Vista - Uninstall VPN messes up network drivers

Hey everyone, Im new here and I just got vista laptop last sunday 3-22-09. I have searched the forums and have not found an answer to this.

How come every time I uninstall VPN software it messes up my onboard network port and wireless. The software installs just fine and works correctly but i have tried many differnet ones. It says there is hardware problems and ip protocol bindings. I have checked the device manager and it shows they are fine. I have uninstalled and reinstalled in device manager, reinstalled drivers, etc.. The only way to fix it is to do a system restore.

The vpn software is compatible with vista 64 bit so I don't know what else to do..

Thanks in advance

Sounds like it (the VPN client) is simply buggy. The act of uninstalling ought to put back network settings and component bindings to the way they were. Obviously, that's not happening.

Why do you wish to reinstall it again after a system restore fixes you up? Are you trying to remove this thing or to work with it somehow? What's the actual problem you're trying to resolve?

Thanks for your help. I am reinstalling it because I am trying different vpn software. I uninstall it to make sure that if i never need to uninstall it I know that everything will be ok. The problem I am trying to resolve is when I uninstall it I want everything to be fine. I do not want to have it installed for months and then have to uninstall it. WHo know what will happen then. I don't want to think of what info and programs I will lose.

I am still having this problem. any solutions.

wow...thanks for the help...NOT

Personally, I do not understand your description of the issue. That might be my fault, and perhaps someone else will come along and provide a more useful response to your query.

I'm confused by the fact that you seem to be reinstalling a VPN client which you already know messes up your system's settings, even though you're apparently evaluating a few different VPN solutions.

No I was trying differnet vpn solutions. Every one of them would mess up my IP bindings on everything. Even 64bit vpn programs would mess them up. I currently have cisco anyconnect vpn for 64bit. I have not yet uninstalled it to see if it will mess everything up yet.

I would just like to find out why this is messing up and if anyone else is having this problem. I would also like to know how to fix the ip binding problem. The only way I can fix it is to do a system restore.

H2S04 I did not intend that thread at you nor try to make you mad. I was just stating that noone is helping me. I seem to have that problem on other forums as well. Thanks for your help

No problem at all. Now that I have a better understanding of the issue, perhaps some of this may help:

- What you're describing doesn't affect everyone. You can probably safely assume that the symptom is environmental, in the sense that there's something about your machine - its setup and history - that's causing all these different VPN solutions to uninstall badly.

- Unless you're evaluating different VPN solutions for rollout across the organisation, chances are that the one you'll have to use has already been madated. It might be the built-in Vista VPN, or the Cisco client you mentioned, or something else altogether, but it's unlikely that you'll have to worry about any but one, because that's what the corporate security edict says must be used on their network. Therefore, you might want to confine yourself to worrying only about the prescribed VPN solution.

- Most VPN clients are reliant on a kernel-mode driver, and that means you're limited to 64-bit solutions if you're running a 64-bit OS. It's pointless even to investigate anything that contains 32-bit drivers because they cannot be used on a 64-bit OS.

- It's possible to troubleshoot literally any software problem without resorting to an OS reinstall, but sometimes that's not the fastest path to a fix. If your colleagues using a particular (64-bit) VPN client are reporting success with their machines, you might think about a clean install of your laptop, followed by immediate testing of the VPN client. There's no reason to anticipate a negative outcome on a "clean" machine, given it worked for others.

- Only as a last resort does it make sense to troubleshoot something this intricate. It could take hours or days of effort, and there's no guarantee that it'll lead to something other than a need to reinstall.

ok thanks for the help.

Hey, part of the reason why most vendors like Cisco don't bother with 64bit VPN versions is because it's already built into Vista 64bit.

Go to the Network and Sharing Center, click Set-Up A Connection or Network, Connect to Workplace, Use My Internet Connection (VPN), and from there the steps are pretty obvious. Use your VPN network address such as "vpn.yale.edu" and login information to connect.

Sorry that my response is so late.