Apex Legends Stuck Preparing Status: Fix it Now!

Apex Legends update stuck at ‘Preparing’ status in Origin client? Consider the issue fixed.

Apex Legends is a widely recognized battle royale game that is available to play for free on a variety of platforms including Xbox, PlayStation, PC, Switch, and even mobile devices. Despite its popularity and positive reception from gamers, there are occasional issues that arise in the game and one particular issue that has been reported by many players is the update for Apex Legends becoming stuck at ‘Preparing’ stage while updating the game from Origin client. If you are experiencing this issue, this page covers all possible workarounds so read through to the end.

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Ways to Fix Apex Legends Stuck Preparing Status

Relaunch Origin

The most underrated way to address any minor issue encountered while playing a game downloaded via Origin launcher is to restart the launcher itself. Closing the launcher actually means refreshing the connection to the remote server for whatever game you were playing on Origin.

Check Your Cables

The issue of Apex Legends being stuck in ‘Preparing’ status can also be due to poor network connectivity. You need to make sure that your connection is stable enough while playing online or when downloading updates for Apex Legends. to ensure that your network connection remains stable, consider connecting your system to the router directly with a LAN cable. If you just can’t set up a wired connection, use the 5GHz band while staying close to the router.

Repair Apex Legends Game Files

When Apex Legends update progresses to nothing from ‘Preparing’, it’s likely that the game’s files have become corrupt. In that case, you would have to fetch a fresh copy of files for Apex Legends, and to do just that, there’s already a built-in tool in Origin.

Firstly, since Apex Legends is stuck in ‘Preparing’ status, you will have to terminate the update in Origin launcher.
Next, click on the ‘Application Settings’ option under the Origin menu (top-left corner of the launcher’s window).
You will now disable ‘Automatic game updates’. This option can be found under Client update.
Upon disabling automatic updates, restart your system then launch Origin.
Head to the ‘Library’ section and find the icon for Apex Legends.

Right-click on the icon and proceed with repairing the game files. The repair process will take a significant amount of time to complete. The launcher will figure out if anything was wrong with the game files and also install the latest patch for Apex Legends. You should now be able to access the game without any issues.

Grant Administrator Privileges to Apex Legends

A number of players reported that granting administrator privileges to Apex Legends will fix the issue of the game being stuck in ‘Preparing’ status. While you shouldn’t grant administrator privileges to just any program (especially the ones that you got from the web for free), it’s fairly safe to let Apex Legends have elevated access.

This can be done from the ‘Compatibility’ tab under ‘Properties’ window, which can be brought up by right-clicking on Apex Legends’ desktop icon and selecting the last option in the drop-down menu.

Click here to learn more about Apex Legends.

Disable Antivirus and Firewall

Another group of players reported that disabling the antivirus as well as the firewall can sometimes help when Apex Legends fails to update.

Head to the Update & Security tab in Windows Settings.
Enter the Windows Security tab from the list of options in the left pane.
Click on the link that says ‘Open Windows Security’ and click on the shield icon.
Click on ‘Manage settings’ under ‘Virus and threat protection settings’.
Turn off the first two blue switches.
Up next, launch ‘Windows Defender Firewall’ from Start Menu and click on the option that says ‘Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off’. This option is located on the left pane.
Turn off Firewall limitations on both Public and Private environments.
Restart your system and jump back into Apex Legends.

Apex Legends Stuck Preparing — Image Credit: gamingmet

Clear Origin’s Cache

Step-by-step instruction on how to clear Origin’s cached data has been given below and this is one of the last things you can do to address update-related issues on Origin. Before following the steps mentioned below, ensure that no instance of Origin is running on your system.