How to Bypass Valorant HWID Ban - Step by Step Guide 2026

You're HWID banned. New account, same PC, banned again before your first match. Let's skip the theory and get straight into what you actually need to do.

Step 1. Confirm You Are Actually HWID Banned

Before you do anything else, verify it's a hardware ban and not just an account ban.

• Create a brand new Riot account using a different email
• Launch Valorant on your current PC
• If that fresh account gets banned almost immediately, it's an HWID ban — your hardware is flagged, not just the account

If the new account works fine, you only had an account ban. You can stop reading here. If it got flagged, keep going.

Step 2. Stop Doing Things That Will Not Work

Seriously, don't waste time on these. They will not bypass a Vanguard HWID ban:

• Formatting your drive — Vanguard reads your disk's hardware serial number burned into firmware, not the volume serial that changes on format
• Using a VPN — Vanguard's ban is tied to hardware identifiers, not your IP address
• Changing your MAC address manually — Vanguard pulls at least eight different hardware identifiers; changing one does nothing
• Running registry cleaners — Vanguard's kernel driver queries hardware directly through IOCTL calls and SMBIOS tables, not just registry entries
• Filing a ban appeal — Riot's appeal process almost never reverses HWID bans unless it was a confirmed false positive from a ban wave

Now that you've stopped wasting time, here's what actually matters.

Step 3. Understand What Needs to Change

Vanguard's kernel driver (vgk.sys) loads at Windows boot — before you even see your desktop. It fingerprints your hardware by pulling these identifiers:

• Disk drive hardware serial numbers
• Motherboard UUID from SMBIOS
• CPU identifier
• RAM serial numbers
• Network adapter MAC addresses
• Monitor EDID data
• Peripheral identifiers
• TPM data

All of these need to appear different to Vanguard simultaneously. Miss even one and the composite fingerprint still matches. That's why partial fixes always fail.

Step 4. Choose Your Method

You have two real options. That's it.

Option A — Replace your hardware physically. Swap your motherboard, SSD, RAM, and network card. This works but costs roughly $1,860 or more depending on your setup, and you still need to handle SMBIOS data and registry artifacts.

Option B — Use a dedicated HWID spoofer built for Valorant. A spoofer intercepts the hardware ID queries from vgk.sys and feeds it emulated identifiers so Vanguard sees a completely different machine. The important part is it has to be Vanguard-specific. Generic spoofers built for EAC or BattlEye don't account for Vanguard's boot-time loading and will get you flagged again.

Step 5. If You Go the Spoofer Route

Here's the exact sequence. Do not skip steps or change the order.

1. Uninstall Riot Vanguard completely — Open your system tray, right-click the Vanguard icon, select "Uninstall Vanguard." Then go to Add/Remove Programs and confirm it's gone. Reboot.

2. Clean leftover Riot and Vanguard traces — Delete these folders manually if they still exist:

   • C:\Program Files\Riot Vanguard
   • C:\ProgramData\Riot Games
   • Any leftover registry artifacts under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\vgc and vgk

3. Activate your spoofer before rebooting — This is critical. The spoofer needs to load before vgk.sys initializes on the next boot. Saturn Spoofer handles this automatically — it intercepts hardware ID queries at the right layer so vgk.sys sees spoofed identifiers from the moment it loads. They offer a 2-hour free trial if you want to test before committing.

4. Reboot your PC — Let the spoofer do its thing during the boot sequence. Do not launch any Riot games yet.

5. Create a completely new Riot account — Use a new email address. Do not reuse any email, username, or payment method linked to your banned account. Do this from a different browser or incognito mode.

6. Download and install Valorant fresh — Download directly from playvalorant.com. Vanguard will reinstall automatically. Let it reboot if prompted.

7. Launch Valorant on the new account — If everything is spoofed correctly, you should get into the game without a ban.

Step 6. Avoid Getting Flagged Again Immediately

Even after successfully getting in, people mess this up. Don't be one of them.

• Never log into your old banned Riot account — Account linking can re-flag your hardware
• Don't add your old friends list immediately — behavioral patterns can raise flags
• Keep the spoofer active every time you play — if you boot without it, Vanguard sees your real hardware and the ban duration is permanent
• Don't use skin changers or any other third-party tools alongside the spoofer
• Make sure your spoofer stays updated — Riot updates Vanguard regularly and what works today might need a patch tomorrow

Step 7. Verify Your Spoof is Working

After your first successful login, double-check:

• Open Device Manager and verify your disk serial numbers, network adapter names, and other identifiers look different from your originals
• Play a couple of unrated games first before jumping into competitive
• If you get banned again within minutes, one of your identifiers leaked through — check that your spoofer covers all the hardware points Vanguard queries

Quick Recap

1. Confirm it's an HWID ban, not an account ban
2. Stop trying things that don't work against Vanguard
3. Clean all Riot and Vanguard traces from your system
4. Activate a Vanguard-specific spoofer before rebooting
5. Create a brand new Riot account with zero ties to the old one
6. Install Valorant fresh and launch on the new account
7. Keep the spoofer active every session and never log into the banned account

That's it. No fluff, no magic — just the actual steps. The biggest thing people get wrong is treating Vanguard like a regular anti-cheat. It's not. It's kernel-level, it loads at boot, and it checks everything. Respect that and plan accordingly.

Stay safe out there.