How to upgrade npcap for the runZero Explorer on Windows

Modified on Fri, Jan 19 at 5:04 PM

On Windows, runZero uses a licensed third-party library called npcap for access to raw network traffic. Other software installed on the Explorer’s host machine may also use npcap, and sometimes will have installed obsolete versions of the software. This can cause reliability problems.

runZero will alert you to obsolete versions of npcap by displaying a warning icon in the list of Explorers.

However, runZero cannot yet reliably upgrade npcap for you. runZero can’t automatically upgrade npcap/winpcap, as it tends to be shared between applications, and forcing an upgrade from the runZero side can break other services (EDRs, Wireshark, etc).

To upgrade npcap:

  1. Stop any running runZero services. This can be done using the Windows Services app. You’ll need to look for “runZero Network Discovery Explorer”.
  2. Stop any other running software which uses npcap.
  3. Uninstall Winpcap and any npcap installations via the Windows Control Panel.
  4. Reboot the computer.

runZero will restart automatically, and install the latest npcap.

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