League of Legends like many other online games has been plagued with cheaters. So in order to combat that Riot introduced Vanguard Anti-cheat, this is not exactly new for them as Valorant uses it as well. However, several players are complaining that LoL Vanguard is not working for them, they can’t play league anymore and need a fix. Luckily, Riot has released a bunch solutions for the different error codes.
Before we check the solutions, several Twitter users have also complained about the new update and Vanguard bricking their PCs. We will check that out after the below fixes. However, if you haven’t updated your game yet, you might want to take a break from the game until the developers fix it, or until they remove Vanguard.
How to Fix LoL Vanguard Error
- Enable Secure Boot: This is a common fix that worked for several players but not everyone sadly. You have to restart your system and while it boots enter the BIOS menu. From there you have to enable the Secure Boot Option. There is no single way to do this because the BIOS is dependent on your system’s motherboard.
- Enable TPM 2.0 on Windows 11: This solution is sort of paired with Secure Boot for Windows 11. Restart your PC and enable TPM from BIOS. Just like Secure Boot there is no guarantee it may work either but you can give it a try. This solution also fixes the VAN9001 error.
- Exit Vanguard and run LoL: Another solution is to exit Vanguard from the system try. Once it does immediately launch League of Legends from the Riot client. Thanks to Reddit user u/Brox__ for this solution, be sure to check out their comment here. There is a catch here though, and that is while you may be able to enter the game, as soon as it detects you aren’t running Vanguard, it can kick you out from the game.
Aside from the above fixes here are some solutions that you can try given by Riot based on the different errors you get:
- Reinstall Riot Vanguard: Uninstall and reinstall Riot Vanguard. This should work for error code VAN -1.
- Restart LoL and Riot Client: This solution works for error codes VAN 0, VAN 1, VAN 6, and VAN 68.
- Restart your PC and Riot Client: This solution is useful for errors VAN -81, VAN -102, VAN -104, VAN 128, and VAN 1067.
- Check your connection: Check if your internet is working after that, restart League of Legends and the Riot Client. Use this method if you get the VAN 84 error.
- Install LoL on Windows: This might sound odd but if you get the error VAN 138, you have to install the game on a regular version of Windows, and not on a Virtual machine.
- Submit a Support Ticket: You should contact the game’s support if you get the VAN 152 error which is a hardware ban.
- Enable Exploit Protection: Use this fix when you get the VAN9002 error.
- Change BIOS mode to UEFI: You have to change your BIOS mode to UEFI and also enable TPM 2.0 when you get the VAN9005 error.
- Update to specific Windows 10 version: Update your Windows 10 to build number 10.0.17134 Codename Redstone 4 or above to continue playing LoL if you get the VAN9006 error.
Is LoL Vanguard Bricking Systems?
We cannot officially say that the Vanguard patch is the root cause behind it, however, many users have started to complain about having this problem after they updated the game. You can’t find such threads on the game’s main subreddit because apparently the mods take it down and redirect you to their Megathread.
However, we have seen users on Twitter like H. Baker talk about how “taking out CMOS battery and resetting battery was able to finally get into BIOS and fix PC w/ Vanguard running”. Be sure to check out their Tweet here.
That is all on the LoL Vanguard error and how you can fix it. If you are new to the game, then be sure to check our guide on tutorial stuck on patching fix.