Recently, a number of players have reported facing a VAN restriction error when trying to log into Valorant on older Windows versions. This issue is rendering a lot of legitimate players unable to play the Riot Games’ shooter, with the error typically stemming from Valorant’s controversial anti-cheat Vanguard enforcing stricter operating system requirements
The official Valorant system requirements page states that players need at least Windows 10 build 19041 or newer to be able to play the game. However, recent reports suggest that players on Windows 10 are encountering this error even if they meet the minimum requirements.
So what exactly causes the infamous VAN restriction Windows build error in Valorant, and how can you fix it?
In this article, we’ll take a look at everything we know so far about this annoying issue that is rendering players unable to play Valorant, and check out potential solutions.
How to Fix Valorant VAN Restriction Windows Build Error?
As confirmed by Riot dev ‘ItsGamerDoc’ on X, players who encounter the Valorant VAN restriction Windows build error have no other option than to upgrade their Windows versions.
“Upgrading is your only solution,” the Riot dev said when responding to claims that several users and prominent content creators have been unable to play Valorant as a result of this error.
In a follow-up statement, the dev confirmed that this error can be triggered by a vulnerable driver present on users’ systems that has IOCTLs that can read and write memory.
“It can also be certain system integrity flags behaving weirdly that cheaters can use. It’s just a lot of vectors we have to cover, but we cannot ban based on them without additional verification.”
With that being said, if you’re encountering the aforementioned VAN Restriction error when playing Valorant, your best bet would be to upgrade to Windows 11 before relaunching the game. Note that once you upgrade, you will also have to enable TPM 2.0 and UEFI Secure Boot to be able to log into the Riot Games title.