Call of Duty's 'Failed Attestation' Error — Fixing the TPM / Secure Boot Lockout

If you've fired up Call of Duty or Warzone in the last couple of weeks and been hit with "Failed Attestation Status" — or a TPM / Secure Boot error that won't let you into normal playlists — you're not alone, and you're not banned. A recent update tightened the anti-cheat's security checks, and a lot of players with perfectly good PCs got locked into limited modes overnight. Here's what's actually happening and how to get back in.

What the error actually means

Call of Duty's RICOCHET anti-cheat now verifies your PC's security setup through Microsoft Azure Attestation. In plain English: instead of just checking your machine locally, the game sends a security "fingerprint" of your system to Microsoft's servers to confirm two things are switched on — TPM 2.0 (a small security chip built into modern PCs) and Secure Boot (a firmware setting that blocks tampered startup code).

If the check can't confirm both, you're not kicked out entirely — you're dropped into limited playlists (like Battle Royale Casual in Warzone or Nuketown 24/7 in Black Ops). Annoying, but fixable in most cases.

First, the honest part: sometimes it isn't you

Before you spend an hour in your BIOS, know this: a chunk of these failures are on Activision's end, not yours. Plenty of players who already have TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot enabled and a fully updated BIOS are still getting the error because the attestation servers themselves are struggling. There's also a catch most people miss — if you queue with friends and even one person's PC isn't compliant, everyone in the party gets the failed-attestation message. So if your settings look right, check your squad before you start tearing your system apart.

That said, for most people the steps below clear it.

The fix, step by step

Work through these in order — you can stop as soon as the game lets you back in.

1. Run Activision's official wizard first. Download CODSecureAttestationWizard.exe from Activision's Player Support page and run it. It scans your PC and tells you exactly which setting is missing, so you're not guessing.
2. Turn on TPM 2.0. Press Windows + R, type tpm.msc, and press Enter. If it says "The TPM is ready for use" with "Specification Version 2.0," you're good. If not, reboot into your BIOS (tap Del or F2 at startup) and enable it — it's called Intel PTT on Intel systems or AMD fTPM on AMD systems. Save, exit, and re-check tpm.msc.
3. Turn on Secure Boot. This one has two requirements: your PC must boot in UEFI mode (not Legacy/CSM), and your drive must use GPT partitioning (not MBR). Check the partition style in diskmgmt.msc → right-click your disk → Properties → Volumes. If it's MBR, you'll need to convert it with Windows' built-in mbr2gpt tool — back up your files first, because partition changes carry real risk. Once you're on UEFI + GPT, enable Secure Boot in the BIOS. Confirm it worked by typing msinfo32 in the Start menu — "Secure Boot State" should say On.
4. Update your BIOS. This is the step that fixes the most stubborn cases — especially on AMD systems, where older firmware shipped a buggy fTPM version. Go to your motherboard or laptop maker's support page, download the latest stable BIOS for your exact model, and follow their flashing instructions. Flashing a BIOS carries real risk if it's interrupted, so don't do it on a low battery or during a storm — and if you're not comfortable, this is a good point to hand it off.
5. Still stuck? Clear the TPM. Back in tpm.msc, click "Clear TPM…" on the right and let the PC reboot (it may ask you to confirm in the BIOS). Make sure Windows is fully updated, then relaunch the game.

You'll also need Windows 10 version 22H2 or Windows 11, and a CPU recent enough to support all this — roughly Intel 8th-gen or newer, or AMD Ryzen 2000 or newer.

What if your PC just can't do it?

Here's the part nobody likes: some older laptops can't be fixed, because the manufacturer stopped releasing BIOS updates and the firmware fix was never shipped for that model. If you're in that boat, your realistic options are an upgrade or a build that's set up properly from the start. We'll tell you honestly which one applies to you — we won't sell you a new machine you don't need.

We can handle this part for you

BIOS updates, TPM and Secure Boot configuration, and safe MBR-to-GPT conversions are exactly the kind of thing we do all the time — and exactly the kind of thing that's easy to get wrong if you've never been inside a BIOS. If you'd rather not risk it, or you've tried everything and you're still locked out, bring it to us. We're in Dawsonville and serve all of North Georgia, and we can do most of this remotely too. Call or text (706) 203-2563.

And if you want a gaming PC that sails through checks like this — TPM, Secure Boot, UEFI, the works, configured right the first time — that's what we build. No attestation surprises on day one.