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Download DirectX for Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP (Complete Guide)


What is DirectX?

Why do Games need to Install DirectX on PC?

How to Download DirectX on Windows 10?

How to Check my DirectX Version on Windows 10? Can I Remove DirectX Patch?

Certain applications, especially games, need to install targeted DirectX on Windows 10, such as DirectX 12, 11, 10, and DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer(DirectX 9). So here this article will walk you through this DirectX.

What is DirectX?

From the official description, as a part of the Windows system, DirectX is the collection of APIs (Application Programming Interface) to deal with tasks relevant to multimedia, games, and videos. In the term DirectX, X refers to different DirectX versions, representing different API names, which is why there are different DirectX Patches including DirectX 12, 11, 19, and 9.

To make it understood more easily, here comes an example. Supposing you now want to run a game, it will need your graphics card to form graphics and show it on Windows 10 or the sound card to let out voices, but how could your PC know it is supposed to use the exact hardware in order to enable the game? Does it really need to awaken all the hardware to perform the game for you?

No, there is no need. DirectX will help you connect the hardware and the applications. Therefore, in brief, DirectX is the interface working for your games to utilize the hardware it needed.

Why do Games Need to Install DirectX on PC?

So long as the game is Direct3D required for the graphics card, it will need to download DirectX on Windows 10. Although this DirectX is built in Windows systems, for instance, Direct12 is included in Windows 10, Direct11 is included in Windows 7 when you installing some games, you have to install the DirectX of the version the game requires.

That lies in that every different game is in need of different DirectX. That is to say, if your game requires the file from a DirectX, your PC should install this targeted DirectX even if there is already a DirectX package on Windows 10. Sometimes, downloading the latest DirectX will also fail to fix the run the game.

How to Download DirectX Patches on Windows 10?

Here as for downloading Direct X, you can either resort to the third-party tool or Microsoft official site to get the latest DirectX on your own. Hence, if you feel like running some programs normally, try to download DirectX 12, 11, 10, 9 as required.

Download DirectX 12, 11, 10, 9 Automatically:

Driver Booster can be the professional and safe tool to help you download DirectX of all versions automatically. From user reports, Driver Booster is efficient and powerful in fixing various driver, software, and system errors. Here if your apps are not working due to the missing or uninstalled DirectX, it is wise to turn to Driver Booster for help. Especially when you have no idea what exact Microsoft DirectX you are supposed to download, Driver Booster will figure out it for you.


2. After installing and running it, hit Scan to finished searching for the missing, outdated, and faulty components on your computer, including device drivers and DirectX packages.

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3. Then locate DirectX in the searching result and choose to Update or Update Now.

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Here maybe your PC needs DirectX 12 or 11 or 10 or 9, Driver Booster will get it ready for you and install it automatically as well.

Download or Update DirectX 12, 11, 10, 9 Manually:

But if you know what exactly DirectX you need to download, it is also feasible to navigate to Microsoft site to install DirectX by yourself.

Here are manual ways to download different DirectX Packages:

Download DirectX 12 and DirectX 11.3 for Windows 10:

There is no standalone package for DirectX 12 and DirectX 11.3 on Microsoft site, but you can get DirectX 12 and DirectX 11.3 via Windows 10 Update. In order to update Windows 10, you can directly go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Check for updates.

Download DirectX 11.2 for Windows 8.1:

No standalone DirectX Redistributable files for DirectX 11.2 as well. And since DirectX 11.2 is included in Windows 8.1, you can also download it from Windows 8 update. But if you haven’t yet upgraded to Windows 8, you may need to upgrade at firstly and the DirectX will automatically installed with the upgrade or update.

Download DirectX 11.1 for Windows 8.0 and DirectX 11.1 and 11.0 for Windows 7:

DirectX 11.1 is included in Windows 8, so you can install it by Windows 8 update. And on the other hand, DirectX 11.1 and 11.0 are also available on Windows 7, and you are also able to get them from Platform update for Windows 7 and Windows server 2008.

Download DirectX 10 and 10.1 for Windows Vista:

DirectX 10 and 10.1 is included in Windows Vista, and you can only download DirectX 10 and 10.1 from KB971512 package.

Download DirectX 9.0c and DirectX 9 for Windows XP:

You can directly download DirectX 9.0c End-User Runtime to get DirectX 9.0c and download DirectX End-User Runtime to install DirectX 9.

So, depending on what operating system you are using, you can download different DirectX on your PC to enable your games.

How to Check my DirectX Version on Windows 10? Can I Remove DirectX?

Sometimes, games not working keeps appearing on your PC and show you that DirectX is missing or not installed. But you are not sure what DirectX on your PC is, in this case, you may as well manage to see what on earth the Microsoft DirectX is installed and then check whether it is what the games need.

1. To check the DirectX on Windows 10, just search dxdiag in the search box.

2. Then hit Enter to get into DirectX Diagnostic Tool where you can see what DirectX Version is on your PC under System tab.

Here it is DirectX 12.

Regarding whether you can delete DirectX, the answer is No. If you removed the DirectX packages in the system folders, it is no wonder that your game or other applications will stop working as that DirectX library are required to run the game or programs. What’s more, you can never know what game or app is using what DirectX, so removing the DirectX runtime is not suggestible. You would better just leave it or them alone.

To summarize, with the help of this post, you can master what DirectX means on Windows 10 and how you can download it for your games.

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