How to Start Your Online Exam on Pearson VUE: I Can't Find the Start Button or Launch Link

The launch link for an online Pearson VUE exam appears inside your Pearson VUE account, on the appointment itself, and only inside a limited window around your scheduled start time. If you cannot see it, the cause is almost always one of four things: you are too early, you are signed into the wrong account, you are looking at the vendor's site instead of Pearson VUE's, or the appointment is not the online kind you assumed.

If your exam starts shortly, work through this in order rather than refreshing repeatedly.

Where the link actually is

Sign in to your Pearson VUE account for the certification vendor you are testing with, then open your list of scheduled appointments. The launch control appears attached to the appointment, usually labelled Begin Exam.

The detail people miss: each certification vendor has its own separate Pearson VUE sign-in. A CompTIA account and a Microsoft account are different accounts on different portals, even though both are Pearson VUE. Signing into the wrong one shows you an empty appointment list, which looks exactly like a missing link.

Go through your booking confirmation email and use the link in that email. It takes you to the correct portal.

Check the timing window

The link does not exist all day. It typically becomes available a short period before your scheduled start, often around 30 minutes, and it disappears once the check-in window closes.

Two consequences:

• If you are more than half an hour early, there is nothing wrong. Wait, and refresh closer to the time.
• If you are late, the link may already be gone. Late arrival past the check-in window normally forfeits the appointment, so contact support immediately rather than continuing to retry.

Also confirm the time zone on the appointment. Booking in one time zone and reading the confirmation in another is a common way to arrive an hour late.

Work through the likely causes

Wrong account: use the link in your confirmation email rather than navigating from memory. If you have ever created more than one account with the same vendor, check both. Duplicate accounts are common and the appointment lives in only one of them.

Wrong site: many candidates start at their certification vendor's website. The booking may be visible there, but the launch usually happens in the Pearson VUE portal. Follow through to Pearson VUE rather than looking for a button on the vendor's page.

Not actually an online appointment: open the appointment and check whether it is an online proctored booking or a test centre booking. A test centre appointment has no launch link because there is nothing to launch. This mistake is easy to make when both options were offered during scheduling.

Browser problems: the portal can behave badly with aggressive ad blockers, privacy extensions, or a stale session. Try a private window, or a different browser, and sign in again.

Payment or eligibility hold: if the vendor has an unresolved issue with your registration, the appointment can exist while the launch remains blocked. This usually comes with an email you may not have read.

What to do if the exam time is minutes away

Do these in order, and keep them quick:

• Open the confirmation email and use the link in it.
• Sign out completely, then sign back in.
• Try a private browser window with extensions disabled.
• Try a different browser.
• Try a different network, such as a phone hotspot.
• Check for a second account under a different email address.

If none of that works, contact Pearson VUE support immediately by phone rather than email. Phone support can often see your appointment and either release the link or document that you attempted to start on time, which matters for a fee waiver later. Take a screenshot showing the page and the time before you call.

Once you find it: what happens next

Selecting Begin Exam does not drop you into the exam. It starts check-in, which runs roughly like this:

• Download and run the OnVUE application for this appointment. Download it fresh rather than reusing an old copy.
• The software checks your system, then closes other applications and goes full screen.
• You photograph your ID and yourself.
• You photograph or show your workspace for the room scan.
• You wait in a queue for a proctor to review your submissions and connect you.

That wait is normal and can run from a few minutes to considerably longer at busy times. Do not close the application while you wait. For most exams the clock does not start until the proctor releases you into the exam, so waiting does not consume your exam time, but abandoning the session does end the appointment.

Avoiding this next time

• Save the confirmation email and use its link, not a bookmark.
• Note which email address the account uses, since vendors differ.
• Sign in a day early to confirm you can see the appointment at all.
• Add the appointment to your calendar in your own time zone.
• Be at your desk, room ready, about 30 minutes before the scheduled time.

Being early is the main protection here. Nearly every problem on this page is solvable in twenty minutes and unsolvable in two.

Portal layouts, check-in windows, and launch procedures differ between certification vendors and change over time. Confirm the current process in your appointment confirmation and your vendor's candidate instructions before test day.