Pass Any Exam & Pay After Pass.
The OnVUE system check is a short test you run from your Pearson VUE account that confirms your computer, camera, microphone, and connection can support an online exam. It takes a few minutes, and it is the single highest-value thing you can do before test day. Run it at least 24 hours ahead, then again about an hour before your appointment.
One thing to be clear about up front: passing the system check is not the same as passing check-in. The check verifies your equipment. Check-in verifies your identity and your room, and it is a different gate with different failure modes.
Sign in to your Pearson VUE account for the certification vendor you are testing with, open your scheduled appointment, and look for the system test option attached to it. It is often also linked from your booking confirmation email.
If you cannot find it, use the link in your confirmation email rather than navigating from memory. Each vendor has a separate Pearson VUE portal, and signing into the wrong one shows an empty appointment list.
Operating system: confirms you are on a supported Windows or macOS version. This is the check most likely to fail after a period of not testing, because supported macOS versions move forward each year.
Connection speed: measures upload and download throughput. The exam streams video and audio continuously, so upload matters as much as download, and stability matters more than peak speed.
Webcam: confirms a camera is present and accessible, and asks you to look at yourself to verify the image is usable.
Microphone: confirms audio input works, usually by asking you to speak and play the recording back.
Display configuration: confirms exactly one display is active. More than one and the exam will not launch.
Application launch: confirms OnVUE can download, install, and run on your machine, which is where security software and permissions problems surface.
The check only tells you something useful if it reflects test day:
Run it twice. Once a day or more ahead, so there is time to fix things and involve IT if you need to. Once shortly before the exam, because operating system updates and new software can break a setup that worked yesterday.
Operating system unsupported: update to a supported version, which may take significant time and require a restart. Do not start a major operating system upgrade on exam day. If you cannot upgrade, use a different machine.
Connection speed too low: connect by Ethernet cable if at all possible, since it removes most variability. If you must use Wi-Fi, move closer to the router and use the 5 GHz band. Ask others in the house not to stream during your exam window, and have a mobile hotspot ready as a backup.
Webcam not detected: close every application that might be holding the camera, including conferencing tools running in the background and anything in your system tray. Then check operating system permissions. On macOS, camera access is an explicit permission you must grant. On Windows, check the camera privacy setting. If the built-in camera is genuinely broken, a basic USB webcam works.
Microphone not detected or too quiet: confirm the correct input device is selected as the system default, and confirm it is not a Bluetooth device, because those are prohibited during the exam. Raise the input level, and grant microphone permission at the operating system level.
Multiple displays detected: physically unplug the additional monitor rather than turning it off. Undock a laptop entirely. Then re-run the check.
Application will not install or launch: temporarily disable antivirus for the installation, and on macOS approve the application if it is blocked as unidentified. On a managed work device, you may need administrator rights from IT. This is the failure most likely to be unfixable on a corporate laptop, which is why testing early matters.
It will not tell you whether your room passes, whether your ID name matches your registration, whether your background is acceptable, or whether your vendor permits water on the desk. Those are check-in and policy questions.
It also will not catch problems that only appear under sustained load. A connection that passes a ten-second speed test can still drop repeatedly over a three-hour exam. If your connection is known to be unreliable, plan a backup network rather than trusting a single passing result.
While you are at the computer, do the rest of the preparation:
On Windows, creating a spare user account with nothing set to start automatically gives you a clean environment for the exam without changing your normal setup.
A pass means your equipment is capable. Combined with a room you have already prepared and an ID that matches your registration, it means check-in should be uneventful. That is the goal: the system check is not about the exam, it is about making sure the twenty minutes before the exam are boring.
If the check fails in a way you cannot resolve a day ahead, treat that as information rather than a crisis. Rescheduling costs far less than losing the fee on a launch failure, and a test centre appointment removes hardware, connection, and room risk in one move.
The system check and its requirements change with each OnVUE release. Confirm current requirements and the check's location against Pearson VUE's official documentation and your appointment confirmation.
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