tapctl fails to reinstall TAP adapter if uninstalled via Windows Device Manager

[DrBrown777]

Describe the bug

tap_create_adapter: DiInstallDevice failed
Error 0xe0000203
Creating TUN/TAP adapter failed (error 0xe0000203).

To Reproduce

1. install tap adapter using cmd (admins right) and command: tapctl.exe create --name "VPN"
2. remove this adapter through windows device manager
3. try to install tap adapter again with the same command and get the error above

Expected behavior
The adapter is installed without errors

Version information (please complete the following information):

• OS: Windows 10 (22H2) / Windows 11 (23H2 and 24H2)
• OpenVPN version: 2.6.13

Additional context
Only cleaning the registry helps

[Mike55555]

What specific registry edits need to be made to fix this?

[surfwarrior77]

I'm having the exact same problem. I was trying to figure out why OpenVPN could not install this. It was able to do the TUN driver. I think at one point, I created a bridge, but then I had to remove it, and maybe that "broke" the network driver setup. I could no longer install the TAP driver. There is no hidden network device to remove. I figure there must be a rogue driver file, but couldn't figure out where it could be. Then I was thinking it could be a registry issue.
Let me know what registry fixes I could try.

[DrBrown777]

It was a long time ago, I don't remember how I solved this problem, but I think I mistakenly used different versions of drivers and this caused conflicts

[surfwarrior77]

Thanks for your response. I just discovered a workaround.
I installed the latest version of 2.4 (2.4.12) released back in 2022. This successfully installed a TAP driver. "TAP-Windows Adapter V9" which is an older driver. But it works.
I then installed the latest version of OpenVPN (2.6.14 as of this post). I had to deselect installing the TUN and TAP drivers and it ended up installing. I was able to establish a connection.

[Mike55555]

@surfwarrior77 - How can we tell if the DCO driver installs properly? Does it show up as a network adapter like the TUN driver?

[surfwarrior77]

It shows up after installing the 2.6.14 version of OpenVPN. wintun driver did not install, and it wouldn't if that was selected.

I see there is a network adapter called OpenVPN Data Channel Offload. This seems to be the one that OpenVPN routes traffic through when I make the connection with OpenVPN.

I don't really know what I'm doing. I just started playing around with OpenVPN with the goal of having full tunneling with NAT access to the internet. I'm still learning