If you’re having trouble connecting to the authentication service while playing League of Legends, there are a few possible causes.
Fortunately, we have some solutions. Here are some ways to fix the “unable to connect to authentication service” error in LoL.
What causes the ‘unable to connect to the authentication service’ error in LoL?
This error message appears when your data cannot be accessed properly when launching the game. It could be due to a faulty internet connection, a disrupted firewall, or some other issue. The error can occur during champion selection, at the login screen, or in the middle of a game. However, the problem can usually be easily resolved.
How to fix ‘unable to connect to the authentication service’ in League of Legends
Check your server status
The first thing to do is check the status of the League of Legends servers. There’s a good chance that the issue is on Riot Games’ end, and in that case, all you can do is wait. To check the server status, visit Riot’s official server status page.
If the server status page doesn’t provide the answers you need, there is another solution you can try.
Troubleshoot, temporarily disable, or update your firewall
Once you’ve confirmed that the server status is fine, log back into League of Legends and start a game. If the error message appears again, your next step is to troubleshoot and temporarily disable your firewall. Sometimes, firewalls can block access to your internet connection, leading to this issue.
In most cases, firewalls are not designed to block communication with League of Legends, but they can malfunction. To fix this problem, you can either disable your firewall or update it. Temporarily disabling the firewall is the easier option.
If you’re using Windows’ default firewall, you can disable it by following these steps: Go to Start, Settings, Update & Security, and Windows Security. From there, navigate to Firewall & Network Protection and click on Private network. Look for Microsoft Defender Firewall and turn it off.
If you’re using a different version of Windows, the method may be slightly different, but the general steps should be similar.
Alternatively, you can uninstall or temporarily pause any third-party firewall software you have installed.
Change your DNS settings
If the previous solutions didn’t work, there’s one more option to try: temporarily changing your DNS settings.
To change your DNS settings, open the Control Panel, go to Network and Internet, Network and Sharing Center, and then Change Adapter Settings. Right-click on your network (Ethernet or Wi-Fi) and select Properties.
Select the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) option and click Properties. Then, choose the option to Use the Following DNS Server Addresses and change it to Google’s Public DNS (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4). Click OK, and hopefully, the League of Legends error will be resolved.
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