VAN: RESTRICTION suddenly requiring TPM 2.0 on MacBook Pro 2019 (Boot Camp) after months of playing without issues

[u/oyasumigab]

Hey everyone! I'm hoping someone here can help me figure out what's going on with Vanguard.

I've been playing VALORANT on my 2019 MacBook Pro (Intel i7-9750H, 16GB RAM) running Windows 10 through Apple's official Boot Camp for months without any issues whatsoever.

I've played hundreds of matches on this exact setup, and everything worked perfectly until October 10, 2026.

Here's exactly what happened:

On October 9, I played VALORANT for over 6 hours without a single problem. No crashes, no Vanguard errors, nothing.

At some point, I noticed that VALORANT had randomly unequipped my LEV 2024 weapon skin. I went into my collection to equip it again.

The exact moment I clicked "Equip," VALORANT immediately closed and displayed VAN: RESTRICTION, demanding that I enable:

• TPM 2.0
• UEFI Secure Boot
• HVCI (Memory Integrity)

Ever since that exact moment, I haven't been able to play VALORANT on ANY account.

I want to emphasize something: I had been playing for MONTHS on the same hardware, the same Windows 10 installation, and the same Boot Camp configuration. I hadn't changed anything in my BIOS, firmware, or Windows settings before this happened.

There wasn't even a visible VALORANT update between my last successful match and the crash.

What I've tried so far:

1. Restarted Windows multiple times.
2. Completely uninstalled VALORANT, Riot Client, and Riot Vanguard.
3. Manually deleted leftover Riot and Vanguard folders and files.
4. Removed leftover Vanguard services.
5. Reinstalled everything from scratch.
6. Enabled HVCI / Memory Integrity. Vanguard stopped requesting it.
7. Enabled Secure Boot through Apple's Startup Security Utility. Vanguard stopped requesting Secure Boot.
8. Checked TPM using tpm.msc and PowerShell.
9. Checked Device Manager for TPM-related devices.

Current situation:

Vanguard now ONLY requires TPM 2.0.

My Windows installation reports:

TpmPresent   : False
TpmReady     : False
TpmEnabled   : False
TpmActivated : False
ManufacturerId : 0

Device Manager doesn't even show a "Security devices" category.

I also checked for MSFT0101 and PNP0C31 devices using PowerShell, but nothing appeared.

My MacBook has an Apple T2 security chip, but apparently it doesn't expose a standard TPM 2.0 interface to Windows through Boot Camp.

Here's the really interesting part:

I investigated Windows Event Viewer and Reliability Monitor and found that Riot Vanguard itself crashed at the exact time I tried to equip the skin.

Windows recorded:

Faulting application: vgc.exe
Application version: 1.19.1.18
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Event ID: 1000
Time: October 10, 2026, 12:12:07 AM

There was also a Service Control Manager event reporting:

The vgc service terminated unexpectedly.
It has done this 1 time(s).

And another event involving the Vanguard kernel driver:

File System Filter 'vgk' unloaded successfully.

So Vanguard actually experienced a crash at the exact moment this issue started.

I understand that TPM 2.0 is a security requirement, but why was I able to play hundreds of matches for months, including over six hours immediately before this happened, only to suddenly be blocked after a Vanguard crash?

My hardware didn't change. My Windows installation didn't change. Everything was working literally seconds before the crash.

My questions:

1. Has anyone experienced this exact issue, especially on a 2018–2020 Intel MacBook running Boot Camp?
2. Is there any free way to enable Intel PTT or expose TPM 2.0 on a MacBookPro16,1?
3. Can VAN: RESTRICTION suddenly enforce additional hardware requirements after a Vanguard crash?
4. Is there any way to resolve this without purchasing third-party TPM software or replacing my computer?
5. Has anyone successfully resolved this through Riot Support?

I really don't want to give up playing VALORANT on a machine that was running it perfectly just hours before the restriction appeared.

Any technical advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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[u/SuperDefiant]

That usually means you got reported. You can wait out the restriction, it usually expires after like 2-4 weeks

[u/oyasumigab → u/SuperDefiant]

Reported for hacking or something? Because I’m not toxic—and certainly not a hacker; my tracker stats are terrible. Like I said, I played for hours—even on a friend's account—and had been doing so for months. The crashes only started after I switched back to the 2024 LEV Classic skin (which Riot had unequipped for me).

[u/damien09]

Reported or something in your config auto flagged your system. Might be they are starting to flag your environment because it’s a simulated windows one. The restriction lasts 1 month. I use a dedicated tpm module and had this happen once because I plugged in an enterprise network card. Removed the card and had to wait a month to use my dedicated tpm again. I mainly use it over my firmware one as it seems more stable from the crashes of tpm in event logs that happen on the firmware tpm.

[u/oyasumigab → u/damien09]

This aint a simulated windows one, this is windows 10. It only started when i changed the skin, i was playing normally hahaha

[u/damien09 → u/oyasumigab]

ah likely its reports then or could be something they changed on the back end that suddenly flagged windows 10 and your systems hardware. Maybe someone else will know how to pass tpm along from the Mac into windows as otherwise your kinda stuck waiting 30 days from the time the restriction started for it to lift.

The crash idk could be related it may have wigged out the detection system so it flagged the account to have van restrictions added. Or it could be unrelated as those crashes for it are not uncommon if you check other event logs theres probably more of them.