Valorant’s uninstaller looks simple until it isn’t. You click Uninstall in Windows Settings, the progress bar crawls to 90 percent, and then it just sits there. Or Riot throws a VAN error code you’ve never seen before, and the support page assumes you already know what “vgc” and “vgk” mean. Neither is rare. Riot’s own Vanguard error-code page was last updated August 23, 2026, and its uninstall instructions were refreshed the day before that, which tells you Riot is still actively patching this exact problem.

By late August 2026, Vanguard has also changed how it loads. Riot shipped Vanguard On-Demand on June 24, 2026, switching the kernel driver from an always-running model (the default since 2020) to one that loads only while a Riot game is open and unloads on exit. That’s good for background CPU usage, but it also means the driver’s state can be inconsistent at the exact moment you try to remove it. Add in Windows 11 25H2’s tighter defaults around Memory Integrity and Core Isolation, and a clean uninstall isn’t guaranteed anymore.

This tutorial skips the generic “click uninstall and you’re done” advice. It walks through diagnosing exactly why your removal is stuck, decoding the specific error code on your screen, and building a small PowerShell script that finishes the job when the graphical uninstaller won’t. Twelve steps, five error-handling code blocks, and one script you can save and reuse.

Why Valorant and Vanguard Won’t Uninstall in 2026

Most software uninstalls in seconds because it doesn’t touch anything below the operating system. Vanguard is different by design. Riot built it to run at kernel level so it can spot cheat tools that operate below normal Windows permissions, and that same depth is exactly what makes removal fragile. A regular application just deletes files. Vanguard has to unregister a kernel driver, tear down a Windows service, and release file locks in the right order, and if any one of those steps stalls, the whole uninstall stalls with it.

Three things converged in 2026 to make this worse than it used to be. First, Vanguard On-Demand, which shipped June 24, 2026, moved the driver from an always-loaded state to one that loads and unloads around each play session, adding a timing window where the driver’s status is genuinely ambiguous. Second, Windows 11 25H2 shipped with Memory Integrity (part of Windows’ virtualization-based security stack) turned on by default in more configurations than before, which changes how Vanguard’s driver gets validated at both install and removal time. Third, Riot has been iterating on its error-code catalog fast enough that its own documentation carries a “last updated” stamp from within the past week as of this writing, a sign the underlying software is still shifting under the support articles trying to describe it.

None of that means removal is impossible. It means the standard “click uninstall” path, covered in Step 3 below, works for most people most of the time, and everyone else needs a fallback that goes past the GUI. That’s the rest of this guide, built around the actual failure patterns Riot’s own support documentation and current player reports describe rather than a generic checklist that assumes the uninstaller always behaves.

What You Need Before You Start

Gather these before you touch anything. Skipping the admin-account check is the single most common reason people get partway through and have to start over.

  • Windows 10 22H2 or Windows 11 23H2, 24H2, or 25H2. The commands below work on all three, though VAN 9001 and VAN 9002 show up more often on 25H2 because of its stricter Memory Integrity defaults.
  • A genuine local administrator account, not just a standard account with “Run as administrator” available. Vanguard’s service registration requires full admin rights to touch.
  • Command Prompt and PowerShell 5.1 or later, both included with Windows by default. Check your version with $PSVersionTable.PSVersion in PowerShell if you’re unsure.
  • 15 to 25 minutes. Add another 10 if you need to reach your motherboard’s UEFI firmware to check Secure Boot.
  • Your current Riot Vanguard build number, visible under Settings > Apps > Installed apps. Note it now, you’ll want it if you contact Riot support later.
  • A save point for anything else open. Several steps in this guide require a restart.

Step 1: Confirm What’s Actually Stuck

Before you force anything, figure out which failure mode you’re dealing with. There are three common patterns: the uninstaller hangs partway through, the uninstaller reports success but Vanguard’s services are still running, or you can’t even start the uninstall because Riot Client itself throws an error first. Each one needs a different fix later in this guide.

Open an elevated Command Prompt (right-click Start, choose Terminal (Admin) or Command Prompt (Admin)) and check the state of Vanguard’s two Windows services, vgc and vgk:

sc query vgc
sc query vgk

If both return STATE : 1 STOPPED, the drivers are at least dormant, and a standard uninstall from Add or Remove Programs should work in Step 3. If either returns STATE : 4 RUNNING, or if the command returns [SC] EnumQueryServicesStatus:OpenService FAILED 1060 (meaning the service doesn’t exist at all, which happens after a partial removal), skip ahead to Step 6. Write down which case you’re in, you’ll reference it more than once.

A quick way to route yourself through the rest of this guide: if you haven’t tried uninstalling yet at all, start at Step 3. If you tried once and it hung with no error code, go to Step 5. If you got a specific VAN code, jump straight to Step 4’s table and follow the fix listed there before coming back to the removal steps. If you’ve already tried the GUI uninstaller and it claimed success but sc query above still shows the services present, skip directly to Step 6, since that’s the exact scenario the manual deletion path exists to handle.

Step 2: Fully Close Riot Client and Background Services

Vanguard will refuse to uninstall while its own processes are alive, and Riot Client’s background sync can silently relaunch them even after you’ve closed the window. Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and end these tasks if present: RiotClientServices.exe, VALORANT-Win64-Shipping.exe, vgtray.exe, and vgc.exe. Check the Details tab too, not just Processes, since Riot Client sometimes keeps a helper running with no visible window.

Right-click the Vanguard shield icon in your system tray, if it’s still there, and select Exit before you end tasks manually. That triggers a cleaner shutdown than killing the process outright and reduces the odds of a corrupted service state on your next attempt.

If you use Riot Client to play other games too, closing it fully won’t sign you out or remove any other title’s data, it just ends the current session so nothing is holding a handle open on Vanguard’s files. People trying to uninstall Valorant while a second Riot game is mid-download on the same client run into this constantly, since the shared client keeps background threads active even when the game window itself is closed.

Step 3: Run the Standard Windows Uninstall Path

Riot’s documented order matters, so follow it exactly. Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps, search for Riot Vanguard, and uninstall it first. Then uninstall VALORANT. Only uninstall Riot Client last if you don’t play any other Riot game, since it’s the shared launcher for League of Legends and other titles too.

This is the path most people already tried before landing here, and roughly 720 people a month search specifically for how to uninstall Valorant, according to DataForSEO’s August 2026 keyword data, with search volume trending up about 22 percent month over month. If it completed without errors, jump to Step 11 to verify. If it hung, threw a VAN code, or silently left services running, keep going.

Step 4: Decode Your Vanguard Error Code

Riot maintains a live error-code catalog rather than a static list, and it changes as Vanguard itself updates, so treat the table below as a starting point and cross-check the current page if your code isn’t behaving the way it describes.

Codes that start with VAN and a three-or-four-digit number generally point to a specific system condition Vanguard checked and failed, rather than a random glitch. That distinction matters because it means most of these codes have a deterministic fix rather than a “just try again” answer. Riot’s own article catalog, refreshed August 21, 2026, keeps VAN 140, VAN 9007, and VAN 1067 listed as active topics, which is your signal that these aren’t legacy codes nobody sees anymore.

Error CodeCommon TriggerWhat To Do
VAN 140Connection error, often on unpatched Windows buildsFully update Windows to 10 or 11, and if it persists, uninstall both Vanguard and Valorant, then reinstall
VAN 9001Secure Boot or TPM 2.0 disabled in firmwareEnable Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 in UEFI/BIOS, then retry (see Step 9)
VAN 9002Control Flow Guard (CFG) turned off in Windows exploit protectionEnable CFG under Windows Security > App & browser control > Exploit protection
VAN 9007Active on Riot’s error catalog as of August 21, 2026Check Riot’s live error page directly, definitions shift as Vanguard updates
VAN 1067Active on Riot’s error catalog as of August 21, 2026Cross-reference Riot’s page before troubleshooting further
VAN RESTRICTION:1Vanguard detects a conflicting kernel-level driver or toolClose or uninstall other anti-cheat or virtualization software, then retry
Progress frozen at 90%Reported alongside some Windows cumulative updatesSee Step 5 for the manual workaround
“Windows cannot find Riot Client” during uninstallRiot Client entry was removed before VanguardSkip the GUI and use Step 6’s manual service deletion instead

Step 5: Fix the Uninstall Progress Bar Frozen at 90%

This one is community-documented rather than officially confirmed by Riot, so treat it as a strong pattern, not a guarantee. Players have tracked the hang appearing alongside a specific cumulative update some users identify as KB5074109, though Microsoft hasn’t published a formal acknowledgment tying that update to Vanguard specifically.

Give the installer 10 minutes before touching anything, since disk activity in Task Manager’s Performance tab can indicate it’s still working through file deletion even when the bar hasn’t moved. If CPU and disk both sit near zero for that whole window, the process is genuinely stuck. Open Task Manager, find the uninstaller (usually listed as Riot Vanguard or a generic MsiExec entry), and end it. Then move straight to Step 6, since a killed GUI uninstaller almost always leaves the underlying services registered even if some files were already deleted.

A related pattern worth checking before you give up on the GUI entirely: open the Windows Event Viewer (search for it in the Start menu) and look under Windows Logs > Application for anything logged by MsiInstaller around the time the bar froze. A recurring error there about a locked file or a missing component points to a corrupted uninstall cache rather than Vanguard itself, in which case running Microsoft’s built-in Program Install and Uninstall troubleshooter, still available through Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters, can clear the stuck entry before you fall back to the manual method below.

Step 6: Force-Delete the vgc and vgk Services

This is Riot’s own documented fallback, not an unofficial workaround, published on the Vanguard uninstall support page. Open an elevated Command Prompt and run:

sc delete vgc
sc delete vgk

A successful run prints [SC] DeleteService SUCCESS for each. If instead you see [SC] DeleteService FAILED 1072: The specified service has been marked for deletion, that means Windows already flagged it and a restart will finish clearing it, so reboot now before continuing. After the restart, go to C:\Program Files\Riot Vanguard in File Explorer and delete the folder if it’s still present. Windows won’t let you delete files still locked by a running driver, so if deletion fails here, you skipped the restart.

At this point you’ve now got three different ways to get rid of Vanguard, and which one is right depends on how far along you already are.

MethodTime NeededBest ForRequires Restart
Add or Remove Programs (Step 3)2-3 minutesA clean, working install with no errors so farNo
sc delete via Command Prompt (Step 6)5-10 minutesA hung, failed, or partially removed installYes, once
Remove-Vanguard.ps1 script (Step 10)1-2 minutes to run, reusable afterRepeated cleanup, multiple accounts, or IT-managed machinesOnly if the install folder is locked

Step 7: Deal With Vanguard On-Demand Mode

Vanguard On-Demand changes the timing problem you’re up against. Because the driver now loads only while a Riot game is actually running instead of at boot, it’s possible for sc query vgc to report STOPPED while the driver is technically mid-unload from a session you closed seconds ago. Wait a full 60 seconds after closing Valorant and Riot Client before running any deletion command, and re-run the Step 1 query to confirm STOPPED holds steady rather than flickering back to RUNNING.

If you’re troubleshooting this on a PC where Valorant was played within the last few minutes, that timing gap is the most likely explanation for a delete command that seems to work and then reappears on the next boot. On-Demand also means a fresh install after removal re-registers both services from scratch, so a clean force-removal here won’t corrupt anything for next time.

There’s a practical upside to On-Demand you can use during troubleshooting: since the driver isn’t loaded at boot anymore, you can often confirm a service is genuinely gone just by restarting once and checking that nothing auto-loads, rather than needing Safe Mode the way older always-on anti-cheat drivers sometimes required. That’s one less step compared to how this process worked before June 2026.

Step 8: Clean Up Leftover Registry Keys and Folders

Even after both services delete cleanly, Windows sometimes leaves orphaned registry entries that confuse a future reinstall. Check these two locations from an elevated Command Prompt:

reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vgc"
reg query "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vgk"

If either returns key data instead of ERROR: The system was unable to find the specified registry key, the service was deleted but the registry stub survived. Remove it with reg delete "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vgc" /f, substituting vgk for the second one. Be careful with the broader C:\ProgramData\Riot Games folder if you play any other Riot title, that directory is shared across the whole Riot Client ecosystem and deleting it wholesale will also wipe League of Legends or other Riot game data.

This step is optional if all you care about is a working uninstall, since leftover registry stubs rarely cause visible problems. It matters more if you’re preparing a machine for imaging, handing a PC down to someone else, or just prefer a genuinely clean slate before a Windows reinstall of your own. Skipping it won’t stop Valorant from reinstalling cleanly later, Riot’s installer overwrites stale keys without complaint.

Step 9: Fix Secure Boot, TPM, and HVCI Conflicts

VAN 9001 and VAN 9002 both trace back to Windows security features Vanguard depends on to register its kernel driver in the first place, and an inconsistent state here can block a clean uninstall just as easily as it blocks installs. Open Windows Security > Device security > Core isolation, and check whether Memory Integrity is on. On Windows 11 25H2 it’s enabled by default in a way earlier builds weren’t, which is part of why VAN 9001/9002 reports climbed after that update, per reporting on Vanguard’s Windows 11 25H2 behavior.

To check Secure Boot and TPM status without leaving Windows, open PowerShell as admin and run:

Confirm-SecureBootUEFI
Get-Tpm | Select-Object TpmPresent, TpmReady

Both need to return True for Vanguard to behave normally. If either comes back False, you’ll need to reboot into UEFI firmware settings (usually F2, Del, or Esc at boot, depending on your motherboard vendor) and enable Secure Boot and TPM there, since neither can be toggled from within Windows itself. Microsoft documents the general process in its virtualization-based security guide.

It’s worth understanding why Vanguard cares about these settings at all rather than just treating them as an arbitrary checklist. Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 let Windows verify that the boot chain and driver signatures haven’t been tampered with before Vanguard’s kernel component loads, and Control Flow Guard blocks a class of memory-corruption exploits that would otherwise let malicious code hijack a running process. Vanguard leans on all three because a compromised anti-cheat driver would be a serious security risk on its own, so it refuses to install or fully clean up when it can’t verify the platform underneath it is in the state it expects.

Step 10: Build a Vanguard Diagnostic and Force-Removal Script

Running each command by hand works fine once. If you’re troubleshooting this across a family PC with multiple accounts, or you just want a repeatable tool, the script below combines every check and cleanup step above into one file. Save it as Remove-Vanguard.ps1.

#Requires -RunAsAdministrator

$services = @("vgc", "vgk")
$installPath = "C:\Program Files\Riot Vanguard"
$log = @()

Write-Host "=== Vanguard Diagnostic and Removal ===" -ForegroundColor Cyan

foreach ($svc in $services) {
    $status = Get-Service -Name $svc -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    if ($status) {
        Write-Host "$svc found, status: $($status.Status)" -ForegroundColor Yellow
        if ($status.Status -eq "Running") {
            Stop-Service -Name $svc -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
            Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
        }
        sc.exe delete $svc | Out-Null
        $log += "$svc: deletion attempted"
    } else {
        Write-Host "$svc not registered as a service" -ForegroundColor Green
        $log += "$svc: not present"
    }
}

Write-Host "Waiting for Windows to release service handles..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
Start-Sleep -Seconds 5

if (Test-Path $installPath) {
    try {
        Remove-Item -Path $installPath -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction Stop
        $log += "Install folder removed: $installPath"
        Write-Host "Removed $installPath" -ForegroundColor Green
    } catch {
        $log += "Install folder LOCKED, restart required: $installPath"
        Write-Host "Folder is locked. Restart Windows, then rerun this script." -ForegroundColor Red
    }
} else {
    $log += "Install folder already absent"
}

foreach ($svc in $services) {
    $regPath = "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\$svc"
    if (Test-Path $regPath) {
        Remove-Item -Path $regPath -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        $log += "Registry key removed for $svc"
    }
}

Write-Host "`n=== Summary ===" -ForegroundColor Cyan
$log | ForEach-Object { Write-Host " - $_" }
Write-Host "`nIf any items above say 'restart required,' reboot and run this script again." -ForegroundColor Yellow

To run it, right-click the file and choose “Run with PowerShell.” If Windows blocks it with an execution policy error, open PowerShell as admin first and run Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass, then launch the script from that same window with .\Remove-Vanguard.ps1. That scopes the policy change to just the current session instead of permanently loosening your system’s script restrictions.

Step 11: Verify Vanguard Is Actually Gone

Don’t trust a “success” message alone. Confirm with a fresh PowerShell check:

Get-Service -Name vgc, vgk -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Test-Path "C:\Program Files\Riot Vanguard"

The service check should return nothing (an empty result means neither service exists), and Test-Path should return False. If both come back clean, you’re done. If you’re reinstalling later rather than staying uninstalled, download fresh installers only from Riot’s own client, never a third-party mirror, since Vanguard’s kernel-level access makes it a high-value target for tampered installers.

What Success Actually Looks Like

Because Vanguard rarely gives clear visual confirmation of removal, it helps to know exactly what a clean run of the script from Step 10 should print. Here’s a typical output on a machine where both services existed and the install folder wasn’t locked:

=== Vanguard Diagnostic and Removal ===
vgc found, status: Stopped
vgk found, status: Stopped
Waiting for Windows to release service handles...
Removed C:\Program Files\Riot Vanguard

=== Summary ===
 - vgc: deletion attempted
 - vgk: deletion attempted
 - Install folder removed: C:\Program Files\Riot Vanguard
 - Registry key removed for vgc
 - Registry key removed for vgk

If your output instead shows “Install folder LOCKED, restart required,” that’s not a failure, it’s the script correctly detecting a file lock it can’t clear without a reboot. Restart, then run the script a second time. A second run should print “Install folder already absent” for that line, along with “not present” for both services, confirming nothing was left behind.

Step 12: Reinstall Cleanly if You Change Your Mind

A full removal followed by a fresh install resolves more persistent Vanguard weirdness than any single patch step, because it forces Windows to re-register both services from a blank state. Launch the Riot Client installer, sign in, and Vanguard will reinstall automatically the first time you launch Valorant. Expect the first launch after a clean reinstall to take a little longer than usual while Windows re-establishes the driver’s security attestation.

If your goal was simply to stop Vanguard from running in the background rather than to stop playing Valorant altogether, know that reinstalling isn’t your only option going forward. Vanguard On-Demand already does most of that work for you by keeping the driver unloaded any time you’re not in a match, so a full uninstall followed by a fresh install is really only necessary when something is actively broken, not as routine maintenance between play sessions.

Common Pitfalls When Uninstalling Vanguard

Most failed uninstall attempts trace back to one of these mistakes, in order of how often they show up in Riot’s own support threads and community reports. None of them are hard to avoid once you know to look for them, but they’re also the reason a five-minute job on paper turns into a half-hour of retries for a lot of people trying to uninstall Valorant for the first time.

  • Deleting driver files before removing the service registration. Manually deleting vgk.sys while its service key still points to it can leave Windows logging “unable to start service” errors on every subsequent scan. Always delete the service first with sc delete, then the files.
  • Running the uninstaller with the tray icon still active. Vanguard’s monitor process locks its own files while running, which is the single most common cause of a hang at any percentage, not just 90.
  • Disabling Secure Boot and forgetting to re-enable it. It fixes the immediate error but leaves your whole system on a weaker boot-security posture long after you’ve moved on from Valorant.
  • Assuming a “successful” GUI uninstall actually removed the kernel driver. Windows will sometimes report success while a service remains registered. Always verify with sc query or the script’s built-in check, don’t take the confirmation dialog at face value.
  • Wiping the entire ProgramData\Riot Games folder. If you play League of Legends or any other Riot title, that folder is shared, and deleting it removes data well beyond Valorant.
  • Skipping the restart between service deletion and folder deletion. Windows holds a file lock on the install folder until the next boot in most stuck-uninstall cases, so trying to delete it immediately just produces another error.

Troubleshooting Reference Table

Use this table for symptoms that don’t match a specific VAN code from Step 4. It’s organized around what you’re actually seeing on screen rather than a numbered error, since a lot of stuck uninstalls never produce a code at all, they just quietly fail or leave something behind.

SymptomLikely CauseFix
Uninstall button is greyed outA Riot process still holds a lock on the appRepeat Step 2, checking the Details tab in Task Manager
“Access denied” during uninstallNot running as full administratorSign out of a standard account and use a genuine admin profile
Vanguard reinstalls itself after rebootRiot Client auto-repair triggered on launchUninstall Riot Client too, not just Vanguard and Valorant
sc delete returns “marked for deletion”Windows already flagged the service for removalReboot, then re-run the delete command
PowerShell script exits with “not recognized as administrator”Script launched from a non-elevated windowRight-click PowerShell itself and choose Run as administrator first
Service shows Disabled but sc query still lists it RunningVanguard On-Demand mid-session lock (see Step 7)Wait 60 seconds after fully closing Valorant, then retry
Windows Defender flags Remove-Vanguard.ps1Generic PowerShell heuristic on service-deletion scriptsReview the script contents, then allow it manually via Defender’s protection history
Install folder still present after every attemptA restart was skipped between stepsReboot once, fully, then rerun Step 6 or the script

Advanced Tips for IT Admins and Shared PCs

On a household or lab PC with multiple accounts, Vanguard’s service registration is machine-wide, not per-user, so you only need to run the removal script once regardless of how many Windows profiles have played Valorant. Run it from an account with local admin rights and it clears the driver for every user on that machine.

For auditing what actually happened during a stuck uninstall, check Event Viewer under Windows Logs > System, filtered to Source: Service Control Manager, around the timestamp of your attempt. Vanguard’s service transitions get logged there even when the GUI uninstaller gives no useful error message, which is often the fastest way to tell whether a service genuinely failed to stop versus simply timed out waiting on a locked file.

If you manage several machines that need periodic Vanguard cleanup (a school computer lab, an internet cafe, a shared streaming rig), Task Scheduler can run the PowerShell script on a recurring basis under a service account with local admin rights, catching any Vanguard remnants left behind after Valorant sessions without needing to touch each machine by hand.

One more thing worth building into any fleet-wide process: log the output of the script (redirect it to a text file with .\Remove-Vanguard.ps1 | Out-File -FilePath "C:\Logs\vanguard-removal.log") so you have a record of which machines had a locked install folder and needed a second pass. On a lab with a few dozen machines, that log turns a manual per-device check into something you can scan in a minute or two after a batch run finishes overnight.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it safe to force-delete Vanguard with the sc command?
Yes. This is Riot’s own documented fallback method, published directly on its support site, not a workaround Riot discourages. It removes the service registration cleanly as long as you follow it with the restart and folder cleanup in Step 6.

Will force-removing Vanguard block me from playing Valorant again later?
No. Reinstalling Riot Client and launching Valorant re-registers both services from scratch, exactly as it would on a fresh Windows install.

Does uninstalling Vanguard also remove League of Legends or other Riot anti-cheat components?
No, Vanguard is shared infrastructure across Riot’s catalog, but uninstalling it only removes the driver itself, not other installed Riot games. Just avoid deleting the shared ProgramData\Riot Games folder, which does hold data for other titles.

What’s the difference between disabling Vanguard and uninstalling it?
Disabling stops the service from loading without removing its files or registration, useful for temporary troubleshooting. Uninstalling, via this guide, removes the service, files, and registry entries entirely.

Can antivirus software interfere with the uninstall?
Yes, some antivirus tools flag Vanguard’s own uninstaller or the PowerShell script in this guide as suspicious purely because both touch kernel-level services. Check your antivirus’s quarantine or protection history if a step fails silently, and temporarily allow the specific file rather than disabling real-time protection entirely.

How do I know if my uninstall actually worked, without running the script again?
Open Task Manager’s Services tab (not the separate Services app) and search for vgc and vgk. If neither appears in the list at all, the services are gone. You can also check Settings > Apps > Installed apps and confirm Riot Vanguard no longer appears, which is the simplest signal that a standard uninstall completed properly.

Do I need to disable Secure Boot permanently to fix VAN 9001?
No, and you shouldn’t. Enable Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 rather than disabling them, since VAN 9001 specifically means those features are currently off and need to be turned on, not the reverse.

What if the PowerShell script says execution policy is restricted?
Run Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass in an elevated PowerShell window first, then launch the script from that same window. That limits the policy change to the current session only.

Why does Riot keep changing the error codes and uninstall steps?
Vanguard updates frequently, and Riot’s support catalog was refreshed as recently as August 21 through 23, 2026, which suggests active, ongoing troubleshooting work rather than a settled, static process. Always check the live Riot support page if a step in this guide doesn’t match what you’re seeing.

Does this guide work if I’m trying to uninstall Valorant on a laptop instead of a desktop?
Yes, every step here is the same regardless of form factor. The one thing worth double-checking on a laptop is Secure Boot and TPM settings in Step 9, since some laptop manufacturers hide these under a vendor-specific firmware menu rather than a generic UEFI screen, and the exact key to enter firmware setup varies by brand.