Minecraft crashes with 0xC0000005 during startup when using Intel Arc discrete graphics

Minecraft crashes with 0xC0000005 during startup when the Intel Arc discrete GPU is actually selected.

Affected versions

• 26.1

• 26.1.1

• 26.2 Snapshot 1

Symptoms

• When the Intel Arc discrete GPU is actually used, Minecraft crashes during startup and does not launch.

• The exit code is -1073741819, which corresponds to 0xC0000005.

• In 26.1 and 26.1.1, the crash happens before the game window becomes visible.

• In 26.2 Snapshot 1, the game progresses further than in 26.1 / 26.1.1, but still crashes during startup after resource loading begins.

• In the Vulkan test log for 26.2 Snapshot 1, the graphics backend is shown as Vulkan and the selected graphics device is shown as Intel(R) Arc(TM) A350M Graphics.

• I also tested 26.2 Snapshot 1 through what appeared to be an OpenGL path, and it also crashed with the same 0xC0000005 native crash.

• In the attached native crash logs for 26.1, 26.1.1, and the 26.2 OpenGL-path test, the problematic frame is shown as igxehpgicd64.dll+0x84ab4f.

• In those native crash logs, the crash occurs on the Render thread during window creation or startup.

• The 26.2 Vulkan crashing run did not generate an hs_err_pid file, but the 26.2 OpenGL-path run did generate one, and it again pointed to the Intel graphics driver module igxehpgicd64.dll.

Additional details

• All tested versions were run in a vanilla state.

• JVM settings were not modified.

• I tried forcing integrated/discrete GPU selection for javaw.exe through Windows Graphics settings.

• However, Minecraft did not always appear to follow that selection consistently, so it was difficult to fully control that variable.

• When the integrated GPU was actually used and the game launched, the in-game F3 debug screen showed Intel Iris graphics.

• Because of that, I believe this issue is specifically tied to runs where the Intel Arc discrete GPU is actually selected.

• The issue continued to occur even after a full Windows reset, Windows Update, and graphics driver updates.

• Because of that, this does not appear to be a one-time installation problem.

Steps to reproduce

1. Make Minecraft use the Intel Arc discrete GPU.

2. Launch 26.1, 26.1.1, or 26.2 Snapshot 1.

3. Observe the startup crash with 0xC0000005.

Reproducibility
When the Intel Arc discrete GPU is actually selected, the issue is reproducible consistently in my tests.

Expected result
Minecraft should launch normally when using the Intel Arc discrete GPU.

Actual result
Minecraft crashes during startup with 0xC0000005 and does not launch.

Attached logs

• 26.1.log

• hs_err_pid_26.1.log

• 26.1.1.log

• hs_err_pid_26.1.1.log

• 26.2_v.log

• 26.2_opengl.log

• hs_err_pid_26.2_opengl.log