Can't Connect To WiFi Networks After Using ProtonVPN [Windows 10]

VPN
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I am running into issues very similar to this post:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1319033/internet-stops-working-after-installing-protonvpn

That is, after installing ProtonVPN, my WiFi adapter seems to be rejecting certain WiFi networks, and this behavior persists after uninstalling ProtonVPN. Consistently getting “Can’t connect to this network” (oddly, this only happens on some networks, but all networks that worked perfectly fine before installing ProtonVPN, and remain working perfectly fine on all of my other devices that have not had ProtonVPN installed).

The problem is, I’m on Windows 10; “nmcli” isn’t a thing on this platform, so the recommended corrective measures also don’t apply.

Has anyone encountered this? Is there a Windows equivalent procedure? So far, in addition to removing the software from add/remove programs (standard windows uninstall; this also removed the tap and tun protonvpn programs), I’ve tried removing its network adapter entry from the device manager (which didn’t get removed with the uninstall), “netsh winsock reset” + “netsh int ip reset”, ipconfig release/renew (this was never going to do anything given I can’t connect to the networks, but grasping at straws here). No dice.

It’s messed up to release a service that degrades network connections like this. I’ve used other VPNs (Surfshark, NordVPN) across Windows/Linux/MacOS/Android. Never encountered anything like this. I am glad I tested the waters on this before cancelling Surfshark, at least.

EDIT: Even the networks I can connect to now seem to be periodically dropping me. This is brutal.

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This happened to me too. Just got Proton VPN and started having issues with other devices on my network connecting to my WiFi extender. Proton has done something that messes with other devices on the same extenders, my PC (that has Proton VPN) works fine, but my PlayStation, phone and other PC all have issues connecting now. I considered maybe it was a coincidence and my extender was failing at the same time I got Proton but after reading this I know that isn’t the case.

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Try to start and stop protonvpn manually again. This mostly happens if you logout or shutdown without stopping protonvpn first.

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I went pretty nuclear on this and just deleted my Windows partition (I’m on a MacBook w/ bootcamp; I generally have the pattern that my Windows partition is non-critical, so this was okay).

However, that did not rectify the issue, which caused me to look into it further, and MacOS was also suffering from the same problem.

I thought it might just be the Wi-Fi adapter giving out in some sort of freak coincidence at this point, until I tried what /u/dthpulse suggested and reinstalled ProtonVPN on Windows, started it (connected to an intermittent network), stopped it (ensured a clean stop). After doing so, the issues resolved.

I can’t truthfully recall if I logged out / shutdown without shutting off the vpn first.

Anyway, subsequently uninstalled. I love the proton team and happily pay for pmail, but never again on this VPN. Wish the best for the product.