You clicked Play and instead of the game you got a message with a code that tells you nothing: VAN 57, error 004, error 7. League of Legends error codes aren’t random. Each one points to a specific problem and has a specific fix. This article goes through the most common launch errors, split into those from the Vanguard anti-cheat and the general ones, and for each it explains what it means and what to do about it.
How to tell LoL error codes apart
Codes starting with VAN come from the Vanguard anti-cheat. They’re problems with system verification, the kernel driver or communication between Vanguard and the client. How Vanguard works and why these errors happen in the first place is covered in the article Vanguard: what it is and why it stops your game from running. This one focuses on specific codes and how to fix them.
Codes without the VAN prefix (a number, or a combination of a number and a letter such as 004 or 1B) come from the Riot Client or the game itself, typically a problem with patching, logging in or connecting to the server.
Vanguard error codes and how to fix them
| Code | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| VAN 57 | Vanguard isn’t running or the client can’t connect to it, most often because the Vanguard service (VGC) isn’t running in the background. | Restart your PC. Open services.msc, find the Vanguard service (VGC), set it to start automatically and start it manually. If that doesn’t help, reinstall Vanguard through the Riot Client or the Hextech Repair Tool. |
| VAN 9001 / VAN 9003 | Your system doesn’t meet Vanguard’s security requirements, most often because TPM 2.0 or Secure Boot is turned off. | Check the status with tpm.msc (TPM) and msinfo32 (Secure Boot State); the steps are in the Vanguard article. If something is off, turn it on in BIOS/UEFI following your motherboard manufacturer’s instructions. |
| VAN 128 | A conflict during system verification or the connection to Vanguard. Riot keeps a separate, detailed guide for this code at support.riotgames.com. | Restart your PC and the Riot Client. If the error persists, reinstall Vanguard and go through the official guide on Riot’s support site, where the code is usually explained in the most detail. |
| VAN 138 | The game or Vanguard is running in a virtual machine or over remote desktop, where Vanguard can’t verify that the system is trustworthy. | Run League of Legends directly on a regular Windows installation, not in a virtual machine, a sandbox or over remote desktop. Vanguard deliberately won’t let the game run there. |
If you run into another code starting with VAN that isn’t in the table, follow the same logic: restart your PC and the client, check that the VGC service is running, verify TPM and Secure Boot, and as a last step reinstall Vanguard. Riot keeps the complete, current list of all codes at support.riotgames.com. Since the list changes over time with Vanguard updates, it’s worth looking up a less common code there directly instead of relying only on the general steps in this article.
General client and game errors
| Code | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Error 004 | The client couldn’t finish patching. The most common cause is not enough free disk space; less often it’s a corrupted configuration or missing permissions. | Check the free space on the drive where League of Legends is installed (leave some headroom, not just the size of the patch itself). Run the Riot Client as administrator. If that doesn’t help, run a client repair (Repair) or the Hextech Repair Tool. |
| Error 7 | Riot’s login servers are temporarily overloaded and can’t process the login request. | Close the Riot Client and the game, wait a moment and try logging in again. Check the server status. If it’s a widespread outage, you’ll have to wait until Riot fixes it. |
| Error 1B | A problem connecting to the server, often on the DNS side or with your internet service provider (ISP). | Try temporarily changing the DNS server in your network adapter settings to a public one (e.g. 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8). Restart your router. If the error persists for more than a few hours, contact your internet provider. |
Hextech Repair Tool: the official client repair tool
Riot has its own official tool, the Hextech Repair Tool, which lets you fix a corrupted installation or update problems without taking the client apart by hand. Download it from the official Riot Games support site, run the installer as administrator and choose Repair first in the tool. Only if that doesn’t help should you go for a full uninstall and fresh download, as described in the article on downloading and installing League of Legends.
A firewall or antivirus is blocking the launch
Sometimes the game won’t start because of security software on your own PC rather than anything on Riot’s side. Windows Defender Firewall or a third-party antivirus may be blocking one of the processes League of Legends and Vanguard need to launch.
- Open Windows Defender Firewall and choose Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall.
- Check that the processes LeagueClient.exe, RiotClientServices.exe and vgc.exe are allowed in the list, for both private and public networks.
- If you use a third-party antivirus, check its settings to see whether League of Legends or Vanguard is in quarantine or among the blocked processes.
Why the error comes back after a Windows update
Sometimes the game has worked fine for months and a VAN error shows up right after a major Windows update or a BIOS update. That’s no coincidence. Updates like these occasionally overwrite or temporarily reset the security settings Vanguard relies on, typically the Secure Boot state or driver signing enforcement. To Vanguard it looks as if the system state changed between two launches of the game, and it refuses to verify the system as trustworthy.
If this happens to you, go through the TPM and Secure Boot check described in the Vanguard article again. In msinfo32, see whether the “Secure Boot State” line still says On. If the state changed to Off by itself after the update, turn it back on in BIOS/UEFI following your motherboard manufacturer’s instructions. Don’t tinker with system settings through the command line without clear instructions directly from Riot. The risk of breaking your system’s boot outweighs the time you’d save.
How to collect logs for Riot Support
If none of the steps above help and the error keeps coming back, Riot Support will need logs from the client, not just a description like “it won’t start”. The easiest way is again the Hextech Repair Tool. Besides repairing the client, it can collect the logs into a single folder on your desktop, which you then attach to your support request. Riot usually needs only one or two specific files, not the whole archive, so attaching the newest ones based on the time in the file name is enough.
What to do when none of this helps
Before you write to support, go through this basic checklist:
- Restart your PC. It fixes a surprisingly large share of cases.
- Check the server status on the ping and connection page. If the problem is on Riot’s side, nothing you do on your PC will fix it.
- Run the Hextech Repair Tool or the client repair.
- Try a full uninstall and a clean install following the download and installation guide.
- If the same code persists even after reinstalling, contact Riot Games support and include the exact error message and the steps you’ve already tried. It speeds things up.
FAQ
Codes with the VAN prefix come from the Vanguard anti-cheat. They point to a problem with system verification, the kernel driver or communication between Vanguard and the client, not with the game itself.
Most often because you don’t have enough free disk space to download and unpack the patch. Check your free space and try the client repair.
It varies. It’s caused by overloaded login servers on Riot’s side, so you can’t speed it up from your PC. Usually a few minutes and another login attempt are enough.
For errors with the VAN prefix, yes, because the problem is with the anti-cheat, not the client. For general errors (004, 7, 1B), try the client repair or the Hextech Repair Tool first; reinstalling Vanguard usually doesn’t fix those.
Directly at support.riotgames.com in the League of Legends section. Riot updates it continuously with every version of Vanguard and the client, so it’s more reliable than any static list.
Most often a Windows or BIOS update is to blame, having overwritten or reset the Secure Boot or driver signing enforcement settings. Check the status with msinfo32 and turn it back on in BIOS if needed.
Client logs collected with the Hextech Repair Tool, the exact error code and a short description of what you’ve already tried. Riot usually needs only one or two of the newest log files, not the whole archive.
Information verified on 21 August 2026. What Vanguard does and why these errors happen is explained in the article Vanguard: what it is and why it stops your game from running. How to download and install the game from scratch is covered in the download and installation guide, and connection and server problems are covered in ping, lag and connection in LoL. You’ll find the whole hub in the League of Legends section.