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hetixo 0 Junior Poster in Training

Hi,

every time i boot up my computer the hardware wizard starts up and looks for .Net, it doesn't find the drivers or whatever it's looking for and repeats this process four times.

I've looked in device manager and sure enough there are four yellow exclamation marks alonside four different unknown devices listed underneath network adapters.

I did install Switch VPN a few months ago and wondered whether this might have something to do with it?

All other hardware is working properly, but when I disable these devices, I'm getting a blue screen about memory dump.

I'm also not able to uninstall the devices as I get an error message saying that they are needed to boot up the computer.

I'm running XP

Any help greatly appreciated.

Hetixo.

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Dani AI

Generated

— The symptoms you described (repeated Hardware Wizard prompts at boot, several unknown network adapters and a bluescreen when those adapters are disabled) most often come from a virtual network driver left behind by VPN software or from a network driver/service that is installed to start very early in boot. Confirming the exact driver before removing anything will avoid making the system unbootable.

Try this sequence (in order) to safely identify and fix the problem:

  • In Device Manager open each unknown network device -> Properties -> Details -> Hardware Ids and Driver Provider. Note the exact Hardware Id (e.g., the ROOT\ or VEN/PID string) and the service/driver name shown on the Driver tab.
  • Inspect the driver install log at C:\Windows\setupapi.log and search for those Hardware Ids; the log will show the specific error the installer hit and which INF or DLL failed.
  • Boot to Safe Mode (F8) and try uninstalling the adapter or uninstall the VPN application from Add/Remove Programs there. Safe Mode prevents many third‑party drivers from loading so uninstalling often succeeds.
  • If uninstalling is blocked, use Autoruns (to view/disable drivers and services that load at boot) to identify the exact driver/service name and its image path. Autoruns can temporarily disable the entry so you can test without deleting things first. Autoruns
  • If you must edit a driver start setting, back up the registry first. The driver start value is at HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\<drivername>\Start (0=Boot, 1=System, 2=Auto, 3=Manual, 4=Disabled). Change this only as a last resort and only after a full backup or restore point.
  • If the Hardware Wizard explicitly requests a .NET version, install the exact .NET version it asks for (older installers commonly require .NET 3.5 SP1 on XP) or reinstall the VPN package then use its uninstaller so it removes the virtual adapters cleanly. Use the Microsoft Update Catalog to locate drivers for a known Hardware Id. (https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/)

Backup/restore points are essential before making changes. Collect the Hardware Id strings and the relevant setupapi.log entries if you need further diagnosis.

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