Valorant’s anti-cheat (Vanguard) now blocks the game if UEFI + Secure Boot are not properly enabled on your system, especially on Windows 11, so that exact error message is both real and currently trending in tech forums and tutorial videos.

📰 Quick Scoop on the Error

“This version of Vanguard requires UEFI Secure Boot to be enabled in order to play” is a security/compliance check error from Riot’s Vanguard anti- cheat, not a Windows bug.

Key points:

  • It most often appears on:
    • Windows 11 systems where Secure Boot or UEFI mode are off, misconfigured, or in “legacy/CSM” mode.
* Systems upgraded from older Windows versions without changing BIOS/UEFI settings.
  • For many players, the fix is:
    • Switching the system to UEFI boot mode.
    • Disabling CSM/Legacy boot.
    • Enabling Secure Boot and (usually) TPM/fTPM in firmware settings.

What Vanguard Is Checking

Vanguard is designed to run at a very low level in the system to detect cheats more aggressively.

  • It requires:
    • UEFI boot mode instead of old “Legacy/CSM” boot.
* **Secure Boot** turned on so only trusted bootloaders and OS components are allowed.

* On Windows 11, TPM 2.0 / fTPM is also typically enabled, aligning with Microsoft’s own requirements.
  • If any of these are off or misconfigured, Vanguard reports that “this version of Vanguard requires UEFI Secure Boot to be enabled in order to play” and prevents Valorant from launching.

Common Forum Experiences

Public support threads and forum discussions around this exact message show a few recurring patterns:

  • Many players confirm:
    • Enabling Secure Boot and fTPM in firmware resolved the error with no data loss in normal setups.
  • Others warn:
    • Changing Secure Boot/TPM settings can break booting if the system was installed in Legacy mode or if disk encryption like BitLocker is active without proper key backup.
  • Some motherboard quirks:
    • On certain Gigabyte boards, users note Secure Boot may appear “enabled” but is not truly active until you toggle it off, reboot, and then re-enable it.
* On systems currently booting in Legacy/CSM mode, players have had to convert the system to UEFI before Secure Boot can work correctly.

High-Level Fix Flow (Non-Technical Summary)

If someone chooses to fix it (and understands the risks of changing firmware settings), the typical high-level sequence from guides and tutorials is:

  1. Check in Windows:
    • Use the system information tool to see if:
      • BIOS mode is “UEFI”.
      • Secure Boot State is “On”.
  1. Enter firmware setup:
    • Restart and use the manufacturer hotkey (often Del, F2, F10, etc., depending on brand) to open firmware settings.
  1. Adjust boot/security settings:
    • Disable CSM/Legacy boot if present.
    • Set boot mode to UEFI.
    • Enable Secure Boot (often also set OS type to “Windows UEFI” or similar).
    • Enable TPM/fTPM if required on Windows 11.
  1. Save changes and reboot, then launch Valorant to test.

Because changing these settings can affect booting and encrypted drives, multiple community replies stress backing up data or creating a restore point and making sure any disk encryption keys are safe before experimenting.

Why This Is a Trending Topic

  • Valorant remains one of the biggest competitive shooters, and Riot has steadily tightened Vanguard’s hardware and OS requirements to reduce kernel-level cheat loaders.
  • As more players move or are pushed to Windows 11, this Secure Boot/UEFI requirement shows up more frequently, turning it into a recurring “latest news / forum discussion / trending topic” around Vanguard and PC gaming security.

Meta description (SEO):
Learn why you see “this version of Vanguard requires UEFI Secure Boot to be enabled in order to play”, what Vanguard is checking, what players report in forums, and the high-level, risk-aware fix path based on current public guides and discussions.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.