Event ID 10016 — DCOM Permission Error
What is this error?
DCOM component access permission error. While usually harmless, certain DCOM errors can prevent game services and launchers from functioning.
Common causes
- Windows permission misconfiguration
- game service permission issue
- Steam/Epic launcher DCOM error
- usually harmless but can affect game services
How to fix it
- Usually safe to ignore
- Fix specific DCOM errors only if correlated with game launch failures
Too many steps? Crashless can diagnose this automatically — checks your drivers, temps, VRAM, and 400+ known error patterns.
Get free AI diagnosis Detailed analysis
Event ID 10016 (Source: DistributedCOM) logs permission errors for DCOM (Distributed COM) components. These are extremely common in Event Viewer and are usually harmless — Microsoft has acknowledged many as cosmetic.
However, some DCOM errors can prevent game launchers (Steam, Epic, Xbox) or anti-cheat services from working.
When to worry:
- If Event 10016 appears at the EXACT time a game fails to launch
- If the DCOM component CLSID matches a game service
- If fixing DCOM permissions resolves the game launch issue
When to ignore:
- If games work fine — these errors exist on virtually every Windows installation
- If the DCOM error doesn't correlate with any application failures
If you need to fix it:
- Note the CLSID and APPID from the event details
- Open Component Services (dcomcnfg) > Computers > My Computer > DCOM Config
- Find the matching CLSID, right-click > Properties > Security tab
- Add the appropriate user/service permissions
- Caution: only modify DCOM permissions if you're sure it's causing a specific issue — incorrect changes can break other things
When to seek help
If this error keeps happening after trying the fixes above, it may point to a deeper hardware or system issue. Consider professional help if:
- The crash occurs across multiple games or applications
- You see the same error after a clean Windows install
- Your PC is less than a year old (could be a warranty issue)
- You smell burning or hear unusual sounds from your PC
Or let Crashless do the deep analysis for you -- our AI checks drivers, temps, event logs, and 400+ known patterns automatically.
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