Image via Valve
The “VAC Unable to Verify” message has been around in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for years. VAC is an acronym for “Valve Anti Cheat.” A player targeted by VAC usually gets banned for cheating, but receiving the “VAC Unable to Verify” error message does not mean you’ve been banned from the game. The error message means the game is having problems verifying that the anti-cheating program is working. These kinds of error messages often occur after an update.
How to fix “VAC Unable to Verify?”
Image via Valve
The first thing you should do is try restarting Steam; restarting will sometimes automatically fix whatever bug within your copy of the game. If you still get “VAC Unable to Verify” in CS: GO, try uninstalling and reinstalling the game. If the problem persists, restart your router. Most modern routers can restart with a press of a button, yet if it’s an older router you will need to unplug and plug it back in. Restarting the router will reset the wi-fi, which may fix the problem.
If none of those solutions works, you need to verify the game files for CS:GO. To start, right-click Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in your Steam library. In the drop-down menu, pick Properties, and then select the Local Files tab on the top of the window. Click on the Verify Integrity of Game Files selection from the Local Files tab, wait a little while, and CS:GO should be verified.
If that still doesn’t get rid of the “VAC Unable to Verify” message for you, then restart your PC. If the message persists even after restarting your PC, then the worst-case scenario is that you will have to wait. If none of the troubleshooting solutions we give out has helped in any way, then the problem most likely lies in the servers and not in your copy of the game. There’s nothing else you can do other than hope Valve solves the problem on their end sooner rather than later.