Valorant: How to fix “A critical error has occurred” launch error

Valorant players can run into a variety of errors on PC, which can either crash their game or prevent it from launching. One of the most common errors that Valorant players face starts with, “A critical error has occurred, and the process must be terminated…” There are several factors that could lead to players receiving this error when they try to start Valorant.

Here are some of the possible solutions to fix this error on Valorant:

Run Valorant as Administrator

Several common errors in Valorant, including this “critical error”, may be fixed when you ensure that you are running Valorant as an Administrator. Running the game as an admin makes sure that the game and its anti-cheat Vanguard software is given the permissions necessary to run.

• To run the game as an admin, Click the “Windows” icon at the bottom-left corner of the screen.
• Search for “VALORANT” using the search bar.
• Right-click on the “VALORANT” game result, and then select “Open file location”.
• This opens a new window, select “VALORANT” with right-click, and choose “Properties”
• Head to the “Compatibility” tab.
• In the “Settings” section, enable the “Run this program as an administrator” option.
• Click on “Apply”, and then choose “OK”.
• Restart your computer.

This will ensure that you always run the game as admin, and the game should run without the error popping up.

Reinstall Vanguard

If the game is not running even after trying to run as admin, players can also try to reinstall Vanguard.

Vanguard, as mentioned above, is the game’s anti-cheat software, and it is an integral part of the game. Running Valorant without Vanguard running in the background is mandatory. So, if there are any issues that are causing problems with Vanguard, it will automatically lead to game launch issues for Valorant.

Here is how to reinstall Vanguard:

• Close the Vanguard app if it is running in the background. To do so, click the up arrow (^) present on the system tray, present at the bottom-right corner of your screen.
• Right-click on the Vanguard icon, and choose “Exit Vanguard”, choose “Yes” in the confirmation window that pops up.
• Now, click on the “Windows” icon from the taskbar, and open “Settings”.
• Navigate to the “Apps” section.
• Scroll down to find “Riot Vanguard”.
• Click on the ellipsis button (…) on the right.
• Select “Uninstall” and choose “Yes” in both of the confirmation windows that pop up.
• Restart your computer after the uninstallation is complete.
• After the computer restarts, open the “Riot Client” application.
• Choose Valorant.
• Click on the “Update” button and give the confirmation in the window that pops up.
• Once the installation is complete, the Riot Client will ask you to restart your computer.
• Restart your computer and then run Valorant.

These two are the most common solutions for fixing this particular launch error. If these solutions also do not work, players can also try reinstalling both Valorant and Vanguard once again.