How to fix VALORANT VAN: RESTRICTION
This means your PC is missing a Windows security feature Vanguard requires. Enabling it resolves the error. Jump to your situation below or work through the methods in order.
This means your PC is missing a Windows security feature Vanguard requires. Enabling it resolves the error. Jump to your situation below or work through the methods in order.
The VALORANT VAN: RESTRICTION error means your PC is missing a modern Windows security feature that Vanguard requires, specifically the virtualization-based safeguards Vanguard checks for. The fix is to turn on Core Isolation Memory Integrity (HVCI): search Windows for Core Isolation and switch Memory Integrity to On, then restart. Keeping Windows fully updated ensures the required components are present, and on some systems the underlying virtualization support must be enabled in the BIOS for Memory Integrity to turn on. If Memory Integrity refuses to enable, an incompatible driver is usually the blocker and must be updated first. Once the required safeguard is active and Windows is current, Vanguard's requirement is satisfied and the restriction clears.
Newer Vanguard builds require certain Windows virtualization-based security safeguards to be active. VAN: RESTRICTION means one of those, principally Core Isolation Memory Integrity, is turned off, so Vanguard blocks the game until it is enabled.
Enabling Memory Integrity satisfies the requirement. Windows must be current for the feature to be available, virtualization may need enabling in BIOS to support it, and an incompatible driver can prevent it turning on, which is why updating drivers is part of the fix.
“VAN: RESTRICTION is Vanguard insisting on a Windows security feature you have switched off, almost always Core Isolation Memory Integrity. So I search Windows for Core Isolation, flip Memory Integrity to On, and restart. If it will not toggle on, that is usually an old incompatible driver, so update those and try again. And make sure Windows is fully updated, because the feature needs current components, and on some boards you have to enable virtualization in the BIOS first.”
VAN: RESTRICTION means a required Windows safeguard is off. Turn on Core Isolation Memory Integrity and restart, keep Windows fully updated, and enable virtualization in BIOS if needed. If Memory Integrity will not enable, update or remove the incompatible driver Windows flags, then try again.
If Memory Integrity still will not enable after updating the flagged driver, using the Windows compatibility check to list all incompatible drivers, then updating or removing each, clears the remaining blockers. You can also submit your error to us for a tailored fix.
