Developers at Riot have been relatively consistent with releasing updates and introducing new features and minor tweaks to the gameplay to encourage an ever-evolving VALORANT meta, keep the game fresh retaining old players and attracting new ones. A regular timeline of updates involves new patches dropping every two weeks, and to continue enjoying the VALORANT experience, all players have to update their games to the latest patch. However, this can also lead to some error codes popping up here and there.
Although this process is relatively straightforward for most players, it is not infrequent to hiccups for some. If you fall into the latter category and are scouring for solutions, this guide should serve as a one-stop shop for your concerns.
Why is VALORANT not updating?
There could be a variety of factors limiting the update from being download including but not limited to the following:
- Outdated Windows and Graphics drivers
- Internet connectivity issues
- Firewall preventing access to VALORANT
- Problems with Riot Vanguard
- Unspecified bug
How to fix VALORANT not updating?
Depending on the underlying factor causing this issue, different solutions might be applicable and it might be a bit of trial and error on your part before you resolve the problem and are able to update your game. Here are some solutions that have been reported to work:
Restart your PC
A common troubleshooting tip for most bugs is simply rebooting your entire system to limit the influence of any system-wide issues interfering with the Riot client and prompting the error code. Try updating VALORANT after reboot, and if it still doesn’t work, proceed to the next solution.
Check your network connection
The issue might not necessarily stem from the Riot client, but rather from a poor network connection, limiting the available bandwidth for updating VALORANT. Therefore, it might be beneficial to test your connection and ensure that the network drivers installed are up-to-date and limit any background processes that might be hoarding bandwidth.
Allow VALORANT through Firewall
Fix VALORANT not updating through firewall
If you run into the same problem despite having confirmed a stable network connection, head over to Control Panel on Windows and search for Firewall, clicking subsequently on the option that reads “Allow an app through Windows Firewall”. Pressing it will prompt you to a window with all the apps on your computer listed. Click on Change Settings, and then search for VALORANT, checking both boxes beside it and restarting your PC afterwards to ensure that the newly changed settings have been applied.
Update Windows:
In order to comply with the latest builds, VALORANT updates tend to be released on recent versions of Windows and if you haven’t had the chance to update your Windows, it might be that the version of the game you are downloading conflicts with the current build and is therefore not supported. Try updating your Windows through your PC settings and retry updating VALORANT.
Try updating Windows to fix VALORANT not updating
Deleting Vanguard
Riot has earned quite the reputation for its Security software, Vanguard; however, it can be the source of several annoyances with the bugs it frequently runs into. It can also thus be a hinderance in updating VALORANT itself, and do resolve this hiccup, it might be helpful to adhere precisely to the following steps:
- Close Vanguard from the system tray.
- Utilize the Windows search bar to locate "Command Prompt."
- Launch the command prompt as an administrator.
- Enter the command "sc delete vgc" and press Enter.
- Enter the command "sc delete vgk" and press Enter.
- Reboot your computer.
- Once again, close Vanguard from the system tray.
- Navigate to File Explorer > This PC > C: Drive > Program Files > Riot Vanguard > Delete.
- Initiate Valorant and attempt to update the game. The installation of Vanguard should prompt a system restart. After the final system restart, open VALORANT, and it should launch successfully.
Reinstall VALORANT
As a last resort, it might be helpful to uninstall and then subsequently reinstall the game. To uninstall the game, head to Control Panel, click Uninstall a program, and right-click VALORANT to uninstall. After that, install the game again on your PC to see if your issue is fixed. If this solution works, the game should automatically install with the latest version.
