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League of Legends error

VAN 9051: Vanguard hit an internal error it can't recover from

Riot VanguardLeague + VALORANT

The message

VAN 9051: Riot Vanguard internal error. Vanguard has encountered a critical error and cannot continue. Please restart your computer, or try reinstalling Vanguard by uninstalling Vanguard via the taskbar and relaunch Riot Client.

What it means

Vanguard ran into a fault inside itself that it couldn't get past, so the client shut down rather than keep going with Vanguard in a broken state.

What to try first

Restart the PC properly. If 9051 comes back after that, uninstall Vanguard from the tray icon and let the game reinstall it.

Is it you or Riot? If lots of players are hitting this at once, it's probably the servers. Check League server status before you start reinstalling things.

A crash inside Vanguard itself

Most VAN codes point at something around Vanguard: a stopped service, a missing security setting, another program in the way. VAN 9051 is Riot saying the fault was internal. Vanguard hit an error it had no way to recover from, and the client closed on purpose so Vanguard could start clean next time.

The error text already hands you the whole fix. Restart, or uninstall Vanguard from the taskbar icon and relaunch the Riot Client. Riot's article puts those same two moves in that order, with the restart first because it gives Vanguard a fresh start and can clear a one-off fault without anything being removed.

When to go straight to the reinstall

Say you've restarted and 9051 is back. Riot's second step is a full uninstall and reinstall of Vanguard, which puts its settings back to default (your game install stays as it is). A third or fourth reboot won't add anything. It's the same code in VALORANT, since both games run on the one Vanguard install.

A corrupted install has its own code, VAN 9007, and a Vanguard that never started at all shows up as VAN 57. If you're still stuck after both of Riot's steps, the next move is a ticket to Player Support with your logs attached.

Riot's fix, in Riot's order

  1. Restart your PC

    A full restart, not a sign-out. Vanguard's driver loads when Windows boots, so a restart is the only thing that gives it a clean start.

  2. Uninstall Vanguard, restart, and let the game reinstall it

    1. Close the game and exit the Riot Client from the system tray.
    2. Right-click the red Vanguard icon in the tray, choose Advanced, then Uninstall Vanguard. If the icon isn't there, search Windows for Add or remove programs and uninstall Riot Vanguard from the list.
    3. Restart the PC. Vanguard is gone if its tray icon doesn't come back.
    4. Open the Riot Client and launch the game. It reinstalls Vanguard and will ask for one more restart before Play unlocks.

    Riot's guide: Uninstall Vanguard, restart, and let the game reinstall it

Other wordings of the same error

  • VAN9051
  • Error VAN 9051
  • Riot Vanguard internal error
  • VAN 9051 critical error

Source: Riot Games Player Support, VAN 9051, updated July 16, 2026. Riot's steps are paraphrased here, not copied; checked September 25, 2026.