Windivert Driver Cannot Be Installed You Must Restart Your Computer Top Jun 2026

Temporarily disable your antivirus or add the application folder to your antivirus whitelist. Summary of Potential Causes

and runs: pnputil /enum-drivers | findstr WinDivert → No active drivers found, confirming it’s a stale lock.

A previous session or crashed application left a copy of the WinDivert driver registered in the kernel memory, blocking new installations.

Note: If you use a third-party antivirus (such as Avast, Bitdefender, or Kaspersky), open its dashboard and add the application folder to its global exception/whitelist. Step 4: Disable Memory Integrity (Core Isolation) Temporarily disable your antivirus or add the application

Ensure your censorship-circumvention tools, VPNs, or firewalls are updated to their latest versions to maintain compatibility with Windows updates.

WinDivert is a user-mode packet capture-and-diversion library for Windows. It allows applications to intercept, modify, or drop network packets. Because it operates at a low system level, it requires a driver. If that driver fails to load, the application cannot function. Top Solutions: WinDivert Driver Cannot Be Installed 1. The Immediate Fix: Restart Your Computer (Literally)

If the driver fails to uninstall, clean the store: Note: If you use a third-party antivirus (such

Even worse, restarting your computer rarely fixes the issue. The error persists because the operating system is blocking the driver due to registry conflicts, leftover service states, or strict security policies.

Some third-party tools bundle outdated or broken versions of WinDivert. You can manually install the latest signed version from the official source.

: Ensure the application using WinDivert (like GoodbyeDPI or a VPN) is being Run as Administrator . It allows applications to intercept, modify, or drop

: The driver cannot install without elevated rights. Always right-click your application and select Run as Administrator Antivirus Interference : Security software like

If you are using GoodbyeDPI , users have found success by copying WinDivert64.sys directly into the C:\Windows\System32 directory to bypass loading issues, though this should be a last resort. WinDivert not working on Windows 10 20H2 #253 - GitHub

Security software flags WinDivert as malware because it intercepts network packets.