should disappear and Overwatch should be playable again.
If the problem persists:
Try to update, suspend, or uninstall your antivirus or firewall software. This is because the security software may be mistakenly seeing Overwatch login as a threat and preventing it from working. If you’d rather not leave your device exposed, the alternative is to reach out to the security provider’s technical support department.
If you do not use any security software and the problem still persists, you can try creating a new administrator account and go over these steps again. This is to ensure that there aren’t any permissions issues in the way. To do this, search “Add User” in the Windows search bar. Now, select “Add, edit or remove users” and then “Add someone else to this PC”. Perform the following instructions on-screen to create a new account. Once finished, click on it and select “Change Account Type” and choose “Administrator”. Redo the steps from the start.
If none of these work, your last resort is to reach out to Blizzard Support.
