((new)) — Valorant Secure Boot

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:

Enter Secure Boot. Secure Boot is a security standard built into modern motherboards (UEFI, not legacy BIOS). Think of it as a digital bouncer that checks the ID of every driver and bootloader before allowing them to run.

However, for the health of competitive gaming, Secure Boot is a net positive. It raises the bar for cheaters from "download a free script" to "physically hack your motherboard." It forces cheat developers to compete with billion-dollar hardware manufacturers. valorant secure boot

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.

In five years, you likely won’t be able to play any major competitive online game without Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 enabled. As a gamer, being asked to dig into your BIOS is frustrating. Being told your perfectly functional five-year-old PC is suddenly "incompatible" stings. And the privacy concerns surrounding kernel-level anti-cheat are valid and worth discussing. Without Secure Boot, a cheat could load a

Secure Boot can interfere with Linux bootloaders (like GRUB) if they aren’t properly signed. While most modern distros (Ubuntu, Fedora) support Secure Boot via Microsoft’s signature, others require you to disable it. VALORANT forces you to choose between your favorite Linux distro and the game.

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. The backlash against the Secure Boot requirement was fierce

So, take a deep breath, reboot into your BIOS, and flip that switch. The cheaters are praying you don't. And in the ranked lobbies of VALORANT , that’s a prayer we are happy to answer. Have you successfully enabled Secure Boot? Still getting the error? Drop your motherboard model in the comments below.

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