How to Fix Error 22 on Diablo II

Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo II takes gamers on an action-packed journey to overcome the forces of darkness. Diablo II continues the storyline from the original Diablo release, throwing the player into a hellish role-playing adventure where the player must overcome the Prime Evils. On occasion, gamers find their role-playing adventures interrupted by Diablo II's Error 22, reading, "A critical error has occurred while initializing DirectDraw" as the game initializes. With a few easy steps, gamers can conquer this nightmarish error code, too.

Fix Error 22 on Diablo II

Launch the Diablo II Video test program.

Visit the Microsoft DirectX web page to identify the latest release version of DirectX, and download and install the updated version of DirectX from Microsoft if you have a prior release.

Restart your computer.

Identify your video and sound drivers. Click the Windows "Start" button, and select "Run." Type "dxdiag" into the "Run" text box, and click "OK" to launch the DirectX Diagnostic Tool. Click the "Video" tab, and write down the driver name (listed under the "Name:" field) and manufacturer (listed under the "Manufacturer:" field). Click the "Display" tab, and write down the name and manufacturer listed for your video driver.

Visit the Blizzard Hardware Manufacturer page. Press and hold the CTRL key, and click the "Sound Cards" and "Video Cards" links at the top of the page to open manufacturer lists for each in new windows. Click the links that correspond to the manufacturers of your video and audio cards.

Download driver updates for your video and audio cards from the manufacturers' websites, taking care to follow the manufacturers' tailored instructions for driver installation.

Restart your computer, and attempt to launch Diablo II.