We have recently noticed connection speed issues when connecting to a VPN server on Windows 7 using the latest version of TAP driver. This has been reported by numerous users. Even though we cannot identify the exact reason for this, yet we were able to know alternative methods on how to resolve it. The first method is to remove completely the latest version of the TAP driver from the computer and install the older version, referred to as NDIS5. In this guide we will be going through this process step by step and we will be using bVPN as our VPN provider. The steps are as follows.
Resolving Windows 7 TAP Driver Speed Issues with VPN
N.B: Make sure that the bVPN application is not running in the background:
1- Right click on the bVPN icon in the system tray
2-Click on “Exit“
Uninstall any TAP drivers installed
1- Press and hold on the “Windows” followed by “R” to open the “Run” window.
2- Type in “devmgmt.msc” and click on “Ok” or press “Enter”. This will open the “Device Manager” window
3- In the “Device Manager” window, click on the small arrow next to “Network Adaptors” to expand
4- Right click on the adaptor named “TAP Windows Adaptor V9 #2” and click on uninstall
5- Check the box next to “Delete the driver software for this device” and click on “Ok”
6- Check to see if there are any other TAP drivers under “Network Adaptors” or under “Other Devices” or “Unknown Devices” and uninstall them using the same method
Install the older version of the TAP Driver (NDIS5)
1- Download the driver through this link:https://swupdate.openvpn.org/community/releases/tap-windows-9.9.2_3.exe
2- Open the downloaded file and run the installer through the standard procedure (Just click on “next” and install the default version as it is
If This does not work, you can simply re-install the latest
Alternative methods of improving the speed
If this method does not improve the connection speed you can always try alternative methods that can be found in the following link:
You can learn more about how to resolve buffer issues with OpenVPN here.
