Anthony Danes | DriverFinder - We Make Drivers Work for You

cFosSpeed Driver for Windows preventing Windows 11 update

When you are finally ready to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 and your system is meeting the system requirements, you can still run into issues that prevent the upgrade. The cFosSpeed Driver can prevent the upgrade to Windows 11, as the Windows Update process will report it as something that needs your attention. Essentially it states that “a service isn’t ready for this version of Windows 10 ”.

What is the cFosSpeed driver?

The cFosSpeed driver is an Internet accelerator software solution. The software optimizes Internet traffic on a Windows PC by installing a device driver. The driver performs something called traffic shaping. It has some advanced network analysis and optimization integrated, but it also allows for the prioritization of streams or protocols. This is great for video streaming and gaming.

How did cFosSpeed get on my system?

The solution is integrated with quite a few OEM vendors. Manufacturers like MSI, Asus, ASRock, and Gigabyte include the cFosSpeed software in their driver bundles for their motherboards. In the case of Asus, you might know it as Turbo LAN, which is a rebranded version of the cFosSpeed software. With MSI it is part of the Dragon Center.

Fix cFosSpeed from blocking the Windows 11 Update

Considering the problem of the cFosSpeed driver blocking the Windows update, there are two solutions to the issue with the cFosSpeed driver. The first is to update the driver to a version that does not block the Windows 11 update. The second option is to uninstall the cFosSpeed driver from your Windows installation.

Update the cFosSpeed driver

The first option to update the driver is to check the OEM support site for an updated version of the software that includes the cFosSpeed driver.

For Asus, check their support site and look up your model to see if a new version is available. If so, download it and install it and then try the Windows 11 upgrade again.

For MSI, download and install the latest version of the MSI Dragon Center and after completing the installation, try the Windows 11 upgrade again.

For Gigabyte you will need to download the cFosSpeed Internet Accelerator Software from their site. Check the support section for your motherboard or model.

For ASRock, the cFosSpeed driver is part of the XFast Lan solution. It can be downloaded from here.

The last option is to download the latest cFosSpeed software from the vendor’s site and install it. Take note that this is a shareware version, which is valid for 30 days. But it should update your cFosSpeed driver so that you can upgrade to Windows 11.
Update: the software is now owned by Atlas Tech Solutions and their latest version is 13.

If you have the original cFosSpeed software installed and running, you can click the cFosSpeed icon in the Taskbar, and then in the popup menu select Get latest version.

Uninstall the cFosSpeed driver

If the driver update did not solve your issue, and you can still not upgrade to Windows 11, the best option is to uninstall the cFosSpeed driver altogether.

Uninstall the cfosspeed APP

Steps to uninstall cFosSpeed in Windows 10:

Open Settings from the Start
In the Settings window, select Apps.
By default, Apps & features should be selected. If not, select that option in the left-hand panel.
Now scroll down in the apps list until you see the cFosSpeed entry (it will include a version number in the name).
Click it, and then click the Uninstall
When prompted “This app and its related info will be uninstalled.”, click the Uninstall button.
When the UAC (User Account Control) windows pops up, click the Yes option to allow the uninstaller to run.
Follow the instructions in the cFosSpeed Uninstall Wizard to uninstall the app.
If for some reason this does not work, it is also possible to uninstall the cFosSpeed from the Network Properties.

uninstall the cfosspeed driver

Open the network properties for an active adapter, select the cFosSpeed for faster Internet Connections (NDIS 6) entry, and then click the Uninstall button.

You will again be prompted for a confirmation. Click the Yes option to uninstall the cFosSpeed driver.

After completion, the entry will no longer show in the Network Properties list.

There is no need to repeat this for any other active network adapters. Once uninstalled, the cFosSpeed driver will be removed from all network devices.

Note: Uninstalling the cFosSpeed software using the network option will only remove the Lan Manager component, which is the network driver. The cFosSpeed main application, if installed, will still remain. So, if possible, use the App uninstall option to uninstall cFosSpeed.

After uninstalling the software, try the Windows 11 upgrade again.

If the upgrade still fails, you may need to consider doing a fresh install of Windows 11 rather than an upgrade from Windows 10.

Make sure to also check the article about TMP drivers and how they can affect the Windows 11 upgrade.

Windows Security through Driver Block Rules

Many computers are used for critical tasks or to process sensitive data. To protect a system, especially a portable system, that is running Windows, Microsoft has several security features in the latest Windows releases. Most people know about Microsoft Defender and biometric access, but in Windows 10 and Windows 11, there is also something called driver block rules.

Are Drivers Dangerous?

Device drivers are not dangerous per se. But device drivers, like many other critical components in the Windows operating system, run with a kernel-level execution priority. That means that even if drivers are not malicious, they can allow elevated control access.

Modern device drivers are all digitally signed, and often verified by Microsoft. And in the latest Windows versions unsigned drivers are not allowed to be installed unless special steps are taken to disable driver signature enforcement.

But even with a digital signature, there is no guarantee that the driver is completely safe. Digital signatures can be stolen (hacks of hardware/software companies, like Nvidia recently).

Recent malware attacks have leveraged the vulnerabilities of drivers to compromise system security. It makes a lot of sense to increase the protection of these system components.

What are Driver Block Rules?

Driver block rules are a set of rules that are recommended by Microsoft to block drivers that are malicious or not trusted. Drivers can be submitted to Microsoft for review and analysis and bad ones are added to the vulnerable driver blocklist. Hardware manufacturers and OEM partners will play a big role in keeping the rules actual and relevant.

How to use Driver Block Rules?

Microsoft is including a setting in the Windows Defender configuration to turn on this new feature called Microsoft Vulnerable Driver Blocklist. That means turning it on will activate the protection.

This new feature will be only activated by default on special Windows editions. Windows 10 S mode, and devices that have the Memory Code Integrity feature (or HyperVisor-protected Code Integrity – HVCI).

For Windows systems where the S mode or HVCI is not possible there is another option, which is using the Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) policy. Details about how to use WDAC and the list of rules can be found on the Microsoft website.

WDAC is all about preventing apps or processes to run kernel level. Use and deployment of the rules is something that will typically be used by organizations with IT staff to implement this.

Driver BlockList Limitations

Although the concept the blocklist is good, the method strongly depends on the quality of the list. It was already found that the blocklist is not including all drivers that need to be blocked. Apparently new Windows versions were being issues a list from 2019! Microsoft already confirmed the issue and will address the problem in the Windows October updates to ensure the list is new and in sync across Windows 10 and Windows 11.

In addition, the block list is now on by default in Windows 11 (version 22H2). It also seems the option to disable the list is no longer present. Is Microsoft finally able to prevent the Blue Screens showing Stop errors caused by drivers?

For people still wanting to disable the list on Windows 11 version 22H2, there might be a workaround through the registry. But it is not an official and documented option.

Use the Registry Editor to find the folloing key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CI\Config]

And create a DWORD Value in it named VulnerableDriverBlocklistEnable with a data value of zero (0).

How to Manually Install Drivers in Windows 11

With each new version of Windows, more devices are automatically supported. This is also the case for Windows 11. But if your device is not supported, or not automatically installed, you may need to manually install drivers.

The need to manually install drivers in Windows 11 can also come up when a non-supported device needs to be installed. If hardware is not compatible with Windows 11, but there are drivers for the hardware for previous Windows versions, these older drivers can often be used.

For Windows 11, Windows 10 drivers are almost always compatible. But even Windows 8 or Windows 7 drivers can often be used. Just make sure the right architecture is supported. For Windows 11 all drivers need to be 64-bit since that is the only Windows 11 version available.

Steps to manually install drivers in Windows 11

First, make sure you have the driver file available on your Windows 11 system. Download it from the hardware manufacturer’s website. If possible, use the installer that came with the driver. If that does not work, the manual install process is required.

Make the driver files available in the installable format. That means you need to see files with a .SYS, .CAB, and .INF file extension. File extensions can be made visible in the File Explorer by clicking the View menu, followed by clicking Show in the dropdown menu, and finally selecting File name extensions.
Depending on the file format of the downloaded drivers, the driver files need to be extracted. For archived files, Windows 11 offers direct support. But other formats might need a separate program to extract them. (.7Z file extension – 7-Zip; .RAR file extension – WinRAR).
I would recommend installing the 7-Zip program, as it actually supports many archive and compression formats. Even .ISO and some .EXE files can be extracted with it.
Once the driver files are available, open the Device Manager. Press the Windows + R keys, and type devmgmt.msc in the Run window. Then press Enter or click OK.
In the Device Manager, select the device for which you need to install the driver.
- Right-click the device, and in the popup menu click Update driver.
In the window that shows next, click the option Browse my computer for drivers.
Next, use the Browse button to select the file location that contains the driver files (as downloaded and extracted earlier).
Once selected, click the Next button.
Windows will analyze the driver files and match them with the selected device. If the drivers are compatible with the device, the drivers will be installed and the device should work after this.
Click the Close button to close the window.
Finally, close the Device Manager.

Hopefully with above steps you can find and install the required drivers for Windows 11. This way you can often keep using older hardware, even not directly supported by Windows 11.

As always, if you have trouble finding support for your hardware in Windows, try using our DriverFinder software to automatically analyze the hardware devices and look for available and compatible drivers.

Windows TPM Drivers

If you are upgrading to Windows 11, or want to secure your PC, dealing with TPM is inevitible. We’ll explain what TPM is all about and what TPM drivers are needed for Windows.

What is TPM?

TPM is short for Trusted Platform Module. TPM is implemented using a hardware chip on the motherboard of a computer. The TPM chip is used to provide a hardware-level security to Windows. It generates encryption keys, which are not accessible from outside of the computer hardware.
Most modern computers (required since 2016) will have a TPM chip on board. In some older systems a TPM chip can be added when not present. Manufacturers of TPM chips include Infineon, STMicroelectronics and Nuvoton. In the Windows device details the manufacturer can also show Intel or AMD.
In older boards, it is often possible to add a TPM module using a pin header.

What is TPM used for?

As mentioned the TPM module enable implementation of hardware-level security, which typically used for encryption of data. Practically speaking, TPM is used for Windows Hello (face recognition, finder print recognition, iris login), and BitLocker (drive encryption).

TPM is partly convenience, as it is performing a task which otherwise would need to be performed by the CPU and software. And it is partly increased security, decryption of encrypted data is only possible in the system itself (containing the TPM module used for encryption).

Windows 10 already had functionality that used the TPM module, but with Windows 11, Microsoft has made the presence of TPM mandatory. To be specific, Windows 11 requires TPM version 2.0. Version 1.2, which is also present on a lot of older systems is not enough.

The TPM requirement can be circumvented for a Windows 11 upgrade using the ‘setup.exe /product server’ command line trick. But this option has already been patched ny Microsoft in their Windows 11 Insider Build 27686, or Canary Channel, update. It will certainly be included in future updates, and it can be expected Microsoft will address other workarounds to install Windows 11 on non-supported systems too.

The differences in version 2.0 vs version 1.2 are that the new version offers better security features. If you want to know the exact details, Microsoft has more information on TPM.

Tip: Not installing a TPM 2.0 module, or disabling the TPM option (or setting it to version 1.2 compatibility) is a method to prevent a Windows 11 upgade. If you would want that.

What TPM version do I have?

Before you check the version, you need to know if TPM hardware is present. Since physically checking the motherboard is not all that practical, the best step is to check the BIOS/UEFI settings.

One thing to keep in mind is that older BIOS versions might not directly support TPM, while the motherboard does. In that case you first need to update the BIOS to access the TPM features of the motherboard.

Check BIOS/UEFI

You can access the BIOS/UEFI through the computer startup process. When rebooting, press the required key (typically F2 or Delete, but it can also be Esc, F10).

Once the BIOS/UEFI screen shows, locate the security settings and then select the TPM, or Intel Platform Trust Technology, or AMD fTPM. If none of these are available, you can safely assume your computer does not have a TPM chip. If the setting is available, make sure it is turned on. The BIOS/UEFI settings for TPM will generally also show the version.

Note: If you have the AMD fTPM option available, you may want to use a separate hardware-based TPM solution. There have been issues with the AMF fTMP solution. At least make sure to upgrade to the latest BIOS version before using fTMP.

Security Settings in Windows 10

If you are running Windows 10, you can also check the TPM status and version using the Windows Settings option.

Open Settings from the Start
In the Settings window, click Update & Security.
Next, click the Windows Security option in the left-hand pane.
Finally, click the Device security option in the left-hand pane to show the details of your TPM configuration.

If there is no TPM support, you will see “Standard hardware security not supported”. This could mean there is no TPM chip, or it is not enabled in the BIOS/UEFI.

In the case that there is a TPM chip onboard, and it is enabled, you will see the details and version supported.

Using the Trusted Platform Module Management

Windows has a special management console for the TPM. This can also be used to check the TPM version details.

In the Start menu, select the Run option (or press Windows key + R).
Then type TPM.MSC and press Enter.

This will bring up the TPM Management window, there you can see the Specification Version for your TPM module.

Truster Platform Module Management Console

Window TPM Drivers

Since the TPM chip is a hardware device, Windows needs to be able to communicate with the device. For this device drivers, or TPM drivers, are required. Although there are different manufacturers of TPM chips, the drivers needed by Windows are the chipset drivers.

Installing the latest Intel chipset or AMD chipset drivers would normally be sufficient to enable support for the TPM functions within Windows 10 or Windows 11.

The Device Manager can be used to check if the drivers for the TPM device are correctly installed. The TPM device will show under the category Security devices as Trusted Platform Module 2.0 (the name can vary depending on the manufacturer).
Some manufacturers provider their own driver installers for TPM modules from Nuvoton, Atmel or other third party TPM manufacturers. Check the manufacturer support pages for these.

TPM Firmware

Apart from installing the chipset device drivers, it is may also be needed to update the TPM firmware. This will make sure the TPM device is up to date with the latest security patches and supports Windows 11 requirements.

For Infineon based TPM solutions, the best place to start is their TPM update page. It contains links to different vendors with direct installers for TPM updates.

A recent vulnerability in TPM 2.0 would also require an update in the firmware. Hardware manufacturers may warn about the security risk (like Lenovo did), but the real solution is updated firmware.

After updating the firmware you need to clear the TPM. If it is not a new PC, make sure to back up your data first before performing these steps.

In the Windows Settings window Security processor details (see previous steps), click the link Security processor troubleshooting.
Under the header Clear TPM, click the button Clear TPM.
In the confirmation windows that follows, click the Clear and restart button.

With the above information, we hope you can get TPM working in Windows 10 to enable the upgrade to Windows 11. Do not forget to check the other Windows 11 requirements before you upgrade!

And as always, we recommend you keep your drivers up to date with DriverFinder.

How to solve a DRIVER POWER STATE FAILURE Error

Blue screen errors in Windows are notorious. There are different causes, but in general, they are serious errors. When you see a DRIVER POWER STATE FAILURE error on the blue screen, the error is caused by a device driver.

Depending on the Windows version, you could also see the stop error code 0x0000009F.

What is a Blue Screen Error?

Blue Screen Of Death (or BSOD in short) errors are caused by stop errors. These are the types of errors that cause the operating system (Windows) to crash. Stop errors causing blue screens have been part of Windows since Windows XP and can happen even on the latest versions.

Since these errors are critical, the blue screen is shown with an indication of the stop error details. A stop error code, which can be a code or description is shown to inform the user. Further processing is halted to prevent damage or data loss if things were to continue processing.

Causes for the DRIVER POWER STATE FAILURE error

The error driver power state failure on Windows 10 indicates that the PC has an inconsistent power state. Typically this happens when the PC changes its power mode. It could be going from sleep (or hibernation) to an active state or the other way around.

When a power transition happens, the hardware in the PC is directly affected. To communicate the power state change, Windows tells the hardware to change accordingly. This is where device drivers come into play. Communication from Windows to the hardware happens through these device drivers.

So, essentially the error is caused by non-expected behavior from a device driver. This can either mean that the hardware itself is causing it, or there is a problem with the driver.

What to do to fix it?

Although it might seem strange, in many cases the problem is not consistent and can be a one-time occurrence. Simply letting the PC reboot might result in Windows restarting without problems.

Considering the severity of the error, however, it is best to find out the cause and try to solve the issue. Device drivers operate at a high-security level in the operating system. This is why Windows will not keep running, but stops and shows the error.

Troubleshooting the Driver Power State Failure error

To see which driver, and as a result, which hardware device, has caused the error we need to find more details.

The most automated, hands-off approach is to use the Windows Troubleshooter. It is available in the latest Windows versions, and can be started from the Settings. Microsoft is also recommenind the GetHelp app to automatically find solutions to Windows problems.

To find more information on the cause of the driver power state failure manually, you can use the Event viewer and something called a minidump.

When a stop error occurs, Windows creates a log file called a minidump. These files are stored in a folder called Minidump in the system root (typically C:\Windows\Minidump). The minidump filename will contain the date and have a file extension .dmp. If no such file is created, check the configuration for creating minidumps.

These mindump (or crash dump) files when generated as a result of the DRIVER POWER STATE FAILURE error will often contain the filename causing the error, which in turn can help pinpoint the driver.

Reading and analyzing a minidump file is a rather technical process. Luckily, tools are available that can read minidump files and show the result in a more user-friendly way. Try BlueScreenView or WhoCrashed.

Fixing the DRIVER POWER STATE FAILURE error

Once you know which driver caused the error, you can take action. To identify the driver in a minidump file, look for the .SYS file extension. A few examples:

BTHUSB.SYS	Bluetooth device
NVRAID.SYS	NVIDIA nForce RAID Device
RTWLANE.SYS	Realtek Wireless LAN 802.11 PCI-E Adapter
IntcSST.SYS	Intel® Smart Sound Technology
HIDIR.SYS	Infrared HID Device

In most cases the .SYS file name will be a good indication of the device name to look for in the Device Manager. If it is not clear, simply do an online search for the file name to identify the device.

The first step is to roll back the driver for that device using the Device Manager. This will undo the most recent update of the driver and bring back the previous (hopefully stable) version.

Open the Device Manager.
Locate the device that caused the stop error.
Right-click the device, and in the popup menu click Properties.
In the device properties window, select the Driver tab.
Click the Roll Back Driver button.
Click the Yes button to confirm the driver rollback.

If there is no option to roll back the driver, that means the original driver is installed. The option in that case, is to update the driver for the device to a newer version. Driver updates are released to fix know issues and make sure the driver is compatible with the latest Windows version. So, installing an updated version of the driver can also help solve the DRIVER POWER STATE FAILURE error.

Driver not known

If the minidump did not provide the name of the driver or device that caused the stop error, you need a different approach to solving the issue.

The first step is to roll back drivers for any new devices, or updated driver versions.

For updating drivers, in addition to Windows Update, you can use DriverFinder. The program will automatically find the latest versions of device drivers for all hardware devices present in your system.

If rolling back and updating does not fix the problem, here are two more suggestions to fix stop errors in general.

Run a Windows check for missing or corrupt Windows components using Deployment Image Servicing (DSIM).
Open a Command Prompt window with administrative privileges, and then type: DSIM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth and press Enter.
Run a system scan to fix any Windows system file issues.
For this, again you need to open a Command Prompt window with administrative privileges, and type: SFC /scannow at the prompt. Wait for the command to finish after pressing Enter.

It is suggested to run these commands in this sequence since the DSIM service is a more recent option with better results for the latest Windows versions. Please note that you will need an active Internet connection for the first command. For Windows versions older than Windows 10, you will first need to install the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit.

Note: Both commands can take some time to complete.

Disable power saving altogether

In general, disabling the power saving is not the desired option, but it can actually be used to solve the DRIVER POWER STATE FAILURE error. By disabling all power-saving options, no power changes take place, and as a result, devices do not cause this error.

You can use the Control Panel in Windows to change the power settings.

Open the Control Panel by pressing the Windows + R keys and typing “control panel” in the Run box. Press Enter to confirm.
In the Control Panel click the option Power Options.
Note: You may need to change the View by option from Category to Large icons or Small icons.
In the power plan selection pick either Balanced or High performance.
Next, click the Change plan settings link for the selected option.
In the Edit Plan Settings window, change the time for the options Turn off the display and Put the computer to sleep to Never.

Note: The On battery options will only show for laptops and portable devices.
Next, click the link Change advanced power settings.
In the Power Options window, open up the PCI Express category, click the Link State Power Management and select the option Off to disable it.
If there is a USB or Wireless category, also disable power management in those, or set it to maximum performance.
Click OK to close the Power Options window.
Click Save changes to close the Edit Plan Settings window and update the changed settings.

Keep in mind that this is more of a workaround than an actual solution. Even if you can prevent the error from happening, the core cause of the error is still unaddressed. It is best to still pinpoint the device or driver causing the issue and fix that, so the power management can be enabled again.

Windows will not start

If the DRIVER POWER STATE FAILURE error is happening consistently, Windows might not start, or run long enough for you to take action. In that case, there are a few things to try:

Unplug external devices. The error is often caused by USB devices, so disconnecting external storage devices is essential in this case.
After this, you can try starting Windows normally, and if that still does not work, try the next step.
Start Windows in Safe Mode.
Safe Mode is a Windows state where not all device drivers are loaded. This way you will be able to make changes that are not otherwise possible.
Use a System Restore point to bring Windows back to a previous state.
If System Restore is active, driver updates are generally proceeded by Windows creating a system restore point. So, reverting to a previous system restore point is similar to a driver rollback.
Reinstall Windows. Not something anybody wants, but as a last resort, this has to be mentioned. Reinstalling Windows will ensure that all drivers are original versions and device configuration is reset. Make sure to make a backup of your data first!

Once you have Windows running again, you can roll back any new drivers as mentioned earlier, or update drivers depending on their version.