Valorant, Riot Games’ popular FPS game is played by millions of users around the world. But, just like CS, this game isn’t bug-free at all. Gamers have escalated this error in multiple forums and Valorant Reddit page – “Valorant has encountered a connection error. Please relaunch the client to reconnect.“. As a gamer, this is the most annoying bug in the game as you can’t even open the game in this condition. So follow these simple tricks to troubleshoot the issue once and for all.
Workarounds –
1. This problem can just be a one-time glitch. So, better to restart your computer quickly before you try all of these. After rebooting the system, play Valorant and test.
2. Antivirus softwares may come into conflict with the vgc and block it eventually. So, you may pause the antivirus for a few hours and test the game.
If you can play a quick match, make sure to uninstall the antivirus from your computer.
Fix 1 – Start the vgc service
One of the key reasons behind this failure is the Riot Vanguard service. If the service is disabled/ not running on your system, it can cause this problem.
Step 1 – Start the vgc service
1. Just use the search box or press the Windows key once and type “services“.
2. Then, tap “Services” from the elevated screen to open it.
3. Here in the list of Services page, look for the “vgc” service.
4. There, double-tap it to open the vgc properties.
5. Next, switch the ‘Startup type:’ to “Automatic” mode. This way, the vgc service will start up automatically.
6. Now, tap “Apply” and “OK” to save this change.
7. Coming back to the main Services page, right-tap “vgc” and click “Start” to start the service on your computer.
Close Services page.
Step 2 – Make sure Vanguard is running
The Vanguard system needs to be up and running before you even launch Valorant. So, you can make sure the service starts up.
1. Using the Windows key+R to open the Run box.
2. Then, write this and hit Enter.
msconfig
3. When the System Configuration page opens up, straight go to the “Services” section.
4. Then, tick the “Hide all Microsoft services” box.
5. Now, scroll down and make sure the “vgc” service is checked.
6. After this, tap “Apply” and “OK” to save this change.
7. As soon as you tap OK, a prompt will appear, saying this –
You may need to restart your computer to apply these changes. Before restarting, save any open files and close all programs.
8. Tap “Restart” to restart your computer.
Wait until your system restarts. After the system boots up, launch Valorant.
Check whether it is loading up or stuck at the same error message.
Fix 2 – Uninstall vgc
If the vgc service itself is corrupt, you have to uninstall Riot Vanguard and force-fresh install the component. This will definitely fix your issue.
Uninstall vgc
You have to exit Vanguard and then, uninstall it from your computer.
1. Vanguard usually starts up with your system. So, if you click on the ▲, you will see the Vanguard icon there. [If you don’t see it there, Vanguard hasn’t started yet.]
2. Now, right-click the Vanguard icon and tap “Exit Vanguard” to close it.
3. A prompt will appear Are you sure you want to continue? message. Tap “Yes” to continue.
4. Press the Windows key and search “appwiz.cpl” in the search bar.
5. Then, tap “appwiz.cpl” to open it on your computer.
6. When you reach the Programs & Features page, look for the “Riot Vanguard” application.
7. Next, right-tap it and tap “Uninstall” to uninstall the application.
Once you have uninstalled it, close Control Panel.
Reinstall Vanguard
This process is automatic and all you have to do is launch Valorant.
1. Look for the “Valorant” icon on your desktop. If you can’t find it search “valorant“.
2. Now, right-click “Valorant” and tap “Run as administrator” to launch the game.
Now, Valorant will start and the installer will automatically recognize any missing files and download them.
But, when it does download, Valorant will prompt you to restart your computer after this. Tap “Reboot now” to restart the system.
When you have restarted the system, you can start
Fix 4 – Check the Valorant server
Riot has a dedicated status page to show the current server status and information about current issues. So, you should go and check whether there are any issues with your local server.
1. Go to Riot Server Status page.
2. Now, a prompt will appear where you can specify the location and language details and then tap “Continue“.
3. Now it will show you if there are any issues with the server. If there are any server issues they will show up here with the downtime, and when you can expect the game to go live.
NOTE – Valorant usually schedules big maintenance breaks just before releasing the new patches and at the beginning of new ACTs. So, in that case, the game may not work, and you can see the “Valorant has encountered a connection error. Please relaunch the client to reconnect.” message.
This means you have to wait for an hour or two before the server goes up. Riot client will update the game and you can play it after that.
Fix 5 – Suspended/banned access
Now, this may not be the case for every gamer as only a handful number of accounts get banned/suspended by Riot. Now, usually, when an account gets banned, Riot informs you via an email to the associated email account. So, check the mailbox and Spam folder if you think there is a ban.
But, if your account has a time ban, don’t worry. When the ban is over, you can resume enjoying Valorant.