diff -ur a/src/main-sdl2.c b/src/main-sdl2.c
--- a/src/main-sdl2.c	2021-08-01 01:29:20.000000000 +0200
+++ b/src/main-sdl2.c	2021-10-31 20:38:37.012720467 +0100
@@ -4863,7 +4863,7 @@
 
 	if (window->config == NULL) {
 		window->renderer = SDL_CreateRenderer(window->window,
-				-1, SDL_RENDERER_ACCELERATED | SDL_RENDERER_TARGETTEXTURE);
+				-1, SDL_RENDERER_SOFTWARE | SDL_RENDERER_TARGETTEXTURE);
 	} else {
 		/* this is necessary for subwindows to have their own textures */
 		window->config->renderer_flags |= SDL_RENDERER_TARGETTEXTURE;
@@ -5875,9 +5875,7 @@
 	WINDOW_INIT_OK;
 	const char *type = parser_getsym(parser, "type");
 
-	if (streq(type, "hardware")) {
-		window->config->renderer_flags = SDL_RENDERER_ACCELERATED;
-	} else if (streq(type, "software")) {
+	if (streq(type, "software")) {
 		window->config->renderer_flags = SDL_RENDERER_SOFTWARE;
 	} else {
 		return PARSE_ERROR_INVALID_VALUE;