TAP adapter not appearing

This forum is for all inquiries relating to the installation of OpenVPN from source and with binaries.

Moderators: TinCanTech, TinCanTech, TinCanTech, TinCanTech, TinCanTech, TinCanTech

Forum rules
Please visit (and READ) the OpenVPN HowTo http://openvpn.net/howto prior to asking any questions in here!
Post Reply
cascooscuro
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun May 03, 2020 4:33 pm

TAP adapter not appearing

Post by cascooscuro » Sun May 03, 2020 4:39 pm

Hi there,

Having deployed and installed VPN on many laptops before, now I've found an issue that I'm not able to solve...

TAP adapter does not appear on network adapters.

It is correctly installed. I've even manually added it (running "Add TAP..." as administrator). I get no errors but adapter does not appear and VPN does not work (error: All TAP-Windows adapters on this system are currently in use).

Laptop is completly new. Unboxed two hours ago. Windows 10 Home. Running as administrator.
However, it has no physical ethernet adapter (only wifi) and I think this could be the reason of tap adapter not adding/showing/working...

Also tried to uninstall and reinstall OpenVPN...same problem.

Any ideas?

Many thanks!

TinCanTech
OpenVPN Protagonist
Posts: 11139
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2016 1:17 pm

Re: TAP adapter not appearing

Post by TinCanTech » Sun May 03, 2020 5:03 pm

cascooscuro wrote:
Sun May 03, 2020 4:39 pm
Laptop is completly new. Unboxed two hours ago. Windows 10 Home. Running as administrator.
However, it has no physical ethernet adapter (only wifi) and I think this could be the reason of tap adapter not adding/showing/working...
Wifi or ethernet makes no difference.

What does ipconfig /all display ?

cascooscuro
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun May 03, 2020 4:33 pm

Re: TAP adapter not appearing

Post by cascooscuro » Wed May 06, 2020 4:57 pm

ipconfig /all only shows wireless and bluetooth adapters

Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter
Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2
Realtek RTL8822CE 802.11ac PCIe Adapter
Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)

No TAP adapters...

TinCanTech
OpenVPN Protagonist
Posts: 11139
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2016 1:17 pm

Re: TAP adapter not appearing

Post by TinCanTech » Wed May 06, 2020 5:04 pm

cascooscuro wrote:
Sun May 03, 2020 4:39 pm
Laptop is completly new. Unboxed two hours ago. Windows 10 Home. Running as administrator
First, what is the laptop ? And second, have you run Windows Update ?

cascooscuro
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun May 03, 2020 4:33 pm

Re: TAP adapter not appearing

Post by cascooscuro » Wed May 06, 2020 5:37 pm

Laptop is HP 15s-fq1044ns
Windows was completely updated to latest version/drivers just after unboxing it. Next step was installing OpenVPN. No other software has been installed on it. It is a completely clean system.

TinCanTech
OpenVPN Protagonist
Posts: 11139
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2016 1:17 pm

Re: TAP adapter not appearing

Post by TinCanTech » Wed May 06, 2020 5:48 pm

How about

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files\Openvpn\bin\tapctl list
:?:

uragan1987
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon May 11, 2020 10:38 am

Re: TAP adapter not appearing

Post by uragan1987 » Mon May 11, 2020 12:50 pm

cascooscuro check device manager at you system
there is a TAP? with Error code 52?

cascooscuro
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun May 03, 2020 4:33 pm

Re: TAP adapter not appearing

Post by cascooscuro » Mon May 11, 2020 4:43 pm

TinCanTech:
C:\Program Files\Openvpn\bin\tapctl list
File does not exist.

uragan1987
No TAP on device manager. Nothing with errors/warnings.

So...

I had no time and I did a system restore (factory reset) to the laptop.
Installed OpenVPN just after system restore and now works fine.
Thanks for your help anyway.

RedEclipse
OpenVpn Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2024 3:12 pm

Re: TAP adapter not appearing

Post by RedEclipse » Wed Aug 28, 2024 9:54 pm

It seems I have the same problem on my Win 10 home and latest OpenVPN client 3.5.0. I have my VPN server and all worked well for a month, suddenly on PC it refuses to work(connects to the server with no error, but no internet), I believe the problem is with adapter, as I don't have TAP adapter anywhere.

But instead I have according ipconfig

Code: Select all

"Unknown adapter OpenVPN Connect DCO Adapter:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :"
Not sure if its made by intention, but OpenVPN uses this instead, managed to track it by Wireshark

Code: Select all

Unknown adapter Local Area Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
I had Avast antivirus running, after its removal and reinstallation of OpenVPN it worked well till restart. Now it's all same, I've tried to disable built-in antivirus and firewall but no luck so far. The server seems to be good, I still able to use it on my phone/tv within same network as my PC.

If you have any thoughts what could be the problem would be great to hear.

Thanks in advice.

Post Reply