How to uninstall VALORANT Vanguard

Valorant

December 16, 2024

Jordan Marney

It’s understandable to want to uninstall VALORANT. Sometimes shooting games are not for you, and that’s okay. Although uninstalling games should be pretty straightforward, that isn’t always the case. Here’s how to uninstall VALORANT Vanguard anti-cheat system from your machine.

Vanguard hasn’t always had the best reputation in the Riot Games community. On many occasions players, whether they come from League of Legends or VALORANT, have complained the anti-cheat software has ‘bricked’ their PC. Nevertheless, if you’re looking to delete your VALORANT account and get rid of the game, it’s probably wise to remove Vanguard too.

Here is a quick tutorial on how to uninstall VALORANT Vanguard from your machine.

Uninstalling VALORANT Vanguard from PC

Image credit: Riot Games

Normally on Windows, there are applications running in the background that prevent you from uninstalling certain applications until they’re closed, this could potentially be a problem with Vanguard. Before you can uninstall Vanguard, you first need to disable it. Here’s how:

Scroll over to the bottom right side of your navigation bar to access your tray.
Click the arrow pointing up to show hidden applications.
Right-click on Riot Vanguard and select “Exit Vanguard”.

Now that you have closed the application from running in the background, you can continue with the process and uninstall VALORANT Vanguard from your machine:

Press the Windows button to bring up your search bar.
Search “Add or Remove Programs”.
Select the drive Vanguard is installed in (for Win10 just scroll down the list, find the Riot Vanguard software, click on it, and select Uninstall).
Click the three dots next to the application.
Select “Uninstall”.

Image credit: Esports.net

It is important to note, that if you wish to continue playing VALORANT, you need to install Vanguard again. While there have been some complaints against it, frequently Riot Games shares updates on the anti-cheat system, and have made it much better since the early stage. It is there for your protection in the event your game experiences a player who is hacking or using third-party software to gain an advantage. You will not be able to queue up for any mode in VALORANT without this software.

Stay tuned for more VALORANT news.