It’s been a few hours since WOW shows a “failed to apply patch.please try again later” error on Windows Vista or Windows 7 computers, because the operating system doesn’t let WOW to patch.

Here is how you can fix the error:

Method 1

Right click the WOW shortcut and choose “Run as Administrator.”

Method 2

If the first method didn’t work, follow those steps:

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Unplug the modem.
3. Unplug the router.
4. Wait about 60 seconds, then plug your modem in and let it turn on.
5. Plug your router in and let it turn on.
6. Turn on your computer and try to play the game.

The problems seem to be caused by the WOW Launcher trying to download a small file, which takes much longer than the estimate time of 2 minutes. The download either fails or takes too long. After that, users get an “unable to validate game version” error.

WOW Error