DMA setup for Valorant: Vanguard and the game PC
Valorant runs Riot Vanguard, a kernel driver that starts with Windows. Why that clashes with the usual DMA virtualisation advice, what a build needs and how to set up a session.
Short answer
Valorant runs Riot Vanguard, a kernel driver that starts with Windows and, on Windows 11, requires TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot. The game PC must satisfy Vanguard at boot, the reader runs on a second PC, and cursor movement needs a separate input device. For Valorant, this store sells an external cheat (/products/valorant) and a DMA cheat with a Sensory build (/products/valorant-dma).
On this page9
- How is Vanguard different from other anti-cheats?
- What does Vanguard require on the game PC?
- Why DMA virtualisation advice conflicts with Vanguard
- What hardware does a Valorant build need?
- In what order should you start everything?
- Which Vanguard errors will you see while building?
- Pre-match checklist for Valorant
- Common questions about Valorant builds
- Is a Valorant build working today?
How is Vanguard different from other anti-cheats?
Every other anti-cheat in this catalogue loads when the game loads, but Riot Vanguard starts with Windows. It stays resident whether Valorant is running or not, and Riot treats the machine's boot state as part of what it checks. That design decision makes Valorant the hardest title here to configure around, because Vanguard judges the whole machine before you launch anything, not just one process.
What does Vanguard require on the game PC?
Riot publishes these as player-facing requirements, and the error codes below are Riot's own, so none of this is guesswork.
- Driver model
- Kernel-mode driver, boot-start. Resident before the game launches
- TPM 2.0
- Required on Windows 11. Missing or disabled produces a Vanguard launch block
- UEFI Secure Boot
- Required on Windows 11. The VAN 9001 and VAN 9003 family points here
- Virtual machines
- Refused. Running Valorant inside a VM produces VAN 9100
- Memory Integrity (HVCI)
- Vanguard has moved toward expecting it on. The VAN: RESTRICTION message names HVCI directly
- VBS on Windows 10
- Its own failure mode — VAN 9005 is a virtualisation-based security problem, not a hardware one
- CSM / legacy boot
- Can be read as a virtual or untrusted environment even with no VM installed
Warning
Why DMA virtualisation advice conflicts with Vanguard
Generic DMA guidance says to turn virtualisation features off on the game PC, but Vanguard pulls the other way. It wants Secure Boot on, TPM present and Memory Integrity enabled, and it reads several BIOS configurations as evidence of a virtual environment. Because you cannot satisfy both sets of advice at once, a Valorant build has to fit a narrower configuration window than an EAC build does. Anyone who tells you this is a solved problem is making a sales pitch, not describing a configuration.
What hardware does a Valorant build need?
Valorant builds are usually aim-led, which means the full stack rather than the cheap half: card, firmware and second PC. They also need an input device that the game PC accepts as an ordinary USB mouse. A read-only build is still coherent, since a radar on a second screen shows where people are and needs no input device. It is also the build with the fewest ways to go wrong. An overlay on the main monitor needs a fuser in the video path, and Valorant's low time-to-kill makes the video latency worth measuring rather than assuming.
In what order should you start everything?
Because Vanguard starts at boot, the order differs from every other title here. Rather than working against it, get the game PC into a state Vanguard accepts first, and only then bring the reader up.
- Boot the game PC and let Vanguard load with Windows
- Confirm Valorant launches normally on its own, with no VAN error, before you add anything
- Boot the second PC and confirm the card enumerates
- Start the reader on the second PC and attach to the card
- Launch Valorant and attach to the game only once you are in the client
- If a fuser is in the video path, use borderless windowed so that a mode switch does not resync the signal
Which Vanguard errors will you see while building?
These are Riot's own codes and Riot's own fixes. They are listed because a first-time builder who changes six BIOS settings and then meets one of these tends to assume the card is broken.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| VAN 9001 / VAN 9003 at launch | Secure Boot or TPM 2.0 is not enabled on a Windows 11 game PC | Enable UEFI Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 in the game PC's BIOS. If you disabled them for another reason, that reason and Valorant are mutually exclusive |
| VAN 9005 | A virtualisation-based security problem on Windows 10 | Follow Riot's own VBS article for that code rather than changing DMA-side settings to chase it |
| VAN 9100 | Vanguard believes it is running inside a virtual machine | Remove hypervisor features from the game PC's Windows install, then check the CSM and virtualisation toggles in BIOS. Several of them are read as a VM even when no VM is present |
| VAN: RESTRICTION naming HVCI | Memory Integrity is off or not functioning on the game PC | Enable Memory Integrity in Windows Security. If it will not turn on, blocked drivers on the game PC are the usual reason |
| Valorant launches, reader sees the card, overlay is empty | Build state, not configuration — the client has moved past the build | Check the status board for this title first, because searching for a configuration fault on a build that is simply down wastes an evening |
Pre-match checklist for Valorant
- Valorant launches cleanly on the game PC with no VAN error, tested before the reader is involved
- You checked the status board row for this title today
- Riot has not shipped a patch since that row was published, and patches arrive roughly every two weeks
- Secure Boot, TPM and Memory Integrity are in the state Vanguard accepts
- The card is in its data port and the reader attached before the client opened
- The input device, if you run one, is seen as a standard mouse by the game PC
- Borderless windowed is set if a fuser is in the path
Common questions about Valorant builds
Does Vanguard detect a DMA card?
Vanguard runs a kernel driver on the game PC, and like any kernel component, that driver can see the machine's PCIe devices. What it does with that visibility is not public, and nobody outside Riot can honestly tell you. Treat any claim that Vanguard cannot see a card as marketing.
Can I run Valorant in a VM to make this easier?
No. Vanguard refuses virtual machines and produces VAN 9100. Some BIOS configurations trigger the same code with no VM installed, which makes it the most common false alarm during a first build.
Do I need an input device for Valorant?
For anything that moves your aim, yes, because memory reads cannot move a cursor. A radar-only build needs no input device and is a complete, coherent setup on its own.
Why is Valorant priced and rated as harder than other titles?
Because the anti-cheat starts at boot, requires platform security features to be on and rejects the configurations a DMA build usually prefers. Fewer firmware and software combinations survive that, and the ones that do get patched against more often.
Is any Valorant build undetectable?
No, and nothing on this site is sold as undetectable. On this title the anti-cheat is resident before you launch the game, and Vanguard's requirements and two-week patch cadence mean the state changes constantly. The status board is the only current answer.
Info
Is a Valorant build working today?
Vanguard's requirements are stable enough to write down, but whether a Valorant build works today is not. The status board shows when a status was published and when Riot last patched. A status older than the latest patch tells you nothing about tonight, so check the board before you buy and before you launch.
Sources
The Vanguard requirements and VAN error codes come from bench work with nothing published behind them, and Riot patches roughly every two weeks.
Read next
- DMA setup for CS2: VAC, FACEIT and ESEA are three different problems
- DMA setup for Fortnite: what the build needs
- BIOS settings for DMA on the game PC
- What are DMA cheats and how do they work
- How to read the build status board
- GTA Online is not FiveM, and the difference decides what you buy
- Hunt: Showdown 1896 and the value of knowing where players are
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