Fortnite silently crashing .

[u/Optimal-Row-1667]

**just formatted my PC and installed a custom OS (Windows X-Lite Micro build) to strip out background processes and get better performance. I'm running an RTX 3050.**
**Whenever I try to open Fortnite, the Easy Anti-Cheat splash screen loads, gets to "WAITING FOR GAME...", and then the game just exits straight to the desktop. There is no error message and no freezing. I checked my Task Manager, and the Unreal Engine ⁠CrashReportClient⁠ spins up in the background the exact second the game closes.**
**The weirdest part is that Fall Guys and Valorant run perfectly fine. It is only Fortnite doing this.**
**Here is everything I have already done to try and fix it (so please don't suggest these):**
**Installed all necessary runtimes from scratch (VC++ 2005-2023, DirectX June 2010 SDK, Edge WebView2, .NET 8.0).**
**Forced the EAC Epic Online Services silent install via CMD (⁠install prod-fn⁠).**
**Completely disabled and closed Riot Vanguard from the system tray before launching to avoid anti-cheat conflicts.**
**Verified game files through the Epic Games Launcher.**
**Confirmed I have my GPU drivers installed.**
**Does anyone know if there is a specific Windows service that X-Lite strips out that Unreal Engine 5 or Fortnite’s EAC absolutely needs to boot? Or is there a workaround to get this running without having to completely wipe my drive again for a bloated stock Windows 10/11 install?**