What Is Secure Boot? Why Games Require It and How to Enable It

Secure Boot used to be a setting most players never touched. Then kernel-level anti-cheats started requiring it, and “Secure Boot is not enabled” became one of the most searched game errors on PC.

What Secure Boot is

Secure Boot is part of UEFI, the firmware that starts your PC before Windows loads. With it on, the firmware checks every piece of software involved in starting the computer, from the boot loader to the early drivers, against a list of trusted signatures. Anything not signed by a trusted key is refused.

The point is to stop bootkits and rootkits: malware that loads before Windows, hides beneath it and is very hard to remove once it is there. Secure Boot has been part of the UEFI standard for over a decade, and PCs built for Windows 8 or later almost always support it.

Why games require Secure Boot

Cheats learned the same trick as malware. A cheat that loads before Windows, or before the anti-cheat, can hide from it. Secure Boot closes that door, because nothing unsigned can load during startup.

For a kernel-level anti-cheat, that matters enormously. It can trust that nothing ran before it, and with a TPM it can even ask for proof of how the PC started.

How to check Secure Boot

1. Press Windows and R, type msinfo32 and press Enter.
2. In System Summary, find BIOS Mode and Secure Boot State.

How to enable Secure Boot

Every motherboard maker lays its firmware out differently, but the steps are the same.

1. Make sure the disk is GPT

Secure Boot needs UEFI mode, and UEFI needs your system disk to use the GPT partition layout. In Disk Management, right-click the disk, choose Properties and check Partition style on the Volumes tab. If it says MBR, Windows’ own mbr2gpt tool can convert it in place. Back up first.

2. Switch the firmware to UEFI mode

Restart and press the firmware key during startup, usually Delete or F2. Look for CSM (Compatibility Support Module) or a Boot Mode setting and set it to UEFI only, with CSM disabled.

3. Turn Secure Boot on

Find Secure Boot, usually under Boot or Security, and enable it. On some boards you also set the OS type to Windows UEFI mode, or choose to install or restore the default Secure Boot keys if none are loaded. Save and restart.

4. Check again

Run msinfo32 once more. Secure Boot State should now read On.

Things to watch out for

• BitLocker. If your drive is encrypted, changing firmware security settings can make Windows ask for the BitLocker recovery key on the next start. Have it ready from your Microsoft account before you begin.
• Very old graphics cards. Disabling CSM on a PC with a graphics card that lacks UEFI support can leave you with a black screen. Most cards from the last decade are fine.
• Dual booting. Some Linux setups and unsigned drivers will not load with Secure Boot on until they are set up for it.

Secure Boot and your games

Where a game requires Secure Boot, it stays on: Battlefield 6 will not start without it, and the same goes for Valorant on Windows 11. Our Battlefield 6 Secure Boot guide walks through that game’s error message and fix. For other games, leave Secure Boot as it is unless the game asks you to change it, and if you are unsure what a game or build needs, ask support before you change any firmware setting.