If you are a Windows 10 user, you might have recently tried to upgrade to Windows 11. Windows upgrade is not a tedious task, but you may encounter various issues while upgrading. level, and cFosSpeed driver error is one of them.
It prevents the installation of Windows 11 and will honestly give you a headache when you don’t know what is causing this problem.
cFosSpeed is nothing but a software known to prioritize the flow of traffic on your network (known as a traffic shaper). More MSI, ASUS, GIGABYTE and ASRock products use the cFosSpeed driver. It optimizes data transfer rate and reduces network ping.
Troubleshooting cFosSpeed driver error is not a tedious task. You can start fixing the problem with something as simple as updating the driver to a clean Windows installation.
This article discusses various troubleshooting methods that you can apply when the cFosSpeed driver interferes with Windows installation.
How to fix cFosSpeed driver installation error in Windows 11?
Whenever you upgrade your PC, you may see the error window stating Your PC has a service that is not ready for this version of Windows. A new version is available. It is normally software faults that cause this error.
Update cFosSpeed Driver
An outdated cFosSpeed driver is one of the main reasons for displaying errors when upgrading Windows. So, once you update the driver, it will most likely fix the problem.
You can go to cFos software official website and download it easily. Once downloaded, install it and it will automatically update your cFosSpeed driver to the latest version.
Point: If you have a computer with MSI motherboards, you don’t need to download the cFosSpeed driver. You can update your MSI Dragon Center app to update it. Also, don’t forget to install the utility tools. In Dragon Center, click Support Icon > To analyse > Select the utilities to install > Click on the Install button.
Uninstall the cFosSpeed driver
The cFosSpeed driver is supposed to boost your network speed. But many users have complained that it decreases speed instead of increasing speed and shaping traffic. So, considering that and the error while installing Windows 11, you can uninstall it and see if that fixes the problem.
You can uninstall it in three ways:
From apps and features
Follow these steps to uninstall the cFosSpeed Driver from Apps and Features:
- Open Settings
- Under the apps menu, go to Apps and Features tongue.
- Type
cfos
in the search box, and you will see the cFosVelocity driver listed here. - Click on the name of the application, then uninstall it.
You have finished! This will uninstall the cFosSpeed driver from your system.
From network connections
Follow these steps to uninstall Network Connections:
- Open the To run dialog box. You can use Windows key + R to open it.
- Type
ncpa.cpl
and press the Enter key. A new Network connections window will open. - Find your current network adapter, right click on it and select it Properties option.
- To find cFosSpeed for faster internet connection under the Networking tab and click Uninstall.
- It will open a confirmation dialog.
- Click it Yes button to continue.
That’s all. The cFosSpeed driver will now be uninstalled from your system.
From program files
This is another method to uninstall the cFosSpeed driver. Follow these steps:
- Open File Explorer then open your C: drive.
- Move towards Program files > LAN manager. Depending on your PC, you may also need to look inside the Program files (x86) case.
- Search the
unins001.exe
file in it. - Double click on the exe file and it will start uninstalling.
- Restart your PC when you’re done.
To note: Turns out the cFosSpeed driver reinstalls after a reboot, so you can permanently delete the Lan Manager folder and you’ll be on the safe side.
Change cFosSpeed driver extension
This is one of the easy and proven methods to resolve the error. It would help if you change the driver extension from .exe
to any other extension that is not recognized as an executable file format. Follow the steps below to achieve this:
- Open your C: drive.
- Find the driver file in the LAN manager folder, located inside the Program files Where Program files (x86) case.
- Search the
.exe
driver file in the folder. - Right click on it and choose the Rename option. Now you can change the driver extension.
- Replace the extension with any other format (example:
.jpg
,.pdf
or whatever) and press Enter.
That’s all! Once the driver is made non-executable, it will not interfere with Windows 11 installation.
Use Clean Boot Mode
You can try to fix this problem by starting your system in clean boot mode. What clean boot mode does is that it only uses basic drivers and software to load the system.
If any software disputes are preventing Windows 11 from installing, they will be resolved later. Try updating Windows once you have started your PC in clean boot mode.
Follow these steps to start your system in clean boot mode.
- Open the System Setup app by typing
msconfig
in the Windows search box. - Below General tab > selective start-upuncheck it Loads startup components option and check the other two.
- Then navigate to the Services tab and check Hide all Microsoft services option.
- Click it Disable all button.
- Then on the start tab, click Open task manager. It will show you which programs are enabled or disabled during startup.
- Select each item and disable them.
- Close the task manager window.
- Click on Apply > OKAY
After completing these steps, your PC will boot into clean boot mode.
To note: Also uncheck the box Load system services option under the General tab if the problem persists. Once your issue is resolved, revert the changes to start in normal mode.
Fresh install of Windows 11
If you have tried everything described above and still cannot get rid of the cFosSpeed driver error, you can install a fresh copy of Windows 11.
We have a comprehensive guide that will walk you through the detailed steps for a fresh install of Windows 11.
Should I use the cFosSpeed driver?
It’s totally up to you to use it or not. Although it is supposed to shape and speed up your internet traffic, almost all of its users are not happy with it. Modern routers do traffic shaping very well. There is no need to add additional overhead to your network.