Recently my internet stopped working one day and when I checked into the Networking and Sharing Center for the network Adapters, I saw that besides the Ethernet and the wireless (wi-fi) adapter there was another adapter with the description as TAP Windows Adapter V9. Although after thoroughly checking my internet connection I came to the conclusion that TAP was not responsible for my internet connection not working, it was something to do with my ISP. But still in some cases it may happen that you may face internet connectivity issues on your laptop or desktop due to the TAP Windows adapter V9. This post will let you know what exactly is TAP adapter and how to remove it properly.
What is TAP Windows Adapter V9?
TAP adapter is Ethernet adapter (Network Driver) which is installed by some VPN programs such as Cyberghost in my case. VPN programs use this as an alias to connect to the internet for your connection to be made private.
How to remove TAP Windows Adapter V9?
You just need to go to Your C drive or whichever is the drive where you have installed Windows. And then to Program Files >> TAP-Windows. And then run the unsinstall.exe file there. This will uninstall the TAP Windows Adapter from your computer.
Will TAP Windows Adapter V9 come back after uninstalling?
No, it will not come back if you don’t use the VPN program you used. If you try to rum the VPN program again then it would again either ask to install Network Driver (which is TAP windows adapter) or it will install without asking or the VPN software will not work giving error that the network card driver is outdated.
I was using Cyberghost and in my case it throws an information message asking if I would like to correct it (Install network driver i.e. TAP Windows Adapter).
If I click “Yes”, it will again install TAP Windows Adapter and Cyberghost will startup. If I click on “No”, Cyberghost will exit giving an error message and VPN would not run. This is the case with almost all of the VPN softwares.
So If you are planning to open that VPN software again then Yes, TAP Windows Adapter will come back again. Else, you are good to go after uninstalling TAP Windows Adaptor.
I hope this article would have helped you to understand and remove the TAP Windows Adaptor. Do let know if you have some doubts on this through the comments section.
Additionally if you want to ask something else, not related to this article, feel free to contact me here: Ask Ashwani
So, if your network quits working you just uninstall this program? Then I assume, should you later want to use Cyberghost, you accept the ‘fix’? Correct? Then, to use other parts of your network you would uninstall it again? This seems kind of inconvenient, but workable. I don’t use Cyberghost all the time, only occasionally.
Yes, Bob. If your Internet Connection stops working then you would uninstall this adapter and not the Program (Cyberghost in your case).
I know this isn’t a permanent solution. But his is the only fix I could find.
Regards,
Ashwani
Thanks.
I left mine set up because I use a VPN regularly, but I noticed that it is set up as a Public network. Should I change it to a private network?
Keeping it as Public or private won’t impact anything as such. So, it is good even if you have left it as it is, I guess.