It prevents rootkits and unauthorized software from loading during the boot process.
If your system is booting in legacy BIOS mode (not UEFI), Secure Boot is impossible. Valorant will not run. You must reinstall Windows 10 in UEFI/GPT mode with Secure Boot enabled.
While the process of converting from Legacy to UEFI or digging through BIOS settings can be intimidating for casual users, it is a necessary step to ensure a cheat-free environment. Once enabled, you not only gain access to Valorant but also secure your PC against a host of boot-level threats. does valorant require secure boot on windows 10
While Windows 10 players can currently enjoy the game without these features, the trend in competitive gaming is moving toward hardware-level security. Keeping your system updated and your BIOS settings optimized is the best way to ensure you never get locked out of the server.
The short answer is . As of early 2024, Valorant officially requires Secure Boot to be enabled for players using Windows 10. It prevents rootkits and unauthorized software from loading
If you switch from Legacy to UEFI and your computer fails to boot into Windows (giving you a black screen or "No Boot Device" error), it means your hard drive is formatted as MBR. You will need to use the Windows mbr2gpt command-line tool to convert your drive to GPT to support UEFI and Secure Boot.
If you dual-boot Linux or another OS, disabling Secure Boot to boot the other OS will break Valorant until you re-enable it. Some distributions now support Secure Boot (Ubuntu, Fedora with signed shim), but custom kernels may not. You must reinstall Windows 10 in UEFI/GPT mode
Windows 10 supports Secure Boot, but it is not enabled by default on all PCs. Many custom-built gaming PCs or older OEM systems (pre-2016) have Secure Boot disabled or set to “Other OS” mode.
With Riot Games taking a hard stance on anti-cheat security, many players are left wondering:
A specific Windows update has changed how Vanguard perceives your system's security posture. Common Error Codes and Their Meaning
The confusion largely stems from the different requirements for Windows 11. When Riot Games updated Vanguard to coincide with the release of Microsoft’s newer OS, they enforced a strict policy: if you are on Windows 11, Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 are mandatory.