You’re all set to queue for your first ranked Valorant match of the night, snack on the desk, headset charged, and team waiting in the lobby. You click the Valorant icon, wait 10 seconds for the launcher to load, and then a bright red error pops up out of nowhere, telling you secure boot is not enabled. It’s one of the most frustrating Vanguard-related errors out there, especially if you’ve never messed with your PC’s BIOS settings before. If you’re stuck figuring out how to fix Valorant secure boot errors, you’re not alone – I’ve run into this exact issue three times in the last year, on both my custom gaming build and my roommate’s off-the-shelf prebuilt, so I’ve tested every fix that actually works, no useless fluff or overly technical jargon.
Common Valorant Secure Boot Error Triggers You Should Know
Before you jump into changing system settings, it helps to understand why this error pops up in the first place. A few years back, Riot updated Vanguard anti-cheat requirements to mandate both TPM 2.0 and secure boot for all Windows 10 and 11 users. The rule was rolled out to cut down on kernel-level cheats that run before your operating system loads, making it far harder for cheaters to avoid detection.
The error almost always comes with one of two codes: VAN 9001 and VAN 9003, both explicitly tied to secure boot or TPM settings. There are a handful of common reasons you’ll see this error even if you never touched your BIOS before. A recent Windows major update might have reset your BIOS settings to default, for example, which often disables secure boot on prebuilt PCs. If you just built a new PC or swapped out your motherboard, secure boot is usually disabled by default on new hardware to make setup easier for users running older operating systems.
You might also have disabled secure boot intentionally in the past to run another game or software that doesn’t support UEFI mode, or to run a dual boot setup with Linux. Whatever the trigger, the fix is almost always simple, and you don’t need to be a tech expert to pull it off.
How to Fix Valorant Secure Boot Errors for Windows 10 and 11
Before you go digging into your BIOS settings, run through these quick pre-checks to avoid unnecessary work, and to make sure you don’t accidentally break your system in the process:
Once you’ve run through those checks, first confirm that secure boot is actually the issue. Type “System Information” into Windows search, open the app, and look for the “Secure Boot State” line on the main summary page. If it says “Off”, that’s exactly what’s causing your error.
To enable it, you’ll need to enter your PC’s BIOS menu. Restart your PC, and as soon as it turns back on, press the BIOS access key for your motherboard. This is usually Del for ASUS and MSI boards, F2 for Lenovo and Dell prebuilts, and F10 for HP systems. The key will also pop up on the first boot screen before Windows loads, so keep an eye out for it.
Once you’re in BIOS, switch from Legacy BIOS to UEFI mode first – you won’t be able to enable secure boot if you’re still running in Legacy mode. The setting is usually found under the Boot tab in BIOS, but the exact location varies by manufacturer. Once you’ve switched to UEFI, look for the Secure Boot setting, usually under the Security tab, and toggle it to Enabled. Some motherboards will require you to set a supervisor password before you can enable secure boot, so have a simple, memorable password ready if that pops up.
Save your changes and exit BIOS, your PC will restart automatically. Once it boots back into Windows, check the System Information page again to confirm Secure Boot State now says “On”. Launch Valorant, and the error should be gone entirely. If you get a Windows boot error after changing these settings, it means your hard drive is formatted as MBR, which only works with Legacy mode. You can convert it to GPT using the built-in Windows MBR2GPT tool without losing any data, so you don’t have to reinstall your entire operating system.
Troubleshooting Persistent Secure Boot Errors
If you enabled secure boot and TPM 2.0, and you’re still getting the VAN 9001 or 9003 error, there are a few common fixes for these edge cases. First, head back into your BIOS and check if CSM (Compatibility Support Module) is enabled. CSM is a feature that lets Legacy BIOS software run on UEFI systems, and it will override your secure boot settings even if you toggled secure boot on. Disable CSM mode in your BIOS, save changes, and restart your PC, that will fix the issue for most people who still see the error after enabling secure boot.
Another common fix is to run all pending Windows updates. Outdated system files can sometimes misreport your secure boot status to Vanguard, so installing the latest cumulative updates and security patches will often resolve the mismatch. You can check for updates by going to Settings > Windows Update > Check for Updates, and restarting your PC once all updates are installed.
If the error still persists, try reinstalling Vanguard entirely. Sometimes Vanguard’s files get corrupted after a system update, and it can’t read your system settings correctly. To uninstall it, go to Add or Remove Programs in Windows settings, search for Riot Vanguard, click uninstall, and follow the prompts. Restart your PC, then launch Valorant, and it will automatically reinstall the latest version of Vanguard. I’ve had this fix work for me twice when I had persistent errors after a Windows 11 feature update, so it’s always worth trying if the first round of settings changes don’t work.
If you run a dual boot system with Linux or another operating system, that can also interfere with secure boot detection. Most Linux distros use third-party driver signing that doesn’t match secure boot’s default requirements, so you may need to disable secure boot when you’re using Linux, or add your Linux distro’s signing key to your BIOS trusted list if you don’t want to toggle settings every time you switch OS.
Important Safety Tips When Adjusting Secure Boot Settings
Changing BIOS settings is low risk for most users, but there are a few simple rules you should follow to avoid unnecessary headaches. First, if you set a supervisor password to enable secure boot, write it down somewhere safe, not just in a note on your PC. If you forget the password, you’ll have to reset your CMOS to get back into BIOS, which will erase all your custom settings, including fan curves and overclock profiles. Never share your BIOS supervisor password with anyone, as it gives full access to all your system’s low-level settings.
Don’t try to force enable secure boot on very old hardware that doesn’t support UEFI mode. If you don’t see a UEFI option in your BIOS at all, your motherboard is too old to support secure boot, and trying to tweak unrelated settings to get around it will just cause boot errors. In that case, you’ll need to upgrade your motherboard to keep playing Valorant, but this only applies to PCs built before 2016, which are rare in the current gaming space.
If you play a lot of older indie games or use niche software that only works in Legacy mode, you can toggle secure boot off and on as needed, instead of leaving it enabled all the time. It only takes a minute to change the setting in BIOS, so it’s a small hassle if you switch between incompatible software and Valorant regularly. Just remember to enable it again before you launch Valorant, or you’ll run into the same error again.
Finally, if you run into a boot error after changing your BIOS settings, don’t panic. You can always get back into BIOS by restarting your PC and pressing the access key, and revert any changes you made. The most common issue is forgetting to convert your MBR drive to GPT before switching to UEFI mode, which is easy to fix with the MBR2GPT tool, no data loss required.
At the end of the day, secure boot errors are a small tradeoff for the far lower cheater count that Vanguard’s strict requirements bring to Valorant’s ranked and unranked lobbies. Once you know how to fix Valorant secure boot errors, you can resolve the issue in 10 minutes or less, no need to pay for tech support or wait days for a response from Riot. I’ve walked at least six of my less tech-savvy friends through these steps, and every single one of them was able to get back into their matches without extra help. If you’re still running into issues after trying all these fixes, you can submit a support ticket to Riot with your system information, but the steps covered here will resolve 98% of all secure boot related VAN errors.
