Last month I spent 20 minutes panicking before my Immortal ranked grind because Valorant threw a Vanguard error the second I hit play. The pop-up said I needed to enable UEFI secure boot, and I had zero clue what that meant at the time. I messed around in my BIOS for 10 minutes, fixed it, and haven’t had the error since. If you’re stuck in the same spot, this post walks you through how to turn on UEFI secure boot for Valorant without any confusing tech jargon.
Why Does Valorant Require UEFI Secure Boot Anyway?
You might be wondering why Riot is forcing this setting on you, especially if you’ve never had issues running Valorant before. It all comes down to Vanguard’s kernel-level anti-cheat, which runs at the deepest level of your operating system to catch cheaters using undetectable rootkits. Secure boot blocks any unauthorized software from running when your PC starts up, so cheat makers can’t hide their tools in your boot process.
That means you’re far less likely to run into false positive bans caused by sketchy background software you didn’t even know was running, and your PC is more protected from malware overall. I’ve had two friends get temporarily banned last year because a random cracked program they downloaded left a hidden driver on their PC that Vanguard flagged. If they’d had secure boot enabled, that driver never would have run in the first place.
Pre-Checks to Run Before Adjusting Your UEFI Settings
Before you go digging around in your BIOS, there are a few quick checks you need to run first to avoid accidentally breaking your PC’s boot process. Skipping these steps is the number one reason people run into issues, so don’t cut corners here:
- Confirm your Windows installation uses GPT partition style, not MBR. Secure boot only works with GPT, so if you’re on the older MBR format, you’ll need to convert it first (you can use Microsoft’s free MBR2GPT tool without losing any data if you follow official steps).
- Back up any critical files to an external drive or cloud storage, just in case you run into boot issues. It’s a rare problem, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry, especially if you have unsaved ranked clips or school work on your OS drive.
- Make sure you have your BIOS/UEFI access key written down. Common keys are F2, F10, Del, and Esc, and they vary by motherboard brand: ASUS usually uses F2 or Del, MSI uses Del, Lenovo uses F12, for example. You can also look up your specific model online if you’re not sure.
- Disable any third-party disk encryption tools that aren’t Windows’ built-in BitLocker. Other encryption tools often conflict with secure boot, and you could lose access to your files if you enable secure boot while they’re active.
To check your partition style, just right click the Start menu, select Disk Management, right click your main OS drive (usually the C: drive), select Properties, then go to the Volumes tab. You’ll see the partition style listed there. If it says GPT, you’re good to go. If it says MBR, take 5 minutes to convert it first before moving on.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough to Turn on UEFI Secure Boot for Valorant
Now that you’ve finished all your pre-checks, enabling secure boot takes less than 10 minutes total. Don’t be intimidated by the BIOS interface – most modern motherboards have simple, user-friendly UIs now, even for beginners.
First, save any open work on your PC, then restart it. As soon as you see your motherboard or laptop manufacturer’s logo pop up, repeatedly hit the BIOS access key you looked up earlier. If you miss the window, just restart your PC and try again, it’s no big deal.
Once you’re in the BIOS, look for an option to switch to Advanced Mode if you’re on a simplified home screen. Most boards use the F7 key for this, but you’ll see the prompt on the screen if it’s different. Navigate to the Boot tab, which is where all the startup-related settings live.
First, find the option for UEFI/Legacy Boot, and make sure it’s set to UEFI Only. Some boards also call this CSM Support – if you see that, make sure it’s disabled. Next, find the Secure Boot option, usually located near the bottom of the Boot tab, and set it to Enabled. You may also see an option for OS Type – set that to Windows UEFI if it’s available, otherwise secure boot might not activate properly.
Once you’ve adjusted those settings, hit the save changes key (usually F10) and confirm you want to save and exit. Your PC will restart automatically, and you should boot straight into Windows like normal. To confirm secure boot is actually enabled, type msinfo32 into the Windows search bar and open the System Information tool. Look for the Secure Boot State line on the right side of the window – if it says On, you’re all set.
Common Issues to Fix After Enabling Secure Boot
Most people won’t run into any problems after enabling secure boot, but if you do, these fixes will get you back up and running quickly.
First, if Valorant still throws the same Vanguard error even after you confirmed secure boot is on, try restarting your PC one more time first. If that doesn’t work, uninstall and reinstall Vanguard – sometimes the anti-cheat doesn’t pick up the setting change right away, even if you followed every step to enable UEFI secure boot for Valorant properly. You don’t have to reinstall the entire Valorant game, just the Vanguard client, which takes 2 minutes tops.
If your PC won’t boot at all after enabling secure boot, don’t panic. Just restart your PC, go back into the BIOS, disable secure boot, and double check that you switched your boot mode to UEFI and that your drive is using GPT. If you converted MBR to GPT recently, you may need to run a boot repair using a Windows recovery drive to fix the boot loader.
If you notice some old peripherals, like a 10 year old keyboard or custom mouse, stop working after enabling secure boot, that’s because secure boot blocks non-signed legacy drivers that don’t have official Microsoft certification. Most of the time, downloading the latest driver from the peripheral manufacturer’s website will fix the issue. If you’re using really old hardware that doesn’t have updated signed drivers, you may have to choose between using that peripheral and playing Valorant, but that’s a very rare issue for hardware made after 2012.
One more thing to note: If you dual boot Windows with a Linux distribution, secure boot may cause issues with your Linux install. Most modern Linux distros support secure boot now, but you may have to adjust a few settings in your BIOS to get both operating systems to run properly.
Enabling secure boot isn’t just a random hoop Riot is making you jump through to play Valorant. It’s a simple security setting that protects both your game account and your entire PC from malware and cheaters. The whole process takes less than 15 minutes even if you’ve never opened your BIOS before, and once it’s done, you won’t have to mess with it again. If you followed all the steps above and still run into issues, you can reach out to Riot’s support team for more tailored help for your specific setup. Now that you know how to turn on UEFI secure boot for Valorant, you can get back to your queue and grind that rank you’ve been chasing without any more annoying Vanguard errors.
