Valorant is one of the top first-person shooter games in 2024 with Riot Games saying that up to 3 million unique players are playing the game every day since it’s release. While there’s no way to verify the exact figures, we can safely say that it is fast becoming one of the popular games in its genre today. But just like any other game, Valorant is full of bugs and one such issue that we want to address today is the “game requires restart” error.
If you are getting this error and you can’t play the game, this article should help you get back to Valorant in no time.
Valorant “game requires restart” error?
Some players may not be able to launch Valorant right away due to one annoying error that says: “Your Game Requires a system Restart to play. Please restart your computer. If this issue continues, reach out to our player support team.”
This error message shows up on the main screen of the game and can persist if not addressed properly. While not a game breaking bug, it can become confusing to fix for an average user because the message seems straightforward–restart the PC–but oftentimes doesn’t actually do anything. In other words, restarting the computer simply brings the player back to the same screen afterwards.
Causes of “game requires restart” error in Valorant
This startup error, also called by many Valorant players as “System reboot required” error was one of the common Riot Games error in 2024. Its causes are plentiful and there’s no official solution on how to fix it except the message to restart the computer or to contact the Riot Games player support team.
Below are the known common reasons why you may be getting the system reboot required error:
Corrupted game files.
Like any other game, Valorant game files may become corrupted in your PC. Issues can vary if your game files are damaged. Some of the telltale signs of a corrupted game files include sudden or unexpected crashes, severe lag, failure to launch, and random errors.
By far, game files may become corrupted if you’ve installed a corrupted software update, malware, or when important game files or folder have been accidentally deleted.
PC software glitch.
The software environment of your PC can affect how your games perform and sometimes, unique bugs in the system can lead to certain errors.
Certain settings in your software can also cause random errors including the system reboot required error.
Riot Vanguard is not activated.
For some players, the system reboot required error when playing Valorant is caused by a missing important element of the game, the Riot Vanguard anti-cheat program.
Vanguard is a needed in order to play Valorant so if its associated services stop, or if Vanguard itself is not running, Valorant will not allow you play at all.
Driver issues.
Just as important as making sure that your computer’s software is in top shape is keeping the drivers updated. If your device drivers are outdated, Valorant may not perform well and that can lead to errors or problems. One way of making sure that system reboot required error won’t show up is by keeping tab of your drivers and updating them if necessary.
Compatibility issues.
If you’re running an older version of Windows such as Windows 8 or older, Valorant may not work properly at all. That’s because the game is designed primarily to work with Windows 10 although it’s known to run normally as well with older Windows Operating Systems.
SOLUTIONS: How to fix Valorant Game Requires Restart error
Below are the solutions that you can do if you find yourself dealing with Valorant system reboot required error.
Fix #1: Reboot your PC.
If you haven’t tried it yet, be sure to follow the message and simply restart your machine. If that won’t do anything, then continue with the rest of the solutions below.
Fix #2: Run the game in Administrator mode.
By design, Valorant should run normally whether it’s on administrator mode or not. However, some security settings may limit certain programs from running and may require them to be running with an administrator privilege only.
In order to run Valorant as administrator, here’s what you can do:
- On your keyboard, press the Windows key and type in “Valorant.”
- Right click on Valorant and select Open File location.
- Once you see the Valorant shortcut, right click on it and select Properties.
- Go to Compatibility tab.
- Make sure that Run this program as an administrator is checked.
- Click Apply, then hit OK.
Fix #3: Disable fullscreen optimizations.
If running Valorant as an administrator did not do anything, the next thing that you can do is to ensure that the game is not running fullscreen optimizations. To do that, you have to head over to the Compatibility tab after right clicking on the Valorant shortcut, the same exact steps as Fix #2. Once you’re in the Compatibility tab, make sure to put a checkmark for Disable fullscreen optimizations. This option is not checked by default so removing the check on the box should turn off fullscreen optimization settings.
Fix #4: Change Vanguard service to Automatic
As mentioned earlier, Valorant requires Vanguard anti-cheat or VGC service to be running all the time. If this service has been disabled for some reason, it can be the reason why the game won’t launch and showing the system reboot required error.
Here’s what you must do:
- Open the Run Dialog Box by pressing the Windows key + R on your keyboard.
- Type “msconfig” and press Enter.
- Select Services tab.
- Find VGC and tick the box beside it to turn it on.
- Hit Apply and click OK.
- Click Restart to restart your computer.
Once the PC has restarted, run Valorant and check if the system reboot required error returns. If it does, you’ll have to ensure that VGC is set to run automatically so you don’t have to manually enable it everytime you run Valorant. Here’s how:
- Open the Run Dialog Box again.
- Type “services.msc” and press Enter.
- Find VGC and right click on it.
- Select Properties.
- In Startup type, click on the down arrow and select Automatic.
- Hit Apply and click OK.
- Restart your PC again then run the game to check for the problem.
Fix #5: Check for updates to your device drivers.
Keeping your drivers up-to-date must be done in a regular basis, whether you have a problem or not. This is especially important for the graphics card.
By default, your GPU should have an automatic setting to allow Windows to scan the internet for drivers. However, you can always manually check for drivers anytime.
Click any of the links depending on what brand of GPU you are using:
Fix #6: Delete and reinstall Valorant.
If the above solutions won’t help, you have no other option but delete and reinstall Valorant. Simply open the Control Panel, select the Add/Remove Programs option, and uninstall Valorant from there.
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