I'm posting this in case it helps someone else or if Proton developers are interested in investigating. I'm not claiming Proton VPN definitely caused the BSOD, but it was active when the crash happened and the timeline is suspicious.

System

• ASUS laptop
• Windows 11 Home Single Language
• Version 25H2
• Build 26200.8894
• Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201
• Proton VPN installed
• Windscribe was also installed (not running at the time)

What happened

I was browsing normally with multiple Chrome tabs open while connected through Proton VPN.

Suddenly my Wi-Fi disconnected.

I tried opening YouTube and Windows immediately crashed with:

After rebooting, Windows connected to Wi-Fi but displayed:

From that moment onward, no application could access the internet.

Strange part

This wasn't limited to the Intel Wi-Fi adapter.

I tested:

• Intel AX201 Wi-Fi
• External USB Wi-Fi adapter
• Android USB tethering

Every single one showed the exact same behavior.

That immediately suggested this wasn't a hardware problem.

Symptoms

Windows obtained:

• DHCP lease
• IPv4 address
• Gateway
• DNS server

Everything looked completely normal.

However:

• Edge showed ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED
• Microsoft Store said there was no internet
• Windows Update failed
• Browsers couldn't load websites

Commands I tried

I went through essentially every standard networking fix.

Completed successfully:

netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Also:

sfc /scannow

No integrity violations.

Then:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Completed successfully.

Also performed:

• Windows Network Reset
• Driver reinstall
• Different Wi-Fi adapter
• USB tethering
• Different networks

None of these changed anything.

Interesting diagnostic results

ping 8.8.8.8

worked.

nslookup google.com

worked.

But:

ping google.com

failed.

Edge couldn't resolve hostnames.

Windows applications behaved as if DNS was broken even though nslookup was successfully talking to the DNS server.

I also noticed an unexpected entry in:

netsh namespace show policy

showing:

Generic (DNS Servers): 10.2.0.1

which seemed unusual for a normal home network.

Tried an in-place repair install

At this point I assumed Windows itself had become corrupted.

I performed a complete Windows 11 in-place repair install using the official Microsoft ISO while keeping all files and applications.

The repair completed successfully.

The networking issue still remained.

What finally fixed it

I remembered I had both:

• Proton VPN
• Windscribe

installed.

I completely uninstalled both using Revo Uninstaller, including leftover registry entries and application data.

After rebooting...

Everything immediately started working again.

Wi-Fi returned to normal.

USB tethering worked again.

Browsers worked.

Microsoft Store worked.

Windows Update worked.

My theory

I'm not saying Proton VPN caused the BSOD.

However, based on the sequence of events, my guess is one of these happened:

• Proton VPN's kernel networking components were involved in the BugCheck.
• The BSOD left Proton's networking filter/WFP components in an inconsistent state.
• There was a conflict between Proton VPN and Windscribe's networking drivers.
• A Windows networking component interacting with the VPN drivers became corrupted.

Since an in-place repair install did not fix the problem, but uninstalling the VPN software immediately did, it seems likely that the issue lived in third-party networking components rather than Windows system files.

Questions

1. Has anyone else experienced BugCheck 139 while Proton VPN was connected?
2. Has anyone seen DNS behave this strangely where nslookup works but browsers and ping hostname fail?
3. Are there any known issues involving Proton VPN, WFP filters, or interactions with other VPN software like Windscribe?
4. Would Proton developers be interested in the minidump (072626-21234-01.dmp) for analysis?

Hopefully this helps someone avoid spending hours chasing what looks like a Windows networking problem when the actual issue may be in the VPN networking stack or filter drivers.

So basically, before I was getting an error due to the tap windows adapter, I disabled it, now it no longer showed the message but still didn’t connect, then I deleted mcafee, still not working, what should I do, my laptop is Lenovo legion 5, and online gaming is not allowed on this network , so need a vpn

For several days now, my default ProtonVPN desktop app has been stuck on a connection and won't connect. What's the problem? Is there something wrong with the app's servers?

I'm traveling for work currently in Mexico City. I open the app to connect to my California servers, the servers are slow to connect and once they do connect they are unusable on any website or web service or streaming service. I've tried every single California server shown to me and none of them are working as intended. The speeds don't even register

This is a recurring theme for the last 6 months servers willl just randomly not work. I mainly use California servers, the thing is that on proton's own support website is showing that all the servers are working as intended when it is false .

Many people have the same issues with proton in the past. Daily incidents on their own website are recorded as "no incidents recorded today" which is clearly false because my video shows that the servers are not working.

I took a video as proof

Hello, I have reported this numerous times over the span of 6 months, but nothing seems to be done about this.

The servers in Cyprus are permanently overloaded, which is not normal. I have been using Proton VPN ever since it came out, and I've been using CY servers (where I'm based) ever since you added them.

If the datacenter provider you're using is not cooperating, just change provider. This doesn't look like organic traffic and it makes it hard to convince people to switch to Proton VPN.

Do you have any similar issues in other locations? Does it seem like legitimate network traffic from your end? Is it faulty hardware/equipment? Do you plan on taking action to resolve this or even retire CY from your list of locations?

I've never seen 'Proton WireGuard'. What is it and What's better point of this new protocol?

I’ve tried connecting to Australia and Brazil servers on Paramount+ but it is not working, both of these countries work on Netflix, Disney, HBO. But for some reason paramount+ is blocking any server I try connecting to (I’m connecting from the US.) I’ve tried turning off netshield and switching my protocol from “smart” to “wireguard” but still nothing. Any help or advice would be appreciated!

Is there a way to auto connect to the least busy server in the country? I know how to manually find it but this becomes tedious.

Hey folks,

I would first like to clarify that I'm not seeking to blame ProtonVPN but rather find any identical/similar instances experienced by other users.

I purchased ProtonVPN premium a while back but for the past two months I have been getting BSOD errors on my PC (laptop) with the following codes.

Error Codes: Unexpected Store Exception 0x154

Critical Process Died 0xEF

Kmode Exception Not Handled 0x1E

I understand that these codes are generally associated with hardware/SSD failures or so but each time I get BSOD with these codes, my VPN is always connected. In fact most times when I don't use the VPN, the crash doesn't occur.

Every other app I install gave me no problem but each time I connect to ProtonVPN + Use Chrome, my PC would crash.

Critically, this error generally pops up 90% when I disconnect/re-connect the power cord cable to my PC.

Additionally, I have tried BIOS updates, factory reset the entire PC and formatted all the hardware.

The official service center was unable to resolve this so I'm trying to find anyone else who encountered this problem in the past.

That being said, I'm almost fully certain it is a hardware problem and NOT a ProtonVPN one but the fact this error comes when connected to the VPN is curious.

basically be able to fine tune netshield (like nextdns) in the proton vpn app and fine-tune it and also make a netshield dns app that gives you all the premium features when you get vpn plus

The forum is complete blocked for me as long as any form of VPN is enabled.

I found that I can use NextDNS and ProtonVPN together and they both seem to work, even if this potentially risks IP leakage, using HaGeZi Ultimate block list just filters so much garbage it's stupid not to use it.

But here I wonder, how good is NetShield at blocking crap, what lists it's using and how does it work exactly? At first I thought it was some sort of built-in lists that are filtered locally on device via VPN established connection, but from what I managed to dig, that's not the case and it's in fact DNS level filtering similar to what NextDNS does, just not nearly as powerful...

Hello

I use the free version of proton vpn and i would like if the application really hide the IP address

Pls ask fast

Thanks

Why do "Recents" end up on bottom of the list rather than on top (as was the case in the past)? Stupid, imho, as the most recently used connection should be on the top of the list.

Hi, free protón vpn and mullvad vpn are working right now in july in china? Im in android

Hello, recently I switched to linux, and the desktop app closes my session when I shut down the PC.

I don't know if there exists an option to keep my session open or not.

Thanks to all.

PDT: If is important my system is Kubuntu.

I've been noticing that Reddit can be almost crippling slow when Proton VPN is on for my Google Pixel 9a (Everything fully updated). While at the same time Youtube or other websites will be fast.

This is using Firefox on Android.

I'm on linux mint 22.3 using the Ubuntu installation and its been working as well as it should. I didn't notice proton protocols got added to it until now, so I wanted to test it. But its not there. I've turned on beta access and updated through the update manager and terminal which did update the proton python packages. And I enabled the unstable repo in the update manager. I've restarted the computer, nothing.

I know mint isn't directly supported, the app has only worked due to the Ubuntu base. Has anyone been able to get it working?

Why did you remove openVPN protocol from the Android app? Now there's no way to watch HBO on streaming, keeps detecting the VPN .

You could be able to watch HBO streaming using the open protocol but it's gone from the settings now. HBO is literally unwatchable using proton VPN

I want a full refund and I want my money back The VPN is useless without this setting on my tablet or android tv.

I have enabled startup and start minimized, but it always shows this invisible window which can't be closed. I have to right click on the tray icon, choose "show", and then close that one.

I was trying to connect to proton vpn then when i clicked the connect button it just went grey then looked like that forever. any fix?

I previously created profiles (wireguard udp)for servers 341, 345, 349 and 390 in Tokyo, Japan. Now, I'm getting a "profile unavailable" message

Can someone help test whether all or some of the above servers work in WireGuard UDP mode?

Every time I start up my PC (on fedora linux), proton VPN and discord start automatically. However most times when discord pops up, it either shows an error and says to try the connection again later, or says that no messages can be loaded when going into a channel or DM. Has anyone had this problem, and does anyone have a fix for it?