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Riot Vanguard crash

vgk.sys blue screen on a 13th or 14th gen Intel CPU: update the BIOS first

Riot VanguardIntel 13th/14th gen

The message

vgk.sys

What it means

Your PC blue-screens and the crash points at vgk.sys, Vanguard's driver. Riot's article is for 13th and 14th generation Intel CPUs only.

What to try first

Update your motherboard's BIOS before anything else, then select Intel's default or baseline profile in the BIOS.

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.

Who this is for

Riot's article has two conditions, and you need both. The blue screen (BSOD) has to name vgk.sys, which is Vanguard's driver, and the PC has to have an Intel CPU from the 13th or 14th generation. If only one fits, this isn't your fix.

Riot doesn't describe the fault as a Vanguard bug. Its first step is firmware, and it says many motherboard and processor makers have already shipped updates for this. The article lives at a League support address, though Riot's page labels it under 2XKO, and nothing in the steps is specific to one game.

Riot's fix, in Riot's order

Riot puts this in capitals: do it before any other step.

  1. Update your BIOS

    Find your exact board or laptop model in msinfo32 (System Model or BaseBoard Product) and download the newest BIOS from the maker's support page. Laptops and prebuilts usually get a Windows installer; custom boards use a file on a USB stick and the BIOS's own flash tool (EZ Flash, M-Flash, Q-Flash). Don't power off mid-update.

    Riot's guide: Update your BIOS

Then pick Intel's default profile

Once the BIOS is updated, go back into it and select the Intel default settings. Riot names the option for three board makers:

  • MSI: Intel Default Settings
  • ASUS: Intel Baseline Profile
  • Gigabyte: Intel BaseLine

For most people Riot expects that to be the end of it.

If it keeps crashing

Riot's article goes on to deeper tuning: switching off every form of overclocking (some boards turn on an automatic or "AI" mode out of the box), lowering power limits and the P-core multiplier, and board-specific voltage settings. It also names Intel's XTU utility as a way to lower the multiplier without entering the BIOS.

Riot flags this part as risky itself. Wrong BIOS settings can stop a PC from starting, and every board lays them out differently, so Riot recommends getting help from your PC or motherboard maker's support (or a professional) here. Take them the exact error and your CPU model.

Other wordings of the same error

  • vgk.sys BSOD
  • vgk.sys blue screen
  • vgk.sys crash Intel 13th gen
  • vgk.sys crash Intel 14th gen
  • Vanguard blue screen Intel

Source: Riot Games Player Support, vgk.sys Error Troubleshooting (13th and 14th Generation Intel CPUs), updated October 9, 2025. Riot's steps are paraphrased here, not copied; checked September 25, 2026.