Installation of the virtual network adapter device failed

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Zorba the Geek
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat May 27, 2023 9:11 am

Installation of the virtual network adapter device failed

Post by Zorba the Geek » Sat May 27, 2023 9:54 am

My OS is Windows XP SP3 Home Edition with all the post SP3 updates.
I have installed SoftEther VPN Client 4.0 (Ver 4.41, Build 9787)
My driver signing policy has been set to ignore.

I am unable to install a virtual network adapter, and I receive the error message "Installation of the virtual network adapter device failed". The installation log in setupapi.log is as follows:
[2023/05/27 08:00:09 1700.765]
#-198 Command line processed: "C:\Program Files\SoftEther VPN Client\vpnclient.exe" /service
#I060 Set selected driver.
#-019 Searching for hardware ID(s): neoadapter_softethet-vpn
#I022 Found "NeoAdapter_Softethet-VPN" in c:\windows\temp\vpn_9970\neo_softethet-vpn.inf; Device: "VPN Client Adapter - Softethet-VPN"; Driver: "VPN Client Adapter - Softethet-VPN"; Provider: "SoftEther Corporation"; Mfg: "SoftEther Corporation"; Section name: "NeoAdapter.Install".
#I087 Driver node not trusted, rank changed from 0x00000000 to 0x0000c000.
#I023 Actual install section: [NeoAdapter.Install]. Rank: 0x0000c000. Effective driver date: 02/04/2018.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_SELECTBESTCOMPATDRV.
#I063 Selected driver installs from section [NeoAdapter.Install] in "c:\windows\temp\vpn_9970\neo_softethet-vpn.inf".
#I320 Class GUID of device remains: {4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
#I060 Set selected driver.
#I058 Selected best compatible driver.
#-124 Doing copy-only install of "ROOT\NET\0005".
#E360 An unsigned or incorrectly signed file "c:\windows\temp\vpn_9970\neo_softethet-vpn.inf" for driver "VPN Client Adapter - Softethet-VPN" will be installed (Policy=Ignore). Error 0xe000022f: The third-party INF does not contain digital signature information.
#-024 Copying file "c:\windows\temp\vpn_9970\Neo_0003.sys" to "C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\Neo_0003.sys".
#E360 An unsigned or incorrectly signed file "c:\windows\temp\vpn_9970\neo_softethet-vpn.inf" for driver "VPN Client Adapter - Softethet-VPN" will be installed (Policy=Ignore). Error 0xe000022f: The third-party INF does not contain digital signature information.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_REGISTER_COINSTALLERS.
#I056 Coinstallers registered.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLINTERFACES.
#-011 Installing section [NeoAdapter.Install.Interfaces] from "c:\windows\temp\vpn_9970\neo_softethet-vpn.inf".
#I054 Interfaces installed.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLDEVICE.
#I123 Doing full install of "ROOT\NET\0005".
#E360 An unsigned or incorrectly signed file "c:\windows\temp\vpn_9970\neo_softethet-vpn.inf" for driver "VPN Client Adapter - Softethet-VPN" will be installed (Policy=Ignore). Error 0xe000022f: The third-party INF does not contain digital signature information.
#I121 Device install of "ROOT\NET\0005" finished successfully.
#E154 Class installer failed. Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified.
[2023/05/27 08:00:08 1700.588]
#-198 Command line processed: "C:\Program Files\SoftEther VPN Client\vpnclient.exe" /service
#-166 Device install function: DIF_REMOVE.
#I289 Removing device "ROOT\NET\0005".
#I048 Device removed.
#E154 Class installer failed. Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified.
The relevant part of this log is the line "Class installer failed. Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified." What cannot be found could be either a file or registry entry, so I investigated using Process Monitor with a filter for the process name "vpncmgr.exe". The only NAME NOT FOUND entries were for the following registry keys that do not exist in XP:

HKCR\CLSID\{77F10CF0-3DB5-4966-B520-B7C54FD35ED6}
HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID\{77F10CF0-3DB5-4966-B520-B7C54FD35ED6}

I copied the first key from a Windows 8.1 machine into the XP registry, but I find that there are still NAME NOT FOUND entries for related keys like HKCR\CLSID\{77F10CF0-3DB5-4966-B520-B7C54FD35ED6}\InprocHandlerX86 which may be irrelevant, and the installation fails.

I copied the VPN_9970 folder from my Temp folder and tried right clicking on Neo_Softethet-VPN.inf and selecting "Install", but nothing seems to happen.

When I try to install the OpenVPN TAP adapter the same thing happens - I receive the error message for the driver installation "The system cannot find the file specified" which suggests that there is a common cause for the failure to install a virtual network adapter in each case.

solo
Posts: 1228
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2021 10:31 am

Re: Installation of the virtual network adapter device failed

Post by solo » Sat May 27, 2023 10:26 pm

Login as admin and then install it.

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