One of the earliest ways to use your mobile Internet on your computer is by connecting both devices via a USB cable with USB tethering enabled. When some users tried to do the same, they get a Blue Screen. In this post, we will talk about this issue and see what you can do if USB tethering causes a Blue Screen on Windows 11/10.
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Fix USB tethering causes Blue Screen on Windows 11/10
If USB tethering causes Blue Screen on your Windows computer, follow the solutions mentioned below.
- Check your cable and use a different port
- Switch to a different driver
- Reinstall your USB driver
- Run Blue Screen troubleshooter
- Run Network Adapter troubleshooter
- Repair System Files
Let us talk about them in detail.
1] Check your cable and use a different port
There is a possibility that the BSOD is caused due to the hardware malfunctioning. Mostly, it is your cable but sometimes, your port can be at fault as well. You should first use a different cable and see if that resolves the error, if not, connect to a different port on your computer and see if the issue is resolved. Hopefully, this will do the trick for you.
2] Switch to a different driver
When you connect your phone to the computer, they communicate with each other via a driver present on your computer. So, since you encountered BSOD issues when using USB tethering, there is a huge possibility that the driver your computer is using is not compatible. In that case, we need to switch to a different driver to resolve the issue. To do the same, make sure that USB tethering is enabled on your device and it is connected to your computer, then, follow the prescribed steps.
- Open Device Manager by searching it out of the Start Menu.
- Expand Network adapters.
- Right-click on the USB tethering driver and select Update driver.
- Click on Browse my computer for drivers > Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer.
- Untick Show compatible drivers.
- Select Microsoft from the Manufacturer column and then select Remote NDS based Internet Sharing Device from the Model column.
- Click Next and install the driver.
Finally, check if the issue is resolved.
3] Reinstall your USB driver
You may also encounter the error in question if your drivers are corrupted. However, if the driver is corrupted, you can easily reinstall it and replace them with new drivers. But before that, there are a few things we need to do. First of all, open Command Prompt and run the following command to stop the netsetupsvc service.
sc.exe config netsetupsvc start=disabled
Now, follow these steps to reinstall the driver.
- Open Device Manager.
- Expand Network adapters.
- Right-click on the USB tethering driver and select Uninstall device.
- After uninstalling the driver, you need to disconnect and reconnect the device, the driver should be installed automatically. Alternatively, you can right-click on the Network adapter and select Scan for hardware changes to install the driver.
After reinstalling the driver, we need to make some changes to the registry.
Before that, we need to find the GUID of the USB tethering driver. To do the same, open Device Manager, expand Network adapters, right-click on the USB tethering driver, select Properties, go to Details, change Property to Class GUID, and copy the string (right-click on it and select Copy).
Next, open Registry Editor and navigate to the following location.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\<Class-GUID>
Note: Replace <Class-GUID> with the string you copied.
We need to create three DWORD values by right-clicking on the blank screen on the left panel and selecting New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. So, create the following three values and their data as per the table mentioned below.
DWORD Values: Value Data
- IfType: 6
- MediaType: 0
- PhysicalMediaType: 0xe
Finally, run the following command in the elevated mode of CMD to enable the service we stopped earlier.
sc.exe config netsetupsvc start=demand
Hopefully, this will help you.
Read: USB tethering not working on Windows PC.
4] Run Network Adapter troubleshooter
Windows has a Network Adapter troubleshooter that will allow you to scan and repair the issue. To do the same, follow the prescribed steps.
Windows 11
- Open Settings.
- Go to System > Troubleshoot.
- Click on Other troubleshooters.
- Finally, click on the Run button next to Network adapters.
Windows 10
- Open Settings.
- Navigate to Update & Security > Troubleshoot > Additional troubleshooters.
- Click on Network adapters > Run the troubleshooter.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete troubleshooting. Hopefully, this will do the job for you.
5] Repair System Files
If nothing worked, then maybe your system files are corrupted and need to be repaired. You can either run SFC and DISM commands or repair OS using Installation media. Once your system image is repaired, you won’t encounter any BSOD.
Hope you are able to resolve the issue using the solutions mentioned in this post.
Read: Fix Mobile Tethering Internet keeps disconnecting on Windows
Can USB tethering cause BSOD?
Yes, USB tethering could cause BSOD on Windows 11 as well as Windows 10. It mainly happens when your mobile is infected with a malware or your computer has a faulty driver. In that case, you can follow the aforementioned solutions to fix the BSOD problem caused by USB tethering.
What causes blue screen on Windows 11?
You will see a Blue Screen of Death or BSOD when there is some incompatible driver, corrupted system files, or some application that’s interfering with the Windows process. Mostly, the Microsoft Online Blue Screen troubleshooter will scan and repair the issue, if that fails, you should first check what has failed and then how it can be resolved.
