Valorant is Riot’s flagship first-person shooter that’s giving other popular FPS titles a run for their money. The game is extremely popular, but that doesn’t make it immune to bugs and glitches. 

In this article, we’re taking a look at Valorant freezing your PC on launch, its causes and what you can do to fix the problem.

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Why does it happen?

There are a number of reasons why this might happen to you, some of the more popular ones are as follows.

• Your PC doesn’t meet Valorant’s minimum hardware requirements.
• Broken or corrupt game installation.
• Issues with the Riot client. 

Also read: How to fix Valorant error code 19?

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How to fix this?

Here are 13 fixes you can try out.

Close unnecessary apps

Another way you can extract more performance from your computer is by closing unnecessary programs running in the background and consuming important PC resources that could be going to the game instead. 

Head over to the Task Manager and close any unnecessary apps or programs running in the background that are non-essential to your system. 

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Stop overclocking

If you’re overclocking your CPU, GPU or RAM there’s a chance that you’re running into thermal throttling issues which are causing more harm than good. Revert your PC back to the default factory settings to see if that helps. 

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Launch the game as administrator

Starting a program or game as administrator tells your PC to prioritise that particular process over everything else and dedicate as many resources as possible to ensure smooth operation. 

You can check out our detailed guide on how to run programs as administrator here. 

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Remove fullscreen optimisations

If you’re playing Valorant in fullscreen, Windows automatically applies certain optimisations that might do more harm than good. Here’s how you can disable them and potentially extract more performance out of your PC. 

Step 1: Right-click the Valorant executable and click Properties.

Step 2: Head over to the Compatibility tab and check Disable fullscreen optimisations.

Now restart your PC and the game should work better. 

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Update your PC 

Another thing you should do is update your PC. Updating your PC will, in most cases, update your drivers and fix any issues in the process.

Check out this detailed guide to know how to update your PC here

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Try disabling your antivirus

Sometimes overly aggressive PC security software starts scanning processes as soon as they run. If you’re already short on resources, this can leave your PC hung as there aren’t enough resources to scan the game and play it at the same time. Try temporarily disabling your antivirus to see if that helps. 

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Check your PC Specs

If your PC doesn’t meet the minimum required specs for Valorant, likely, the game won’t launch at all. Check to make sure that your PC meets these requirements.

Minimum requirements

Operating System	Windows 7/7/10 64-bit
Processor	Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
Memory	4GB RAM
Graphics Card	Intel HD 4000

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Recommended requirements

Operating System	Windows 7/7/10 64-bit
Processor	Intel Core i3-4150
Memory	8GB RAM
Graphics Card	Nvidia GeForce GT730

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Update your graphics drivers

Outdated graphics drivers can cause a lot of issues with games and other GPU-intensive programs. Updating your GPU drivers can help get the game up and running.

Step 1: Press Windows key + R to open the Run prompt. Type in devmgmt.msc and hit enter.

Step 2: Scroll down to find Display adaptors. Double-click it to expand and see all your graphics cards.

Step 3: Right-click on your graphics cards and select Update driver.

Step 4: Select Search automatically for updated driver software. Windows will automatically download and install any updates is available. 

Restart your PC and try again.

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Lower the in-game settings

Another fix you can try is to lower the game’s graphics settings to better suit your PC’s hardware. Valorant can be pretty taxing to run on its maximum settings so turn down a few settings, especially resolution and texture quality to ensure you have enough headroom to run the game. 

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Perform a clean boot

To isolate the problem, perform a clean boot and then start the missing processes one at a time to find your culprit. 

Step 1: Press the Windows key and search for System Configuration. 

Step 2: Head over to the Services tab. 

Step 3: Uncheck the Hide all Microsoft Services checkbox.Now click the Disable All button. 

Step 4: Now head over to the Startup tab and click on Open Task Manager.

Step 5: Click the Startup tab again, select all the services and click the Disable button. 

Restart your PC and try running the game again. 

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Reinstall Valorant

If nothing else works, reinstalling the game is pretty much your last resort. 

Step 1: Press Windows key + X to launch the Quick Access menu and select Apps and features

Step 2: Find Valorant in the list, click it and click the Uninstall button.

Once the uninstall is complete, download the latest version of Valorant from the Riot Games’ website, restart your PC and try again. If nothing else, this should help you fix the Valorant error.

Also read: Can’t play Valorant on Windows 11: 6 Fixes