[hot] — Valorant Secure Boot

Professional esports integrity has improved. Players can no longer use USB injection devices or firmware-based recoil macros because Secure Boot + Vanguard flags them as suspicious.

There is a philosophical objection here. Many gamers argue that a video game should not have the authority to enforce system-wide security policies. They worry that if Riot can mandate Secure Boot, what happens if a bad actor exploits Vanguard’s kernel access? The Reality Check: It’s Working Despite the outrage, the data is undeniable. Before Vanguard and Secure Boot, VALORANT had a visible cheating problem—especially in high-ranked Immortal and Radiant lobbies. Post-implementation, public cheat forums have largely given up on developing public, undetected cheats for the game. valorant secure boot

Some legacy motherboard utilities or fan control software rely on unsigned drivers. Enabling Secure Boot sometimes breaks these. Players with older hardware (pre-2016) often find their RGB software or overclocking profiles stop working. Professional esports integrity has improved

Without Secure Boot, a cheat could load a rootkit into the UEFI. Vanguard would look at the running system, see no anomalies, and let the cheater play. With Secure Boot on, that UEFI rootkit is stopped before it ever reaches the RAM. The backlash against the Secure Boot requirement was fierce. Players took to Reddit and Twitter with valid concerns: Many gamers argue that a video game should

For many players, this felt like a violation. “Why does a video game need to control my BIOS settings?” others asked. “Is Riot spying on me?”

Your motherboard is likely from 2011-2015 and uses Legacy BIOS. Unfortunately, you cannot play VALORANT on this hardware. Windows 11 also requires Secure Boot, so it is time to upgrade.