If you have tried to remove Valorant from your PC, you have probably noticed something odd: there is no “Valorant” entry sitting cleanly in Add or Remove Programs. That is because Valorant does not install as a standalone application. It lives inside the Riot Client, the shared launcher Riot Games also uses for League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, and Legends of Runeterra. Uninstall Valorant the wrong way and you can strip out Vanguard’s kernel driver while leaving gigabytes of Riot Client files, registry entries, and background services behind, or worse, break your other Riot games in the process.
This tutorial walks through a full, verified removal of the Riot Client, Valorant, and the Vanguard anti-cheat driver on Windows, plus the reverse move: a clean reinstall that fixes the VAN9001, VAN9003, and VAN9090 launch errors Riot documents for Windows 11. By the end you will have a repeatable process, a small PowerShell verification script, and a troubleshooting table for the failures people actually hit.
Why “Uninstall Valorant” Really Means “Uninstall Riot Client”
Riot built its 2020-era client architecture around one shared launcher for every title. Valorant, League of Legends, and Teamfight Tactics all install as plugins under the Riot Client rather than as separate executables. When you search Windows Settings for “Valorant,” you will not find a dedicated uninstaller. Instead, Windows lists “Riot Client,” and removing that entry takes every Riot game with it, not just Valorant.
That single-launcher design is convenient for Riot’s build pipeline but confusing for players who only want Valorant gone. If you still play League of Legends or TFT, wiping the Riot Client wholesale is the wrong move. You need to remove Valorant’s game files and the Vanguard driver while leaving the shared client and your other games intact. If you want everything gone, including League and TFT, a full Riot Client removal is the correct path. This guide covers both, plus the Vanguard driver cleanup that neither the partial nor full removal fully handles on its own.
Riot’s own support documentation confirms the split: its official uninstall article for Vanguard walks through disabling or removing the anti-cheat driver separately from the Riot Client itself, because the driver installs Windows services that outlive a normal app uninstall. You can read the source steps directly on Riot’s Vanguard uninstall support page.
What Vanguard Actually Does (and Why You Cannot Just Delete It)
Vanguard is a kernel-mode anti-cheat driver, which means it runs at the same privilege level as Windows itself rather than as a regular background app. Riot chose this architecture because user-mode anti-cheat, the kind that runs as a normal process, can be blinded by cheats that also load at kernel level. Vanguard loads at boot, before Valorant even starts, specifically to catch drivers and kernel-level cheat tools that would otherwise be invisible to a standard anti-cheat process.
That boot-time requirement is exactly why a normal app uninstall cannot cleanly remove it. Windows treats vgk, the kernel component, as a system driver rather than an application, so Add or Remove Programs has no hook into it. The vgc service is the user-mode counterpart that talks to vgk and reports back to Riot’s servers, and removing only one of the pair leaves the other partially registered, which is why Steps 5 and 6 below always target both together.
This is also why some players see Vanguard listed as “running” in Task Manager’s Services tab even weeks after they stopped playing Valorant. Riot’s client-side design keeps vgc active in the background so the driver is ready to load instantly the next time you launch the game, rather than requiring a fresh install cycle every session. If you do not plan to play Valorant again, there is no downside to fully removing it with the commands in this guide, since Vanguard serves no purpose for any other Riot title.
Checking Your Riot Client and Valorant Versions Before You Start
It helps to know what is currently installed before you start deleting things, especially if you are troubleshooting a launch error and want to compare versions after reinstalling. Open PowerShell (no admin rights needed for this read-only check) and run:
Get-Item "C:\Riot Games\Riot Client\RiotClientServices.exe" | Select-Object VersionInfo
Get-Item "C:\Riot Games\VALORANT\live\VALORANT.exe" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object VersionInfoIf the second command returns nothing, Valorant is not currently installed, which is normal if you already removed it through Step 3 or 4. The first command should return a FileVersion string for the Riot Client itself. Note that value if you are filing a support ticket with Riot, since their support staff often ask for it to narrow down whether an error is tied to a specific client build.
Prerequisites and Versions
Before you start, confirm you have the following. Skipping the admin-rights step is the single most common reason this process stalls halfway through.
- Windows 10 (22H2 or later) or Windows 11, with an administrator account. Standard accounts cannot delete the vgc and vgk services.
- At least 15 GB of free disk space temporarily, since a clean reinstall downloads the client and game data fresh.
- Command Prompt or PowerShell 5.1+ (built into Windows 10/11, no separate install needed).
- Riot Client closed completely, including its background process in the system tray, not just the visible window.
- Your Riot account username and password on hand if you plan to reinstall afterward. Vanguard does not need to be running to complete the removal steps below.
- For the reinstall-to-fix-errors path: Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 available in your BIOS/UEFI, since Vanguard on Windows 11 requires both to be enabled.
Step 1: Decide Which Removal You Need
Pick one of three outcomes before touching anything. This decision changes which steps below you run.
| Goal | What you remove | What survives |
|---|---|---|
| Drop Valorant only, keep League/TFT | Valorant game files, Vanguard driver and services | Riot Client, League of Legends, TFT accounts and files |
| Remove every Riot game | Riot Client (removes all games with it), Vanguard driver and services | Nothing Riot-related, account data stays on Riot’s servers |
| Fix a launch error (VAN9001/9003/9090) | Vanguard driver and services only, then a clean reinstall | Riot Client and other games, Valorant reinstalls fresh |
Step 2: Close Every Riot Process
Right-click the Riot Client icon in your system tray and choose Exit, then open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and check the Details tab for any lingering RiotClientServices.exe, VALORANT-Win64-Shipping.exe, or vgc.exe processes. End any that are still running. Vanguard’s vgk.exe runs as a kernel driver rather than a normal process, so it will not appear here. You will remove it through the service commands in Step 5.
Step 3: Uninstall Valorant Only, Keep Other Riot Games (Partial Removal)
Open Windows Settings, go to Apps, then Installed apps (on Windows 10, this is “Apps & features”). Search for “Riot Client” in the list. You will see one shared entry, since Valorant does not appear separately. Do not click Uninstall on it yet if you play League or TFT.
Instead, open the Riot Client itself, click the settings gear in the top-right corner, and look for the per-game uninstall option under Valorant’s game tile. Riot added this so players could drop individual titles without taking the whole client down. Click Uninstall Valorant there. This removes the game’s install folder (typically under C:\Riot Games\VALORANT) but leaves the Riot Client and the Vanguard driver behind, since Vanguard is shared infrastructure that other Riot anti-cheat-protected titles can also use.
Step 4: Remove the Riot Client Completely (Full Removal)
If you want every Riot game gone, go back to Settings > Apps > Installed apps, find “Riot Client,” and click Uninstall. Confirm the User Account Control (UAC) prompt. This removes League of Legends, TFT, Legends of Runeterra, and Valorant together, along with the client’s own program files. It does not remove Vanguard, which installs as a separate driver package specifically so it can persist across game updates and reinstalls without re-elevating every time.
After the uninstall finishes, check whether a “Riot Games” folder remains under C:\Riot Games or in your Program Files directory. The standard uninstaller sometimes leaves log files and cached configuration behind. Delete that folder manually once you have confirmed nothing else references it.
Step 5: Remove the Vanguard Driver via Command Line
This is the step both the partial and full removal above skip, and it is the one that actually gets rid of Vanguard’s kernel-level driver. Vanguard installs two Windows services, vgc (the client-side component) and vgk (the kernel driver that loads at boot). Riot’s own support article documents removing both with the Service Control utility. Open Command Prompt as Administrator (right-click the Start button, choose “Terminal (Admin)” or “Command Prompt (Admin)”) and run:
sc stop vgc
sc stop vgk
sc delete vgc
sc delete vgkYou should see “[SC] DeleteService SUCCESS” printed after each delete command. If you instead see “The specified service does not exist as an installed service,” Vanguard was already removed by a prior uninstall attempt, and you can skip ahead to Step 7.
Step 6: Clean the Vanguard Registry Keys
Deleting the services does not always clear their registry entries. Vanguard registers itself at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vgc and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vgk. In the same elevated Command Prompt window, force-remove both keys:
reg delete "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vgk" /f
reg delete "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vgc" /fThe /f flag suppresses the confirmation prompt so both commands run without you needing to type “Y” twice. Microsoft documents the full reg delete syntax, including this flag, in its Windows commands reference. Do not touch any other keys under CurrentControlSet\Services, since that hive contains every driver and service on your machine, and deleting the wrong entry can stop unrelated hardware from loading at next boot.
Step 7: Delete Leftover Vanguard Files
With the services and registry keys gone, remove the physical driver files. Vanguard typically installs to C:\Program Files\Riot Vanguard. Delete that folder. If Windows reports the folder is in use, restart your PC first, since the vgk driver may still be loaded in memory until the next boot even after you delete its service entry.
Also check C:\Windows\System32\drivers for a leftover vgk.sys file. It should already be gone once you have deleted the service and rebooted, but confirming here catches the rare case where a stale driver file survives a service deletion.
Step 8: Verify Everything Is Gone With PowerShell
Rather than checking each location by hand, run this short PowerShell script as Administrator to confirm the services, registry keys, and folders are all clear:
$targets = @("vgc", "vgk")
foreach ($svc in $targets) {
$found = Get-Service -Name $svc -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if ($found) { Write-Host "$svc STILL PRESENT" -ForegroundColor Red }
else { Write-Host "$svc removed" -ForegroundColor Green }
}
$paths = @(
"C:\Program Files\Riot Vanguard",
"C:\Riot Games",
"HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vgc",
"HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vgk"
)
foreach ($p in $paths) {
if (Test-Path $p) { Write-Host "$p STILL EXISTS" -ForegroundColor Red }
else { Write-Host "$p removed" -ForegroundColor Green }
}A fully clean system prints “removed” in green for every line. If any entry shows red, go back to the matching step (services in Step 5, registry in Step 6, folders in Step 7) and repeat it, then reboot before checking again.
Expected output on a clean machine looks like this:
vgc removed
vgk removed
C:\Program Files\Riot Vanguard removed
C:\Riot Games removed
HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vgc removed
HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vgk removedStep 9: The Reinstall Path – Fixing VAN9001, VAN9003, and VAN9090
If your goal was never to quit Valorant but to fix a launch failure, this is where the uninstall becomes useful as a repair tool. Riot documents VAN9001, VAN9003, and VAN9090 as Windows 11 errors that appear when Secure Boot or TPM 2.0 is disabled, or when Vanguard’s driver registration gets corrupted after a Windows update. You can read Riot’s own breakdown of these codes on its Windows 11 troubleshooting article.
Before reinstalling, confirm Secure Boot and TPM are actually on. Press the Windows key, type msinfo32, and press Enter. In the System Information window, check the “Secure Boot State” and “Device Encryption Support” rows. If Secure Boot reads “Off,” you need to enable it in your BIOS/UEFI settings, typically under a Security or Boot menu, before Vanguard will register correctly. Microsoft’s own documentation on Secure Boot requirements and the Trusted Platform Module overview explain what each setting controls if you are unfamiliar with UEFI firmware.
Once Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 are confirmed enabled, complete Steps 5 through 8 above to fully strip the old Vanguard installation, reboot, then reinstall the Riot Client and Valorant from scratch. A fresh Vanguard driver install after a clean uninstall resolves the VAN9001/VAN9003/VAN9090 family of errors in most reported cases, because it forces Windows to re-register the driver against your current Secure Boot and TPM state rather than reusing a stale registration.
Step 10: Reinstall Cleanly
Download the Riot Client installer from Riot’s official site and run it as Administrator. During setup, Windows will prompt a UAC confirmation specifically for the Vanguard driver component, and you should accept it. Vanguard needs kernel-level access to do its anti-cheat scanning, which is why this prompt appears separately from the general installer permission.
After installation completes, restart your PC once before launching Valorant for the first time. This lets the vgk driver load cleanly at boot rather than being injected into an already-running session, which is a common source of first-launch crashes after a reinstall.
Step 11: Confirm Vanguard Is Running Correctly
Open an elevated Command Prompt and query the service status directly:
sc query vgc
sc query vgkBoth should report STATE as RUNNING. If vgk shows STOPPED or the command returns a “service does not exist” error, the driver failed to register, and you should recheck Secure Boot and TPM status with msinfo32 before trying the reinstall again.
Step 12: Handle Leftover Save Data and Settings
Your Valorant crosshair profiles, keybinds, and video settings are stored server-side against your account, not locally, so a full uninstall and reinstall does not erase them. Local files that do get wiped include your replay cache and any custom config overrides placed manually in the game directory. If you had edited files under VALORANT\live\ShooterGame\Saved\Config, back those up before Step 3 or 4 if you plan to reuse them.
Uninstalling on a Shared or Multi-User PC
Riot Client and Vanguard install machine-wide, not per Windows user account. If two siblings or roommates share one PC and only one of them wants to stop playing Valorant, uninstalling through Settings removes the game for every account on that machine, including any saved shortcuts other users had pinned. There is no supported way to keep Valorant installed for one Windows account while hiding it from another, since the game files and the Vanguard driver both sit outside any single user’s profile folder.
If your household situation is the opposite, where one person wants Valorant gone but others still play League of Legends on the same machine, that is exactly the case Step 3’s per-game uninstall option was built for. Use that path rather than the full Riot Client removal, and the League of Legends and TFT installs will be untouched for every account on the PC.
For IT staff managing lab or LAN center machines with dozens of seats, the PowerShell script in the Complete Working Script section below can be pushed through a software deployment tool or a scheduled task tied to a maintenance window, so you are not remoting into each machine individually to run the same four commands.
What Happens to Your Rank, Match History, and Account
None of the removal steps in this guide touch your Riot account or anything tied to it server-side. Your competitive rank, match history, purchased skins, and Valorant Points balance all live on Riot’s servers, not on your PC, so uninstalling and even reinstalling months later brings all of it back exactly as you left it. The only local casualty is your replay cache, which stores recent match replays as temporary files inside the game’s install folder and is deleted along with everything else in Steps 3, 4, or 7.
If you play on a competitive ranked queue and are mid-placement when you uninstall, that placement state is also stored server-side, so a reinstall does not reset or restart your placement matches. The one exception worth knowing about is queue penalties: if you leave a match in progress and then immediately uninstall to avoid a penalty timer, the penalty still applies to your account the next time you queue, since Riot’s matchmaking servers track that independently of whether the client is installed.
Common Pitfalls
- Uninstalling Riot Client while League of Legends is still installed. This takes League and TFT down with it. Always use the per-game uninstall inside the Riot Client (Step 3) if you want to keep other titles.
- Running Command Prompt without Administrator rights. The sc delete and reg delete commands fail silently or return “Access is denied” without elevation. Always right-click and choose “Run as administrator.”
- Deleting the Vanguard folder before stopping the services. Windows will report the folder is in use if vgk is still loaded. Stop the services first, then delete files, then reboot if needed.
- Assuming the standard uninstaller removes Vanguard. It does not. Vanguard is a separate driver package by design, so Steps 5 through 7 are mandatory even after a normal app uninstall.
- Skipping the reboot after reinstalling. A first launch without a restart is one of the more common causes of Vanguard failing to initialize on a fresh install.
- Ignoring Secure Boot/TPM state before reinstalling to fix VAN9001. Reinstalling without first enabling Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 just reproduces the same error on a fresh install.
- Editing the wrong registry key. The Services hive contains entries for every driver on the system. Only touch the vgc and vgk keys exactly as written in Step 6.
Troubleshooting Table
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| “Access is denied” on sc delete | Command Prompt not running as Administrator | Close it, right-click Start, reopen as Administrator |
| “The specified service does not exist” | Vanguard was already removed previously | Skip to registry cleanup (Step 6) or verification (Step 8) |
| Riot Vanguard folder won’t delete | vgk driver still loaded in memory | Reboot, then delete the folder before Vanguard restarts |
| VAN9001 after fresh reinstall | Secure Boot or TPM 2.0 still disabled | Enable both in BIOS/UEFI, then reinstall again |
| VAN9003 with Secure Boot already on | Secure Boot set to “Standard” instead of a compatible mode | Switch Secure Boot mode in UEFI, some boards need “Custom” mode toggled once |
| vgc shows STOPPED after sc query | Driver failed to register on last install | Rerun Steps 5-8 for a clean removal, then reinstall |
| Riot Client uninstalls but League icon remains on desktop | Leftover shortcut, not an active install | Safe to delete the shortcut manually |
| UAC prompt for Vanguard never appears during install | Installer running without admin rights | Re-run the Riot Client installer as Administrator |
| Windows Defender flags vgk.sys | False positive from kernel-driver heuristics | Confirm the file is signed by Riot Games before allowlisting, do not disable Defender entirely |
Partial vs. Full Removal: A Quick Comparison
| Aspect | Partial (Valorant only) | Full (Riot Client) |
|---|---|---|
| Removes Valorant game files | Yes | Yes |
| Removes League of Legends / TFT | No | Yes |
| Removes Riot Client program | No | Yes |
| Removes Vanguard driver | Not automatically | Not automatically |
| Requires command-line steps | Only for Vanguard (Steps 5-7) | Only for Vanguard (Steps 5-7) |
| Disk space reclaimed (typical) | 4-8 GB | 15-25 GB, depending on installed titles |
Vanguard’s Windows 11 Requirements, in Plain Terms
Vanguard’s Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 requirement is not a Valorant-specific quirk. Both are baseline Windows 11 hardware requirements set by Microsoft, and most PCs sold since 2021 support them out of the box, though not all ship with them switched on by default. Secure Boot stops unsigned or tampered bootloaders from running before Windows even starts, and TPM stores encryption keys in a dedicated hardware chip rather than in regular system memory where a kernel-level cheat could read them. Vanguard checks both at driver load time because a kernel-level cheat with Secure Boot disabled could load itself before Vanguard gets the chance to start scanning.
If you built or bought your PC before Windows 11 existed and upgraded later, there is a reasonable chance Secure Boot is present in your BIOS/UEFI but was never turned on, since Windows 10 did not require it. That is the single most common reason VAN9001 shows up on an otherwise perfectly capable machine. Checking msinfo32, as covered in Step 9, takes under a minute and rules this out before you spend time on a full reinstall that would not have fixed anything.
One caveat worth flagging: some older motherboards expose Secure Boot in UEFI but pair it with a legacy “CSM” (Compatibility Support Module) boot mode left over from BIOS-era systems. Vanguard, like most modern anti-cheat drivers, expects a pure UEFI boot with CSM disabled. If Secure Boot shows as enabled in msinfo32 but VAN9001 persists anyway, check your boot mode setting alongside Secure Boot rather than assuming the driver installation itself is at fault.
Try the Riot Repair Tool Before a Full Reinstall
A full uninstall and reinstall is the most reliable fix for a broken Vanguard install, but it is also the slowest, since Valorant’s client is a multi-gigabyte download. Before committing to the full process in Steps 5 through 10, it is worth trying Riot’s built-in repair tool, which can resolve some of the same corruption issues without touching your existing game files.
Open the Riot Client, click the gear icon next to Valorant, and select “Repair” from the menu. This checks every local game file against Riot’s servers and re-downloads anything that does not match, without removing your install or the Vanguard driver. It is a smaller, faster operation than a full uninstall and is worth trying first if you are seeing crashes or file-integrity errors rather than a launch failure with a VAN error code. If a repair does not resolve the issue, or if the error is specifically VAN9001, VAN9003, or VAN9090 tied to Secure Boot or TPM state, move on to the full removal process, since those errors are caused by driver registration problems that a file-level repair cannot fix.
Disabling Vanguard Temporarily Without a Full Uninstall
Riot also ships a lighter option for players who just want Vanguard’s background boot-time driver off for a session, without going through a full removal. Opening the Riot Client, clicking the gear icon, and choosing “Restart with Vanguard disabled” boots Vanguard into a passive, non-blocking state for that session only. Valorant itself will not launch while Vanguard is disabled this way, since the anti-cheat check is mandatory for the game, but other Riot titles that do not require Vanguard will run normally.
This option exists mainly for players troubleshooting conflicts between Vanguard and other kernel-level software, such as certain virtualization tools or older anti-cheat drivers from other games that do not coexist well with Vanguard loaded. It is a diagnostic step, not a permanent fix. If disabling Vanguard resolves whatever conflict you were chasing, the actual fix is usually to update or remove the conflicting software rather than leaving Vanguard disabled long-term, since Valorant will not run in that state anyway.
Advanced Tips
If you manage multiple machines, such as a shared family PC or a small LAN center, wrap Steps 5 through 8 into a single .bat or .ps1 script and run it through Group Policy or a scheduled task rather than repeating the manual steps on every machine. The sc and reg commands used here are standard Windows utilities, so they work identically whether you run them interactively or from an unattended script, as documented in Microsoft’s sc delete reference.
If you dual-boot Windows and need Vanguard active only in one environment, be aware that Vanguard’s driver registration is per-Windows-installation, not per-physical-machine. A separate Windows install on the same drive needs its own full removal or install cycle. Nothing you do in one OS partition touches the driver state in another.
For anyone who wants to confirm Vanguard’s driver signature before reinstalling, right-click vgk.sys under System32\drivers, choose Properties, then the Digital Signatures tab. A legitimate file will show Riot Games, Inc. as the signer. This is a useful sanity check if antivirus software has flagged the file and you are unsure whether to trust it.
Complete Working Script: One-Pass Removal
Combining Steps 5 through 8 into a single script saves time if you expect to repeat this process, for example when testing a VAN9001 fix across a reinstall cycle. Save the following as remove-vanguard.ps1 and run it from an elevated PowerShell window:
Write-Host "Stopping Vanguard services..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
sc.exe stop vgc | Out-Null
sc.exe stop vgk | Out-Null
Write-Host "Deleting Vanguard services..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
sc.exe delete vgc | Out-Null
sc.exe delete vgk | Out-Null
Write-Host "Clearing registry keys..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
reg delete "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vgk" /f | Out-Null
reg delete "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vgc" /f | Out-Null
$vgFolder = "C:\Program Files\Riot Vanguard"
if (Test-Path $vgFolder) {
Write-Host "Removing Vanguard folder..." -ForegroundColor Cyan
Remove-Item -Path $vgFolder -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}
Write-Host "Done. Reboot before reinstalling Valorant." -ForegroundColor GreenRun this script, reboot, then proceed to Step 10 for a clean reinstall. Treat any red or error output as a signal to check the matching manual step above rather than rerunning the script blindly, since repeated deletion attempts on an already-clean system are harmless but will not reveal what actually went wrong on the first pass.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does uninstalling Valorant also remove League of Legends?
Only if you uninstall the Riot Client itself. Using the per-game uninstall option inside the Riot Client removes Valorant alone and leaves League of Legends, TFT, and Legends of Runeterra untouched.
Why does Vanguard survive a normal Valorant uninstall?
Vanguard installs as a separate Windows service pair, vgc and vgk, specifically so the kernel driver persists across game updates without requiring a fresh elevation prompt every time. Removing it requires the sc delete and reg delete commands covered in Steps 5 and 6.
Will reinstalling Valorant fix VAN9001, VAN9003, or VAN9090?
It can, but only after you confirm Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 are enabled in your BIOS/UEFI first. A clean uninstall and reinstall forces Windows to re-register the Vanguard driver against your current firmware settings, which resolves most reported cases of these error codes.
Do I lose my crosshair settings and keybinds if I reinstall?
No. Crosshair profiles, keybinds, and video settings are stored against your Riot account server-side, so they persist through an uninstall and reinstall. Only local files like custom config overrides and your replay cache are lost.
Is it safe to delete vgk.sys manually?
Only after you have stopped and deleted the vgc and vgk services first. Deleting the driver file while the service registration still points to it can leave Windows referencing a missing file, which is more likely to cause errors than a clean service-then-file removal in the order shown in Steps 5 through 7.
Can I remove Vanguard without uninstalling Valorant at all?
Yes, Riot’s support documentation covers disabling Vanguard independently, but Valorant will refuse to launch without it, since the anti-cheat driver is a launch requirement, not an optional add-on. Removing Vanguard alone only makes sense as an interim step before a reinstall.
Why does Windows show “Riot Client” instead of “Valorant” in Installed Apps?
Valorant is not packaged as an independent Windows application. It runs as a plugin inside the shared Riot Client launcher, which is why Windows only lists the client itself and not each individual game.
How much disk space does a full removal free up?
A Valorant-only removal typically frees 4 to 8 GB. Removing the full Riot Client along with every installed Riot title can free 15 to 25 GB or more, depending on how many games you had installed.
Should I try the Riot repair tool before a full uninstall?
Yes, if your issue looks like file corruption or crashes rather than a VAN9001-style launch error. The repair tool re-downloads mismatched game files without removing your install or the Vanguard driver, and it finishes far faster than a full uninstall and reinstall. Save the full removal process for driver-registration errors tied to Secure Boot or TPM, which a repair cannot fix.
Does uninstalling Valorant on a shared PC affect other Windows accounts?
Yes. Riot Client, Valorant, and Vanguard all install machine-wide rather than per Windows user profile. Uninstalling under one account removes the software for every account on that PC, including any pinned shortcuts other users created.
