[FIXED] VALORANT: Error retrieving settings from server
You’re in a 1v2 clutch situation. You just killed the enemy Omen, putting yourself in a straight 1v1 against the enemy Jett. You’re both out of util, but you know where she is. You reload, preaim, and swing…
And VALORANT suddenly kicks you out of the lobby, showing you an error message: “Error retrieving settings from server.”
But everything’s fine. You can just restart the game and boot back in, right? And so you do—the game loads back, you hear your agent cock back their Classic… but when you start to move, something seems off.
Somehow, the game has reset all your settings, including your sensitivity and crosshair.
How are you supposed to win the game like this? And more importantly… how do you fix VALORANT’s “Error retrieving settings from server” message?
What, when, and why: “Error retrieving settings from server”
Many of VALORANT’s errors occur outside of a match… for instance, when users attempt to log in or try to queue up for a match. Outside from costing a couple of minutes, these errors don’t make too much of a difference. A quick restart usually does the trick.
But if reports from Reddit are to be believed, the “retrieving settings” error message can potentially occur any time a player adjusts settings, whether they’re in game or out. What’s worse, unlike most one-time error codes, this error can be persistent—sometimes, it doesn’t go away. Instead, like an enemy Chamber with an Operator down Haven C Long, it just keeps rearing its ugly head when it’s least convenient, no matter how many times you restart your game.
And as alluded to before, this error adds insult to injury: it resets all of your settings, including your keybinds, sensitivity, and crosshair customizations. If you want them back, you’ll need to go through and reset everything, almost as if you were on a fresh account.
No one seems to know exactly what causes this uniquely irksome error message—the general consensus is that it’s a server-side error, and all else being equal, neither the user’s PC or account is to blame.
Fixing the “error retrieving settings from server” message
Thankfully, fixing this error seems like it’s pretty straightforward for most users, and the possible fixes don’t require in-depth tinkering:
- Ensure the Riot Client is running in administrator mode
- Maintain a fast and reliable internet connection
- Check that the VALORANT servers are up and running
- Log out of VALORANT and log back in
Run the Riot Client in administrator mode
When you launch a program from your Windows desktop by simply double-clicking it, that program will generally run with standard privileges. This access level means that whatever you’re trying to run—in this case, VALORANT—will be able to access the bare minimum resources on your computer that it needs to execute its program.
However, because it can only access the bare-minimum resources, if VALORANT encounters an error related to compatibility, hardware, or other limitations, it won’t have the full ability to solve those issues by itself: it lacks the permissions to do so.
This permission level is why you’ll find many other troubleshooting guides recommending the “Run as Administrator” option when users encounter errors. Broadly speaking, giving trusted programs administrator access allows those programs to self-diagnose and correct certain errors that require more resources from the PC (the key word here is “trusted,” as you won’t want to give this permission level to programs that you don’t understand!).
Follow these steps to launch your Riot client in administrator mode:
Right-click the program on your desktop, and instead of clicking “Open,” you’ll want to click “Run as administrator”…
…then click “yes” when prompted.
In general, we recommend always starting your Riot client in administrator mode, to head off any potential fixable errors and maximize your game’s performance.
Ensure you have fast and reliable internet
When VALORANT tells you that it’s having a problem saving your settings, it’s a possible indicator that your PC and the VALORANT servers are having issues talking to each other. As mentioned earlier, the problem usually lies with the servers… but sometimes, the communication breakdown might be because of internet packet loss or connection drops.
If you’ve been experiencing internet connection issues at your setup and suspect that packet loss might be to blame, you can use packetlosstest.com to test your connection reliability for free. If you’re alarmed by the number of packets you’re dropping, consider optimizing your physical setup to ensure the fastest and most stable internet possible.
Check the VALORANT server status
The servers can’t talk to your PC to save your settings… if there’s no server to talk to at all. Aside from scheduled maintenance and server downtime, the servers occasionally suffer unanticipated global outages.
If the VALORANT servers are having problems, your client might throw up the “retrieving” error as a stopgap for other problems. Instead of checking the official Riot Games server page (because there’s sometimes a delay between real-time outages and a page update), we recommend checking Down Detector instead—the latter is populated in real time by user reports, which generally results in quicker and more accurate snapshots of the server’s status.
If VALORANT’s servers appear to be down… you’ve found your problem.
Log in and out of VALORANT
When their VALORANT session is over and it’s time to tuck in, most players simply exit the client without logging out—some even ALT+F4. In fact, if you ever ran into the “retrieving” error, you might have force quit the program in an effort at a quick fix. But we recommend something different.
Instead of simply shutting the game down clicking the “x” at the top-right corner of the client and clicking “Exit,” try the “Sign out & exit” option instead. This will force you to reenter your credentials into the client the next time you open the program, but we’ve found that this method tends to reliably get rid of the error.
Of course, sometimes the error will make you close out of the game without much choice in the matter. In this case, simply open the Riot client again and log out of the game once you’re in the menu.
Damage already done?
Hopefully, these fixes helped get rid of the “error retrieving settings from server” message for good. Unfortunately, they won’t bring back your deleted crosshair or sensitivity settings—so we recommend queueing up some Deathmatches to recalibrate your controls, if you don’t remember them.
You may also want to consider taking and saving a screenshot of your most important settings, just in case something like this happens again.
Good luck out there, and may your RR gains be swift!