Even though the latest DirectX version is 12.0, the vast majority of games still rely heavily on feature levels implemented with DirectX 10 runtime. In this case, you will be required to install that particular distribution in order to run the program.

However, some legacy games need older DirectX APIs that are since obsolete on Windows 10 and can only be found on DirectX 9.0c or lower. The same goes for DirectX 11 and DirectX 10. Keep in mind that DirectX has backward compatibility – if you have DirectX 12, all the previous runtime distributions should be present on your system. In this case, the applicable fix would be to buy a new graphics card (GPU).

Your graphics card does not support Feature Level 10.0.

Only applicable to Windows 7 and Windows XP users.

Your OS requires an additional platform update.

Unless your system has a driver that instructs the graphics hardware on how to use the respective feature level, it won’t shop up inside the DirectX Diagnostic Tool.

Your graphics card (GPU) is running with outdated drivers that need to be updated.

If you find that feature level 10_0 (10.0) is not showing among the Feature Levels entries inside DirectX Diagnostic Tool, it’s one of the following scenarios: In order to see if your GPU is capable of supporting the required feature levels, go to the Display tab under Drivers and see which Feature Levels are supported by your graphics card. You can view your DirectX runtime version under System Information in the System tab. This built-in Windows tool can be accessed on any Windows version by opening a Run box ( Windows key + R) and typing “ dxdiag“. To confirm this and check which DirectX version is supported by your OS, you’ll need to run the DirectX Diagnostic Tool (dxdiag). But in order to use the new DirectX APIs, your GPU card needs to support them.

If you have Windows 10, DirectX 12.0 Runtime was automatically installed with the operating system (assuming that you have the latest Windows updates).

Directx 11 level 10.0 download