[2020] PSA: Riot Vanguard updated today, and blocks players from playing the game with "SYSTEM REBOOT REQUIRED" error. Details below.

Hey everyone, the latest version of Vanguard won't run if it detects vulnerable or out of date drivers on your computer.

If you run "sigverif" it will give you a list of unsigned components that could be preventing Vanguard from starting. Any driver (.sys file) on that list should be updated or removed.

I strongly discourage y'all from trying to mix and match Vanguard components across versions as this could cause system instability and looks a lot like cheating to our servers.

More discussion in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/VALORANT/comments/g3m5p7/vanguard_anticheat_not_enabling/

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention here or in the other thread is that there are some drivers that will pass sigverif but are still considered untrusted. The most common one is a vulnerable Gigabyte driver (commonly used by ransomware and cheats) known as gdrv.sys. Definitely recommend removing that driver!

Some of the software packages that installed the driver are:

GIGABYTE APP Center

AORUS GRAPHICS ENGINE

XTREME GAMING ENGINE

OC GURU III

If you have any of those make sure you're running the latest version.

Check for gdrv.sys (see my edit) and if that doesn't work I recommend a support ticket

As long as the driver isn't loaded the game should run, so one thing you could try is to unplug the tablet and then be able to play the game.

We like to give a short grace period during an update so that people who are in game when the update goes live aren't disconnected. Also, seeing who connects with an old version is very useful information.

It's why it's best to troubleshoot these things through Support, so the issue can be pinpointed and handled in a safe manner. I do have assistance to help safely remove these programs. Incompatibility is a standard part of Software Troubleshooting. I would not recommend people going into their system files and deleting things random things and hoping it'll work.

No problem! Working on a good bit of em right now so there may be some delay but will get to them ASAP.

There are other vulnerable drivers that could cause it. If you could zip up the Logs in C:\Program Files\Riot Vanguard\Logs , and send to me through preferred file sharing service in a direct message, I can assist you.

Agreed with you that this is a worthy pain point. We'll work on an easier way to see these issues. I've been adding issues I encounter here to guides Player Support can use, so they can help players faster in troubleshooting. I'll see what can be done in adding more visibility. You're right - even though this is not massively widespread, we can do better in letting players know.

Thanks for much for toughing it out and thank you for your feedback. It's not PR stuff when I say that getting to have this direct, instant feedback and troubleshooting, has, and will be, very helpful.

There can certainly be other things that can cause it. I'd recommend making a ticket, and uploading the Vanguard logs. If you DM me the Ticket #, I can review it on a more expedited schedule.

https://github.com/hfiref0x/TDL

Here's a good example of using VirtualBox drivers to defeat driver signing. Not only has this been used in cheats in other games, it's been used in cheats in VALORANT.

I responded about the VirtualBox USB in another comment, but on the second point, these actions aren't contradictory to anything we've stated, or announced in our Security policies: https://www.riotgames.com/en/news/a-message-about-vanguard-from-our-security-privacy-teams . All these troubleshooting measures, and reasonings have not only been said on Reddit by Riot Employees, but are being shared with support.

I agree with you, Reddit is a limited scope. While it's more than what most say about the definites of Anti-Cheat vectors, I agree players would be benefited from a faster, easier way to troubleshoot and assess their issues.

I'll work harder as Closed Beta progresses to communicate better, and we will keep aspiring to be industry leaders in the Anti-Cheat space in our communication and transparency.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll see what we can do to make this a better experience.

VirtualBox isn't considered bad itself just that one of its drivers has a known security vulnerability. Exploiting the security vulnerability could be used as a privilege escalation to install an unsigned cheat driver. Even if you don't want to play Valorant I recommend removing that driver.

Awesome. Good to know. We're tracking these and assessing our strategy.

The goal is to provide an elite, subscription level Anti-Cheat for players. We're constantly assessing how we're handling this, and are being flexible and finding our best solutions as Closed Beta progresses, but that's the ultimate goal. That's why we're really doing this. Our goal is to have a game that has a sustainable, strong Anti-Cheat, over the course of not just a few months, but the game's whole lifecycle.

This is why we're going on forums, being open with what we're looking for, which is extremely uncommon in the Anti-Cheat industry. Community feedback, positive and negative, help shape our strategy.

If you could make a ticket to Player Support, and upload your Vanguard Logs (C:\Program Files\Riot Vanguard\Logs), and direct message me the number of that Ticket, I can look into it on a more expedited manner.

You're right in that it does come off pretty gaslighty, my apologies. I understand players issues are with us, and it's irrelevant to bring up other companies. you're right.

The point I am trying to make is that we're legitimately constantly assessing our best steps. It's why engagement has been important to us.

Thank you for the report, I'm glad it's working for you again but I'm sorry that it was so much trouble!

Working on getting these things published and localized

I can't officially endorse removal of Software that I'm not a subject matter expert on. I'd like to make it clear that the things I've recommended are bandaid fixes, and we're working on greater compatibility layers that should be coming relatively shortly.

I have had players who have removed it without any issue, but I cannot speak for every device regarding this. If you remove this, please do so at your own discretion.

I certainly get the pain - we're also working on compatibility fixes. Thank you so much for your patience and I understand how frustrating it is to have this, then it's taken away.

Sorry to hear about your issues!

Some other software that sometimes causes problems are:

• Comodo Internet Security Essentials
• AMD Graphics Driver Pixel Clock Patcher
• Aomei Backupper

It's not a complete list but there are some more. If this doesn't help I recommend a support ticket, they'll be able to look at your logs and figure out more specifically what's going on.

Could you DM me with your logs from C:\Program Files\Riot Vanguard\Logs ? Compatibility changes are coming soon, but I'd still like to make sure your issue will be covered.

Great! Hopefully more people this. These drivers are only being disabled because they're unsigned and spurned by Secure Boot versions of Windows (yes, including VirtualBox to the downvote brigade, new versions do not have this issue), we're not stopping safe software!

We're still working on compatibility fixes, but it's great to hear that updates can fix a lot of these issues.

You should be able to run the latest versions of the software I mentioned above, I mention them just because an old version came with a driver that has a privilege escalation vulnerability. The latest versions have discontinued that driver.

We don't specifically have anything against fan management drivers (or any other type of drivers) so hopefully the latest drivers for your GPU and motherboard should work fine with Vanguard.

Sure!

If your worried I definitely recommend uninstalling Vanguard.

gdrv.sys is being used by cheat developers to load cheats and ransomware to take over computers which is why we block it.

The latest version of your fan control software should work without needing the gdrv.sys driver.