How to play Valorant on Chromebook

Valorant is one of the hottest games around. Riot's signature formula, where they give players the ability to choose from several colorful characters, each with their own special skins and quirks, worked for League of Legends and seems to have worked for Valorant as well.

Even so, not everyone is willing or able to spend the money needed to build or buy a PC or laptop just to play this one specific game. Fortunately, Valorant does not require specifications that are too heavy, because of which players can run it even using low-end PCs.

Sadly, it is a well-known fact that Chromebooks are not at all utilized to run games, especially if the game requires heavier specs. However, thanks to certain installable workarounds, it is possible to play Valorant on your Chromebook as long as the version isn't too old.

How to install Valorant on Chromebook

The first thing you have to do is ensure the Chromebook you have launched in 2019 or later. Otherwise, it won't be able to run Linux. Linux-based apps make it much easier to install and run programs that a Chromebook would otherwise not be able to install, such as Valorant (and many other games that would be a cakewalk to run on Windows.) 

If you have a system that isn't a Chromebook but does have Linux installed, then we have the perfect guide for you! Check out how to play Valorant on Linux.

To enable Linux on a Chromebook that supports it, all you have to do is 

• Go to settings
• Expand the 'Advanced' option subheading
• Go to 'Developers'
• Finally, turn on 'Linux'

Finally, you also need to install Wine, an application that allows you to run Windows programs on a Linux system, similar to an emulator.
With that done, go to playvalorant.com, where you'll have to log in to your Riot account. If you don't have an account already, then make a new one, something that will only take around five minutes. After being successfully logged in, press on 'download', which will keep 'install Valorant.exe' for download.

When the file is downloaded,

• Go to 'files'
• Right-click on the Valorant installation file you just downloaded
• Select the 'Share with Linux' option (or drag and click it to 'Linux files' as shown in the picture above
• On WINE, input ''Install Valorant.exe.''
• Wait for the installation to be completed.

When done, restart your Chromebook just in case, and you should be able to run Valorant on your Chromebook now.

How to play Valorant on Chromebook via remote desktop

The other way to play Valorant on Chromebook doesn't involve installing it but streaming it from another computer, specifically one with Windows and Valorant installed. This method is preferred over the other one as it's more reliable and won't take up any space, which is especially important as many Chromebooks barely have the storage required to fully install Valorant.

How you do this is by first opening Google Chrome on both your devices (PC with Windows and your Chromebook) and signing into the same Google account. When done, go to remotedesktop.google.com again on both your devices.

On your PC, click on remote access and then choose a name for your device as well as a pin for extra security (write this down somewhere as you'll be needing it really soon). Then, refresh the page on your Chromebook, where you'll see the option to connect with the PC you just set up. Click on it, enter the pin you used previously, and voila! You should now be able to control your PC using your Chromebook.

Simply minimize the Google Chrome window and boot up Valorant to freely play it on your Chromebook without the need to install it. As long as your PC can run the game without any issues and you have a stable enough internet connection, the game should be playable.

Should you play Valorant on Chromebook?

So that clears up the mystery of how to play Valorant on Chromebook. The real question, however, is if you should even play it. Let's go through the installation method first. While you will indeed be able to install it, whether or not you'll actually be able to get you through a single match is something even we don't know.

This is because of Riot Vanguard, which is Riot games' own custom security software that detects any unusual behavior. Because there's no legitimate Linux port of Valorant, there's no way for Vanguard to run on it either, which might cause problems when running the game. If you even do run it, we can't guarantee anything over 10 FPS.

As for the remote access method, as long as you have a good enough internet connection, it should be possible to play Valorant on your Chromebook. However, Chrome remote access is sometimes unreliable in the sense that many school Chromebooks have it blocked. Additionally, many players have reported that when they try going fullscreen on Valorant with remote access, they see the mouse cursor instead of being able to move the camera in the game.