About a day ago, I force-closed PrivadoVPN while it was still active. Soon afterward, Windows reported that my desktop was connected to my college's Wi-Fi, but no websites or online services would work. I tried several campus networks with the same result, and I couldn't log back into the VPN because I had no working connection in the first place.
I went through the usual troubleshooting steps, including restarting, flushing DNS and other caches, stopping VPN-related services, uninstalling the VPN, performing a Windows network reset, and changing several network settings. None of that helped.
I then tried restoring Windows to an earlier restore point, but the process failed after about 40 minutes. Automatic Repair also failed with stop code 0xc0000145 and left the computer in Recovery Mode. It reported that it could not connect to a network, and the recovery log included error code 0x4c6. I have also tried other recovery options, ran CHKDSK twice—one run reportedly repaired corrupted files—and attempted to use Windows installation media from a USB drive. That process also failed when it could not find a network connection.
I'm planning to contact my campus IT department, but I'm not sure whether I've been approaching this correctly. Could a wired Ethernet connection make a difference in Recovery Mode? Should I focus on reinstalling the network adapter drivers, removing the VPN completely, or suspect possible malware? A mobile game port I downloaded showed no detections on VirusTotal, although I realize that doesn't completely rule anything out.
2 Answers
If you can reach Device Manager from normal Windows or the recovery environment, remove the affected Wi-Fi adapter and its driver, then reboot and let Windows reinstall it. VPN software can install network filters or virtual adapters, and uninstalling the VPN may also help reset those components. Ethernet is worth trying because Recovery Mode may have better support for a wired adapter than for campus Wi-Fi, especially if the wireless network requires authentication.
If the files on the system drive are backed up and you don’t need to preserve the current installation, a clean Windows installation from USB is likely the most reliable fix after the recovery tools have failed. Delete the existing Windows system partitions during setup only after confirming that important data is backed up. Windows 11 setup can sometimes be completed without an internet connection by opening Command Prompt with Shift+F10 and running `start ms-cxh:localonly`.
That’s a reasonable last resort if there’s nothing important left on the drive. A clean installation would remove the VPN drivers and any damaged Windows networking components at the same time.