6 Ways to Fix the Valorant “A Critical Error Has Occurred” Gaming Issue

Valorant is a game with many error codes and messages, among which is “A critical error has occurred.” One player described that error like this: “Been getting an error for the last couple of days. Can’t start the game [Valorant], it just freezes ‘A critical error had occured and the process must be terminated.'” Players can’t play Valorant when it throws up that critical error message. This is how you can fix the Valorant “A critical error has occurred” gaming issue on PCs.

Enable the VGC Service

The VGC service is essential for Valorant’s anti-cheat software. So, make sure VGC is enabled when troubleshooting the Valorant “A critical error has occurred” gaming issue. These are the steps for enabling that service:

1. Open Run by right-clicking the Start taskbar button and selecting its shortcut.
2. Enter services.msc inside Run and hit Return.
3. Double-click the VGC to open a settings window for that service.
4. Select Automatic on the Startup drop-down menu if set differently.
5. Press the Start option for the service.
   
   

   The vgc Properties window

6. Click Apply and then OK to save and exit.

Run Valorant With Admin Rights

Try setting Valorant to run with elevated administrator rights. Applying this troubleshooting method will ensure the game has the required permissions to access all it needs. You can configure Valorant to run with administrator rights like this:

1. Open the Riot Games > VALORANT > live > ShooterGame > Binaries > Win64 folder in File Explorer.
2. Right-click the VALORANT-Win64-Shipping file and select its Properties context menu option.
3. Select Run this program as an administrator inside the Compatibility tab settings.
4. To save the settings as configured, click on Apply and OK.
   
   

   Run this program as an administrator option

5. Repeat the previous steps for the RiotClientServices and VALORANT exe files in the Riot Client and Riot Games > Valorant > live folders.

Disable the Nahimic Service

Some players have fixed the Valorant “A critical error has occurred” gaming issue by disabling the Nahimic service. That is a service for pre-installed audio software. This is how you can disable the Nahimic service:

1. Open the Services window as instructed for steps one and two of the first potential resolution above.
2. Double-click the Nahimic service to open its windows.
3. Select Disabled for its Startup type drop-down setting.
4. Click Apply > OK to set the service options as configured.

Enter and Execute Network Troubleshooting Commands

Some players say they’ve fixed the Valorant “A critical error has occurred” gaming issue by executing a series of network troubleshooting commands. Executing such commands will reset network settings. So, try executing network commands like this:

1. First, activate the Search box by clicking on it in the taskbar.
2. Enter cmd to find the Command Prompt.
3. Click the Command Prompt search result with the right mouse button to select Run this program as an administrator.
4. Enter the following separate commands, pressing the Return key after each:

   netsh int IP reset
   netsh winsock reset
   ipconfig /release
   ipconfig /renew
   ipconfig /flushdns

    

5. Close the Command Prompt and restart Windows.

The flush DNS command

Remove MSI Afterburner and Rivatuner

Another player-confirmed way to fix the Valorant “A critical error has occurred” gaming issue is to remove MSI Afterburner and Rivatuner software. Is MSI Afterburner or Rivatuner installed on your PC? If so, try removing those apps with standard uninstallation methods covered on this Microsoft page.

The Programs and Features Control Panel applet

Reinstall Valorant

Finally, try reinstalling the game to fix the Valorant “A critical error has occurred” gaming issue. I recommend trying other potential resolutions first, but some players confirm they’ve fixed the critical error by reinstalling Valorant. This Riot Games page tells you how to uninstall and reinstall the Valorant game.

The uninstall option in Settings

Other Ways to Fix the Valorant “A Critical Error Has Occurred” Gaming Issue

There are quite a few potential fixes for the Valorant critical error that might be worth trying. These are some additional potential resolutions for that error:

• Update the graphical driver for your GPU (our guide tells you about different ways to install new graphics drivers).
• Apply the clean boot troubleshooting method covered in this Microsoft guide.
• Erase everything in the Local > Valorant > Saved folder.
• Update the BIOS for your PC as instructed within its user guidelines.

I hope a troubleshooting method above fixes the Valorant “A critical error has occurred” gaming issue on your Windows PC. There’s a good chance one of those troubleshooting methods will work because many players have fixed that error by applying them. You can also ask Valorant’s help service for more potential fixes by submitting a support request from this page.

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