Valve Anti-cheat System or VAC was developed with the aim of trying to detect configuration files or modified installation files of popular games such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive so that malicious users are prevented from exploiting workarounds to gain an unfair advantage during gaming. But that is not always the case.
At times, even though the users are not modifying the configuration files or error which result in VAC was Unable to Verify the Game Session message whenever the user will try to initiate any official matchmaking or any online game session.
5 Ways to Fix VAC Was Unable to Verify the Gaming Session Error.
If the user is using any enhancement or modification to cheat, then this is the best moment to stop it, as it will not only make the user unable to do any matchmaking, but the user may also get blocked sometime sooner or later. After which no data will be recovered. The user won’t be able to recover the progress. But if the error is happening without the user using any such things, there are a few ways that can help to avoid the VAC was unable to verify the game session error.
Method 1: Just Reboot your Computer
If there are some files which need to get verified by the VAC but are being accessed by some different applications or programs like disk indexing service or the antivirus or something else, the operating system will deny access to the VAC in order to avoid any read- write conflicts and this can lead to VAC error.
In this case just a single reboot can do wonders for you. To do that to overcome the error you need to follow the steps given below:
Step 1: Press the Windows key present in the bottom row along with the space key and Alt key on your right keyboard. Or you can click on the Windows icon present at the bottom of the left corner of your computer screen, on the task bar.
Step 2: Click on the Power button in the start menu that will appear and then click on reboot. If you are asked to close some app by the operating system on which you were working on, save your data and then close the app. After that, click on reboot again to perform the system reboot.
Once the rebooting is done try to open a game to check if the VAC has unable to verify the Gaming session error has been removed and if you are able to start a game session now.
If not, navigate further into the guide.
Method 2: Log out of Steam and Log in Again
VAC not being able to verify the game session error can occur if there are any configuration file that have been altered by the file management system or the operating system of computer.
If you have encountered VAC Has not being able to verify the Gaming session error then one of the easiest thing that you can do is to log out of your Steam account and then log in again using the same credentials. Where logging out is going to delete all the configuration files, logging in will recreate all such files.
Steps to log out and then log in again are:
Step 1: Run the Steam application by clicking on a Steam icon present in the task bar, the Start menu or on the Desktop.
Step 2: Once the Steam application starts up, click on your name profile present on the topmost bar of the Window (Title bar).
Step 3: A drop – down menu will expand. Choose Log out of My Account from the list and then follow the Instructions in the dialog box.
Step 4: Now, log in again using your credentials and then click on Forgot if you do not remember them to reset the password.
If the VAC was unable to verify the Gaming session error was because of some setting files or bad configuration then this method will (most probably) fix the issue.
People also consider reinstalling the game but you need to know that just reinstalling it is not going to rectify this situation. It will only load the game once more with the same files and this will make the error persist. Hence this step is only going to give same desired effect but logging out and then logging in once more is comparatively more efficient. In fact, in most of the cases, it as effective as a fresh new install, which is why we recommend it more.
Method 3: Verify integrity of the Game files
To verify if the game files are exactly the way they should should be, i.e, as described by the Steam distributors and game manufacturer and is without any modified or corrupted files, you can check the integrity of those game files that are installed, manually.
To verify the integrity of the game files you can follow the steps given below:
Step 1: Using the desktop or the start menu icon, open Steam.
Step 2: Go to the Library tab.
Step 3: You will not see the installed games on your computer. Now, right click on the game on which you had encountered VAC was unable to verify the Gaming session error.
Step 4: Then go to the Properties.
Step 5: Now, click on the verify integrity of the game files option present in the local tab.
Depending upon the type of storage, game size and the background activity, verifying the integrity will take its time. It is recommended to close all background services or opinions that are not related to the Steam which are utilising the system resources such as RAM, CPU use or storage. On the completion of the process, run the game once again and check if the problem has been fixed by the verification. If you still see the error, proceed to the next method.
Method 4: Repair the Steam Software
There is a possibility that the Steam client itself have some damaged or broken files which in turn would have lead to VAC has been unable to verify the Gaming session error.
If this is the reason behind the error then you can fix it by following the steps given below:
Step 1: Press the Windows + R key combination.
Step 2: A dialogue box will appear. Type cmd in it and then open the Command Prompt.
Step 3: Copy and Paste C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\bin\SteamService.exe /repair in the command prompt and then press the enter.
Step 4: In case this is not the path to the SteamService.exe in your system, you can replace the path with the one that works for you.
Step 5: Wait for the repair to finish. Once it’s done, restart your computer.
Now, open the Steam application first after the restart as it may reconfigure itself or download certain files for configuration or update. If prompted, log in.
Finally, open the game and check if this method got rid of the VAC was unable to verify the Gaming session error. Still no? Jump to the last method to resolve it.
Method 5: Exclude Game Directory from Antivirus Scan
It was mentioned earlier that the Antivirus can try to scan the game directory on its own in the background which can lead to the VAC was unable to verify the Gaming session error. To avoid this situation we think you can consider just Whitelisting your game and the Steam directory so that they do not get scanned automatically. The process for the same varies from one Antivirus program to another.
A rough idea of the procedure would be opening your Antivirus program app and then opening the settings and adding the game directory in excluded folders list.
Conclusion
We hope that this guide was proved helpful in getting rid of the VAC was unable to verify the Gaming session error and now you are able to play your online session games again.