How to uninstall League of Legends and how to fix it if you can't
It’s easy to install League of Legends, but some might find it particularly difficult to uninstall it; here’s why and what to do if you have this problem.
While many League of Legends players install the game and never even consider uninstalling it, that’s not the case with everyone. Many get frustrated with the game over time. With others, it just doesn’t click. Some people find themselves addicted and need that clean break of uninstalling the game to fully kick the habit.
Riot Games, intentionally or unintentionally, doesn’t make it easy. Still, there’s a fairly easy workaround to this that allows players to delete the game from their hard drives. They just need to know where to look.
How to uninstall League of Legends from your PC
Players can uninstall League of Legends using their operating system’s standard uninstaller.
For Windows, soon-to-be-former players can do it by following these steps:
- Open system settings
- Open “Apps & Features”
- Find League of Legends
- Click on it and select “Uninstall”
Users playing the game on MacOS can do so using a similar process:
- Click “Go” on the finder bar
- Select “Applications”
- Find League of Legends
- Drag and drop it into the bin
- Open the bin and select “Empty Bin”
In both cases, this should fully remove League of Legends from the computer.
After doing this, players may want to separately uninstall the Riot Client and Vanguard. Those who have Valorant and plan to continue enjoying the game shouldn’t do this, as both are required to play the game. However, those who only play League of Legends can get rid of all three programs to free up hard drive space.
However, some users may be told that they’re unable to uninstall the game. This is caused by a common, but easily fixed issue.
What to do if you can’t uninstall League of Legends
If users are told they cannot uninstall League of Legends, this can be fixed by shutting down Vanguard.
Vanguard is Riot Games’ controversial, always-on anti-cheat system. Vanguard was originally developed for Valorant and, despite numerous bugs, compatibility issues, and security concerns, it was later added to League of Legends. However, because Vanguard is always on and a separate program from League of Legends, players won’t be able to uninstall the game while it’s running.
Because of this, players need to shut down Vanguard before attempting to uninstall. This can be done by following these steps on Windows:
- On the right side of the taskbar, find Riot Vanguard
- Right-click
- Select Exit Vanguard
After doing this, the game can be uninstalled using the aforementioned method.
Players who happen to have both League of Legends and Valorant on their PC will have to restart their PC before playing another game of Valorant. This is because Riot Vanguard is a kernel-level anti-cheat system that works by booting before other programs. As such, it cannot be freely closed and re-opened and Valorant won’t run until after a reboot.
Steven Rondina is a true lifelong gamer. His earliest memories are of playing video games, and he has continued playing them throughout his life with no plans to stop any time soon. Steven’s favorite franchises in gaming include Pokemon, Dark Souls, and Counter-Strike. He has previously published with Bleacher Report and other gaming outlets.
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