GLFW error 65542: OpenGL support missing, per your driver

When Minecraft fails to open its window and the log shows 'GLFW error 65542: WGL: The driver does not appear to support OpenGL,' the game asked the graphics driver for OpenGL and the driver said no. On any reasonably modern GPU that answer is wrong, and it means the driver is generic, corrupted, or the game is running on an adapter without proper support. The fix path is the graphics driver, with a couple of environment checks alongside.

Fix it, in order

  1. Install the current driver from the GPU manufacturer (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel), choosing a clean installation if offered. This alone resolves most 65542s.
  2. Confirm the game is on the right GPU on dual-GPU laptops: Windows Settings, System, Display, Graphics, set the Java executable (javaw.exe) to High performance.
  3. Remove the options.txt or stale GLFW natives issue: if the error began after moving a game folder between PCs, let the launcher repair the installation so platform-correct native libraries are re-fetched.
  4. Check for software intercepting graphics: old screen-recording, overlay, and remote-desktop drivers can break OpenGL context creation; test with them disabled.
  5. Rule out a virtual or remote session: Minecraft over some remote desktop setups gets a software adapter with weak OpenGL. Test locally at the machine.

What GLFW is doing in your game

GLFW is the library Minecraft uses to create its window and OpenGL context. Error 65542 is GLFW reporting, faithfully, that the platform's graphics stack refused an accelerated context. The library is the messenger; shooting it (reinstalling the game repeatedly) changes nothing until the driver underneath gives a different answer. This is the same root fault as the 'pixel format not accelerated' message, wearing a more technical coat.

Common questions

Reinstalling Minecraft did not help. Why not? Because the game was never the broken part. The driver answering GLFW lives outside the game folder. A clean GPU driver install is the fix that matches the cause.

Does this mean my GPU is too old? Only if the GPU predates OpenGL 3.3 support (roughly, hardware from before about 2010). Anything newer that shows 65542 has a driver problem, not a hardware verdict.

Related

Minecraft 'pixel format not accelerated' · Minecraft exit code 1 · Minecraft exit code 255 · Could not find or load main class