Maybe you have finally decided that it is time to clear up some disk space, or take a break from the grind, or just completed the tactical shooter genre and you are done with it. Whatever the reason, you might have thought that uninstalling Valorant would be as easy as pressing “delete” and that would be it. However, a lot of players have faced issues with simply deleting the shortcut and moving on.
Valorant is not your typical single-player adventure or indie platformer; the game comes with a powerful anti-cheat system named Riot Vanguard. This software is deeply integrated into your operating system as it runs at the kernel level to allow fair gameplay. Although this gets rid of cheaters successfully, the deep system integration often results in “permission denied” or “application is running” errors when legitimate users just want to uninstall the game. It may seem like the game is resisting getting uninstalled.
This simple guide will help you to understand the complete process for uninstalling Valorant thoroughly without encountering problems. We will divide the task into small steps where first you will get rid of the anti-cheat software, second, delete the game files and finally clear out any leftover data. After reading this post, you’ll have your hard disk space back without any remnants of the game or annoying error messages popping up.
Why Is It Difficult to Uninstall Valorant?
Many players who have tried to uninstall the game without success are familiar with the issue. Most of the time it is Riot Vanguard that is the criminal. Riot Vanguard is a kernel-mode driver that starts with Microsoft Windows. To be able to detect cheats, it is given top-level privileges on your system and hence the computer treats it as an essential process. Therefore, when you initiate the uninstall whilst the Vanguard service is active, Windows will deny the request to preserve system stability.
Besides that, uninstalling Valorant is not really a one-step operation—sometimes it’s a three-step operation. Many users falsely think that the uninstallation of the Valorant app removes everything. Actually, the game, the anti-cheat (Vanguard), and the Riot Client (the launcher) are usually seen as separate applications by Windows. To get rid of the software, you need first to uninstall each of them.
The situation with these three components has resulted in the widespread appearance of Valorant error messages to users. For instance, you can get a notification that says “Riot Vanguard is still running” but there is no game window present. Or the uninstaller may just freeze halfway through the progress bar. Recognizing that these are separate items is step one for a hassle-free removal.
Step 1: Preparation (You Can’t Afford to Skip!)
Right from the very first moment when you think about uninstalling, you must make your PC ready. Not doing this first step is the number one cause of users seeing error messages.
Make sure you have ended the game
To be sure, first of all, that Valorant is not open on your computer, check for it in the background. In some cases, after closing the window, the game process is still not terminated.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager.
- Look for “Valorant” or “Riot Client” in the list of processes.
- If you see them, right-click and select End Task.
Do not overlook the System Tray Step
This is actually the most important step of the entire guide. It is almost a certainty that Vanguard has been left running silently even if you have already closed the game.
- You can see your System Tray located at the bottom right corner of your desktop (if the icons you want are not visible, it might be necessary to click the small arrow first).
- Identify the Riot Vanguard icon which looks like a red V.
- Right-click the icon.
- From the context menu select Exit Vanguard.
- An additional window will ask you to confirm the action; click on Yes.
If you decide that this step can be ignored, then your uninstall Valorant process will fail most probably because the uninstaller won’t be able to delete files that are currently used by the running Vanguard driver.
Step 2: How to Uninstall Valorant (Standard Option)
After you have put Vanguard to sleep, it’s time to proceed with the actual removal of the game.
Via Windows Settings
- First, go ahead and open your Start Menu and then click the Settings icon (or press Windows Key + I).
- Next, click on Apps and then scroll down and pick Installed Apps (you may see “Apps & features” on some Windows versions).
- Enter “Valorant” in the search field at the top.
- Once the game has been found along with its size (more than 30GB in most cases),
- Go to the right side of the row and click on the three dots. Select Uninstall from the menu.
What to do with the dialog box?
Immediately after you hit uninstall, a pop-up window from Riot Games will be displayed on your screen. The window might be similar to the one for game launching. There you will be asked to confirm the removal of the game. Once you have given your affirmation, the maps, skins, and character files will be deleted. The entire operation may take some time.
Should I restart now?
After the progress bar has reached the right-hand end and the window has disappeared, a restart of your PC is highly advisable. This is because it gets rid of cached processes and makes sure that the operating system acknowledges that the game files have been deleted even before you get to the anti-cheat part.
Step 3: Get rid of Riot Vanguard
You probably thought it was over. Though if you open your list of installed apps, you will notice that Valorant has been removed but Riot Vanguard is still there.
It is still there because
We already said that Vanguard has a different installation package. Uninstalling the game does not cause the anti-cheat driver to be removed. If you do not uninstall it, it will automatically start with Windows each time you switch your computer on and hence a small portion of the system resources will be used.
Removal instructions
- From the Settings menu, select Apps followed by Installed Apps
- Next, search for “Riot Vanguard”.
- Click the three dots and select Uninstall.
- You may be asked to confirm the action; click Yes.
Make sure
If you want to be 100% sure that it has been removed:
- Launch File Explorer
- Navigate to your C: Drive or the one where the game was installed
- Double-click on Program Files.
- If you find a folder named “Riot Vanguard” it should be deleted. If the folder is empty and still present, a manual deletion can be done at this point.
Step 4: Remove Remains (Mainstream Deep Cleanning)
The majority will have enough after the third phase of the guide. But if you want to take out every single megabyte of memory or if the reason for the uninstall is that the game is corrupted and you are planning to reinstall, you should go through a deep clean.
The Riot Client
If you are a player of League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, or Legends of Runeterra, you’d better stop at this point. These games are using the Riot Client as their launcher. So, if you uninstall the Riot Client, you won’t be able to play any of these games.
On the other hand, if you are wiping out all Riot products from your machine:
- Change back to Settings > Apps > Installed Apps.
- Type “Riot Client” in the search box.
- Uninstall the program just like you did previously.
AppData Directory
Uninstalling a program through the Windows interface often leaves behind some configuration files in hidden folders.
- Use the keyboard shortcut Windows Key + R to open the Run box.
- Write %localappdata% and press Enter.
- An Explorer window will open showing you the contents of the folder. Look for “Valorant”.
- If the folder is found, you may delete it by right-clicking and selecting Delete which will remove both the logs and the configuration files.
- Look for a Riot Games folder. If you are uninstalling all Riot titles, delete the folder too. Otherwise, if there are other Riot games that you play, then keep this folder.
Registry Cleanup (Optional)
Note: Only advanced users should perform this step. Picking wrong registry keys to delete can lead to system failures.
Most installers take care of .reg files but there might still be some leftovers. You could launch the Registry Editor (Start menu > search “regedit”) and locate keys that contain Riot Games. Yet for the majority of beginners, simply deleting the AppData directories is enough and far less risky compared to the registry.
Troubleshooting: Resolving the Most Frequent Uninstall Issues
Even if a good job is done in preparation, problems can still rise. Check out below how you can best manage the major error codes.
Error: “Riot Vanguard is running”
You attempted to uninstall the application but Windows notified that it is still open.
- The Fix: You simply need to get back to the System Tray step in Phase 1 and do it all over again. If the icon is missing, you may launch the Task Manager, switch to the “Details” tab, and try to find vgc.exe or vgc.sys. Click the right button and select “End Process Tree”. At this point, you can try uninstalling again.
Error: “You lack the necessary permission”
There are occasions when Windows protects the directory because it was installed using the administrator account.
- The Fix: You should be allowed to run the uninstaller with Admin rights. Since the Settings menu doesn’t allow you to “Run as Admin” easily, you may need to find the uninstall.exe file in the Riot Games folder, right-click it, and then select “Run as Administrator.”
Error: “Uninstaller is frozen/stuck”
When the uninstalling bar remains at 10% or 90% for more than a quarter of an hour, this means the procedure is no longer working.
- The Fix: Restart Windows in Safe Mode. When running in Safe Mode, drivers from third-party companies such as Vanguard are not loaded by default. This makes possible the manual removal of the folders without being disturbed.
Skillful hacks: Employing Third-Party Uninstallers
There are times when just using Windows settings is not enough and also the game files are damaged beyond repair for which reason the more powerful tool will then be needed.
When to turn to them
If the standard Windows “Add or Remove Programs” tool throws an error or the uninstallation leaves residual files and folders, then these apps will come in handy.
Tools That We Suggest
Nice free software options like Revo Uninstaller or IObit Uninstaller are complete package choices. It even runs the supplementary scanning to locate garbage files and leftover registry entries aside from the simple removal process.
How they operate
In Revo Uninstaller, upon choosing Valorant, it will first attempt to run the internal uninstaller program. Then Revo scans for “leftovers” once that procedure finishes or fails. Your options to “Delete All” are available for you to clear the remaining data.
The advantages and disadvantages of them
- Advantages: Being able to solve “corrupted” installations which are challenging to uninstall is one of their strengths.
- Disadvantages: Beginners should be cautious and check what the cleaning software is about to remove in order not to mistakenly delete system files (although such situations rarely occur as is the case with trustworthy software programs).
FAQ
Is my Valorant account deleted if I uninstall the game?
Absolutely not! The only thing that happens when you uninstall the game is that the game data is removed from your PC. Your Riot Games user account with all skins, matches, and ranks will still be there because they continue to be saved on their cloud servers. Besides, which PC you install the game on doesn’t matter because the moment you log back in your progress will be there.
Why is Riot Vanguard still on my computer after I have deleted the game?
Riot does not consider that uninstalling a game means getting rid of the corresponding anti-cheat software. The anti-cheat software supports multiple games so, to avoid breaking the installation of the other games, Riot Vanguard is left with installed stuff even if one game is uninstalled.
Is it possible for me to reinstall Valorant right after this?
Totally! Actually, this whole guide, if done properly, is the best way for a “clean reinstall” in case there were tech problems with your games. After you have removed the game, Vanguard together with the AppData files, all that is left to do is to download the setup from the official site and start afresh.
Summary
There is a lot to take in. The secret to a clean uninstall is the right order of operations. In short: Exit Vanguard via the System Tray, Uninstall the Game, and finally Uninstall Vanguard.
Protections put in place by Riot so as to keep their game free from cheats make it a little difficult to leave but if you follow these steps your computer will remain clean, be in a good condition, and most importantly, space will be freed up. Having more than 30GB of free space after uninstalling the game is great and it leaves your next digital adventure with enough room.
Did you encounter an issue that is not contained in our list? Feel free to share your experience. Alternatively, having learned how to uninstall Valorant, let us know what game you are going to install next.
For those users who have bugs at the account level and are not solved by the reinstall, it is suggested to contact Riot Games Support straight away.
