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The Benefits of Tracking an IP Address Location

In today’s digital age, tracking an IP address location has become an important tool for businesses and individuals alike. An IP address is a unique numerical identifier assigned to each device connected to the internet. By tracking an IP address location, businesses can gain valuable insights into their customers’ online behavior and preferences. Individuals can also use this information to protect their online privacy and security. Here are some of the key benefits of tracking an IP address location:

Enhanced Security

One of the main benefits of tracking an IP address location is enhanced security. By knowing where a device is located, businesses can better protect their networks from malicious activity. Additionally, individuals can use this information to identify suspicious activity on their own devices or networks. This can help them take steps to protect their data and privacy from potential threats.

Better Targeting of Ads and Content

Another benefit of tracking an IP address location is that it allows businesses to better target ads and content to their customers. By knowing where a customer is located, businesses can tailor their marketing messages to be more relevant to that customer’s needs and interests. This helps them increase engagement with potential customers and boost sales.

Improved Customer Insights

Finally, tracking an IP address location can provide businesses with valuable insights into their customers’ behavior and preferences. By analyzing the data collected from IP addresses, businesses can gain a better understanding of who their customers are and what they are looking for in terms of products or services. This helps them tailor their offerings accordingly and improve customer satisfaction levels.

Overall, tracking an IP address location provides numerous benefits for both businesses and individuals alike. From enhanced security to improved customer insights, this tool can help organizations better understand their customers’ needs and preferences in order to provide more targeted content and services.

This text was generated using a large language model, and select text has been reviewed and moderated for purposes such as readability.

Networking Error: IP address already assigned to another adapter (1179)

An error message indicates that the IP already exists in the network, but no other virtual machine in the network is sharing the IP.
On a Windows virtual machine, you see this error: The IP address XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter
After rebooting the virtual machine, the guest operating system NIC is assigned a private IP address.
After a physical to virtual (P2V) conversion of a machine, you cannot assign an IP address to a NIC.
After removing and re-adding a virtual NIC, the previous device is no longer visible in Device Manager.
The NIC is re-enumerated in the guest operating system.
After a P2V conversion, installed devices such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device or ghosted device, are not connected to the computer.
The Show Hidden Devices option in Device Manager does not display the devices. Note : To view the hidden devices, navigate to My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager > View > Show Hidden Devices .

Under certain conditions, you may see this error message from a Windows guest operating system:

The IP address XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter Name of adapter . Name of adapter is hidden from the network and Dial-up Connections folder because it is not physically in the computer or is a legacy adapter that is not working. If the same address is assigned to both adapters and they become active, only one of them will use this address. This may result in incorrect system configuration. Do you want to enter a different IP address for this adapter in the list of IP addresses in the advanced dialog box?

In this message, XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is the IP address you are trying to set and Name of adapter is the name of a network adapter that is present in the registry but hidden in Device Manager. This error can occur when you change a network connection's TCP/IP configuration from DHCP to a static IP address if:

You have upgraded VMware virtual network adapters (for example, when you migrate a virtual machine from an older to a new version of VMware software). This can also include updating the virtual machine hardware version and/or upgrading the version of VMware Tools.
You have added and removed network adapters multiple times.

This issue occurs if a network adapter with the same IP address is in the Windows registry but is hidden in the Device Manager ( My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager ). This hidden adapter is called a ghosted network adapter.

You may see this if you recently performed a P2V and the resulting virtual machine still has the physical NICs and drivers for those NICs present. These ghost NICs have the old IP address and the virtual NIC cannot be assigned the same IP address.

Using the Show hidden devices option in the Device Manager ( View > Show hidden devices ) does not always show the old virtual NIC (ghosted adapter) to which that IP Address is assigned.

Note : The preceding link was correct as of August 20, 2013. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

To resolve this issue, make the ghosted network adapter visible in the Device Manager and uninstall the ghosted network adapter from the registry:

Click Start > Run .
Type cmd and press Enter .
Right-click the My Computer desktop icon and choose Properties .
Click the Advanced tab and select Environment Variables .
In the System variables section, click New .
Set the Variable name to devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices and set the Variable value to 1 to enable the parameter.
Click OK to add the variable to Windows.
Start the Device Manager by running this command from the same command prompt: start devmgmt.msc
Click View > Show Hidden Devices .
Expand the Network Adapters tree (click the plus sign next to the Network adapters entry).
Right-click the dimmed network adapter, then click Uninstall .
Once all of the grayed out NICs are uninstalled, assign the IP address to the virtual NIC. Note : To assign the IP address to the virtual NIC on the command line, run the command: netsh interface ip set address "Local Area Connection # " static IP_Address Subnet_Mask Default_Gateway For example: netsh interface ip set address "Local Area Connection 2" static 192.168.1.101 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.1
Close the Device Manager. Note : In some Windows versions, a reboot may be necessary to apply the changes.

Resolve issue using DevCon utility

Alternatively, you can also resolve this issue using the DevCon utility. This is a command-line utility that acts as an alternative to Device Manager. When you use DevCon, you can enable, utility disable, restart, update, remove, and query individual devices or groups of devices.

To resolve the issue using DevCon:

Download the DevCon tool. Note : The preceding link was correct as of August 20, 2013. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.
Unpack the 32-bit or 64-bit DevCon tool binary to a local folder.
Click Start > Run , type cmd , and press Enter .
Type CD:\path_to_binaries to navigate to where the devcon.exe file is located.
Use this syntax to find installed network adapters: devcon findall =net or devcon listclass net Note : In the output of the previous commands, there is a line for the ghosted network adapter that is similar to PCI\ .
Run this command to remove the adapter: devcon -r remove @ device \ name For example: devcon -r remove "@PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_1600&SUBSYS_01C21028&REV_02\4&378EDFA4&0&00E2" Note : IDs that include an ampersand character (&) must be enclosed in quotation marks as seen in the example.
Reboot the system and you no longer see the ghost network adapters.

Note : If you did not get the Device Instance ID or the OCI name from devcon , search for the adapter name in the registry using Find by clicking Start > Run and typing regedit . Then copy the Device Instance ID for the appropriate adapter. When you locate the device, use the command from Step 6.

For related information, see:

Virtual NIC settings on a Windows guest are lost after a virtual hardware upgrade (1015572)

IP address already in use error on a converted virtual machine (1012255)

Additional Information

日本語: ネットワークエラー：IP アドレスが別のアダプタにすでに割り当てられている (2078876)
简体中文: 网络错误：IP 地址已分配给其他适配器 (2061917)
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Problem with “IP Address Already Assigned” when you try to set a static IP address in a Hyper-V Virtual Machine

After redeploying some virtual machines (VMs) in my Hyper-V Demo environment , the following Microsoft TCP/IP error message popped-up within a VM, while I was trying to set its static IP address .

The IP address <IP address> you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter (<Name of adapter>) which is no longer present in the computer. If the same address is assigned to both adapters and they both become active, only one of them will use this address. This may result in incorrect system configuration.

Do you want to remove the static IP configuration for the absent adapter?

Keep in mind that the error message can be slightly different depending on the server operating system (OS) you are running.

This error can have several causes. The most common is when you delete a VMs virtual network adapter (vNIC) , which has a static IP address (also known as fixed IP address), and in a later phase attach a new vNIC (removing and re-adding a vNIC) and try to set the same static IP address again.

Other causes can be when a VM is not properly migrated between different Hyper-V hosts or when a backup of a VM is set back to another host , then the one where the VM previously ran.

And it can also occur after a physical to virtual (P2V) conversion of a server.

You can fix this issue, by uninstalling the ghosted (dimmed) network adapter inside the VM . As usually, there are several ways to do this, one of them is by use of the registry, but there is also an easier and quicker fix. This one is shown below:

First of all, answer No to the error question in the pop-up (be aware when you do so, temporarily both network adapters will have the same IP address).

Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run box ,type cmd , and press Enter or click OK .

In the opened Command Prompt window type:

Press Enter and type:

Press Enter , this will open Device Manager .

When Device Manager is open, click View , and then click Show Hidden Devices , to make the ghosted network adapter(s) visible .

Expand the Network adapters tree and right-click the ghosted network adapter and then click Uninstall device .

It is possible that there are more ghosted network adapters listed, but start with the first one shown. Afterwards you can uninstall all others.

In the Uninstall Device pop-up, click Uninstall to confirm the removal of the device.

Repeat these steps for all other ghosted network adapters (if applicable) . When they are all removed, you can set the static IP address on the new network adapter . This should now work.

You can always check the right IP address settings, by running ipconfig in a Command Prompt window.

Hope this blog post will help you whenever you face the same issue.

Error message when you try to set an IP address on a network adapter

3 contributors

This article provides a solution to an error that occurs when you try to set an IP address on a network adapter.

Applies to: Windows Server 2012 Original KB number: 269155

When you try to set the IP address on a network adapter, you may receive the following error message:

The IP address XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter Name of adapter . Name of adapter is hidden from the network and Dial-up Connections folder because it is not physically in the computer or is a legacy adapter that is not working. If the same address is assigned to both adapters and they become active, only one of them will use this address. This may result in incorrect system configuration. Do you want to enter a different IP address for this adapter in the list of IP addresses in the advanced dialog box?

In this error message, the placeholder XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX represents the IP address that you are trying to set, and the placeholder Name of adapter represents the name of the network adapter that is present in the registry but hidden in Device Manager.

If you select Yes , you see the TCP/IP properties. Then, you can change the IP address to something different for the currently displayed network adapter in Device Manager. If you select No , the IP address is assigned to the network adapter. Notice that if you select No , the selected network adapter in Device Manager and the ghosted network adapter have the same IP address. In most cases, this causes no problems, because the driver is disabled.

On a computer that is running Windows Server 2008, you receive the following error message:

Cannot rename this connection. A connection with the name you specified already exists. Specify a different name.

This issue occurs because a network adapter with the same IP address is in the registry but is hidden in Device Manager. It can occur when you move a network adapter from one PCI slot to another PCI slot.

To resolve this problem, uninstall the ghosted network adapter from the registry. To do it, use one of the following methods:

In Windows 8 or in Windows Server 2012, use the Search charm to search for cmd, and then tap or select Command Prompt.
In earlier versions of Windows, select Start , select Run , type cmd.exe, and then press Enter .
Type set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 , and then press Enter.
Type start devmgmt.msc , and then press Enter.
Select View , and then select Show Hidden Devices .
Expand the Network Adapters tree.
Right-click the dimmed network adapter, and then select Uninstall .

The DevCon utility is a command prompt utility that acts as an alternative to Device Manager. When you use DevCon, you can enable, disable, restart, update, remove, and query individual devices or groups of devices. To use DevCon, follow these steps:

Download the DevCon tool in Windows Device Console (Devcon.exe) .

Unpack the 32-bit or 64-bit DevCon tool binary to a local folder.

Select Start , select Run , type cmd, and then press Enter . If you're running Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012, use the Search charm to search for cmd.

Type cd <path_to_binaries> to move to where devcon.exe is located.

Run the following command to list all network adapters that are present:

Run the following command to retrieve all network adapters:

For those network adapters that aren't listed in the result of the first command, note the instance ID of those items, and then run the following command for each instance ID:

More information

When you receive the error message that is mentioned in the Symptoms section, the hidden or ghosted network adapter doesn't appear in Device Manager unless you follow the steps in this article. Device Manager does show a network adapter, and the network adapter typically has #2 appended to its name.

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Additional resources

The IP address you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter

'Microsoft Virtual Machine Bus Network Adapter #2' is hidden from the Network Connections folder because it is not physically in the computer

Q: We are running Windows 2008 R2. After backing up a VM and restoring it to another windows 2008 R2 server. I get this message when re-assign the same IP address to the VM: "The IP address 10.2.0.210 you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter 'Microsoft Virtual Machine Bus Network Adapter #2' 'Microsoft Virtual Machine Bus Network Adapter #2' is hidden from the Network Connections folder because it is not physically in the computer. If the same address is assigned to both adapters and they both become active, only one of them will use this address. This may result in incorrect system configuration. Do you want to enter a different IP address for this adapter. I have in the list of IP addresses in the Advanced dialog box?" I have followed this article Device Manager does not display devices that are not connected to the Windows XP-based computer- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315539, but I don't see the 'Microsoft Virtual Machine Bus Network Adapter #2'. If I search in regedit, I do see the IP address 10.2.0.210. How do I remove the 'Microsoft Virtual Machine Bus Network Adapter #2' ?

There are two resolutions. Method 1: Uninstall it from Device Manager 1. Run this command: set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 2. Open the Device Manager . 4. Click View , and then click Show Hidden Devices . 5. Expand the Network Adapters tree. 6. Right-click the dimmed network adapter, and then click Uninstall . Method 2: Delete it using regedit 1. Backup HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services 2. Locate the following keys: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces 3. Search the IP address, in our example 10.2.0.210. 4. delete GUID

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Fix: “The IP address you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter…”

I brought up a snapshot of a Windows Server 2003 R2 guest today and could not login to the domain. After further review I found the server had lost its static TCP/IP settings – both NICs were set to DHCP (they had previously been statically set). When I attempted to add the TCP/IP addresses back to the NICs, I received the following error message:

“The IP address you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter “Fast Ethernet Adapter #2”. “Fast Ethernet Adapter #2″ is hidden from the Network Connections folder because it is not physically in the computer. If the same address is assigned to both adapters and they both become active, only one of them will use this address. This may result in incorrect system configuration. Do you want to enter a different IP address for this adapter in the list of IP addresses in the Advanced dialog box?” Table of Contents

Solutions – KB825826 outlines several potential fixes. I ended up using Method #6 to remove the hidden network adapter. To uninstall the ghosted network adapter from the registry, complete these steps:

Click Start , click Run , type cmd.exe, and then press ENTER.
Type set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1, and then press ENTER.
Type Start DEVMGMT.MSC, and then press ENTER.
Click View , and then click Show Hidden Devices .
Expand the Network adapters tree.
Right-click the dimmed network adapter, and then click Uninstall .

Next I configured the static IP on the NIC, and regained network connectivity. A reboot was required in my case, only because services dependant on domain availability did not automatically startup.

Founder of The Back Room Tech and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications. Read Aseem's Full Bio

SOLVED: HyperV – The IP address x.x.x.x you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter

Published by ian matthews on february 22, 2016 february 22, 2016.

If you have moved a HyperV VHDx file to a new server, built a new VM using that drive and then tried to set the previous static IP Address on it, you will receive the following error:

The IP address XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter.

Usually I just click YES to:

Do you want to remove the static IP configuration from the absent adapter?

but today, I decided to dig in and simply remove the dead adaptor. Fortunately this is quite easy to do:

Start a CMD prompt as an admin
Type: set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 and press ENTER
Type DEVMGMT.MSC and press ENTER
In Device Manager, click VIEW then SHOW HIDDEN DEVICES
Expand NETWORK ADAPTORS
Right click on each greyed out NIC and select UNINSTALL
Close all of the Windows (including your IP, Network and Sharing Center…)
Now try to change the IP and all will be happy.

If you want more details, see: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/269155

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Today we had a very cool problem with a client who was trying to add a service account to a Windows Active Directory Group. the problem was that after the service account was added to Read more…

IP Address Already Assigned to Another Adapter Error

When you trying to set a static IP address on a network card, you may receive the following error message:

The IP address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter Name of adapter. (adapter name) is hidden from the network and Dial-up Connections folder because it is not physically in the computer or is a legacy adapter that is not working. If the same address is assigned to both adapters and they become active, only one of them will use this address. This may result in incorrect system configuration. Do you want to enter a different IP address for this adapter in the list of IP addresses in the advanced dialog box?

This may be occurring because a network adapter with the same IP address is in the registry but is hidden in Device Manager. This can happen when you move a network card from one PCI slot to another PCI slot or even if you add a new adapter without removing the old one from Device Manager.

To fix this problem, you can try to uninstall the ghosted network adapter from the registry using one or both methods.

Click on Start, then Run, and type cmd and press Enter.
Then type set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 , and then press Enter.
Then type start devmgmt.msc , and then press Enter. This will open Device Manager .
Click View, and then click Show Hidden Devices.
Expand the Network Adapters tree.
Right click the dimmed network adapter, and then click Uninstall.

Download the Devcon utility from Microsoft
Save it to your desktop
Double click the devcon.exe file
Click on Run
Extract the files to somewhere on your computer that you can easily find. You can change the directory to C:devcon to make it easier

Then open a command prompt and navigate to the directory where you extracted the files. For most users you will use the devcon.exe in the i386 folder under the devcon folder. Or you can move devcon.exe from the i386 folder to the C:devcon folder.

Type the following commands at the prompt to find installed network adapters: devcon findall =net or devcon listclass net

In the output of the example there is a line for the ghosted network adapter that is similar to the following:

PCIVEN_10B7&DEV_9200&SUBSYS_00D81028&REV_784&19FD8D60&0&58F0: 3Com 3C920 Integrated Fast Ethernet Controller (3C905C-TX Compatible)

Remove the ghosted device by typing the following syntax: (devcon –r remove “@adapter name”) where adapter name is taken from the results of the devcon findall =net command

devcon -r remove "@PCIVEN_10B7&DEV_9200&SUBSYS_00D81028&REV_784&19FD8D60&0&58F0"

but you will add the name of your device rather than the one in the example. Don’t forget to put the @ symbol at the beginning and also use quotation marks.

It will say the device was removed if it completed successfully.

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The ip address already assigned to another adapter.

Under certain conditions, you may see this error message from a Windows guest operating system:

The IP address XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter Name of adapter. Name of adapter is hidden from the network and Dial-up Connections folder because it is not physically in the computer or is a legacy adapter that is not working. If the same address is assigned to both adapters and they become active, only one of them will use this address. This may result in incorrect system configuration. Do you want to enter a different IP address for this adapter in the list of IP addresses in the advanced dialog box?

In this message, XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is an IP address that you are trying to set and Name of adapter is the name of a network adapter that is present in the registry but hidden in Device Manager.

This can occur when you change a network connection’s TCP/IP configuration from DHCP to a static IP address if:

You have upgraded VMware virtual network adapters (for example, when you migrate a virtual machine from an older to a new version of VMware software).
You have added and removed network adapters multiple times.

The cause of the error is that a network adapter with the same IP address is in the Windows registry but is hidden in the Device Manager ( My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager ). This hidden adapter is called a ghosted network adapter.

Using the Show hidden devices option in the Device Manager ( View > Show hidden devices ) does not always show the old virtual NIC (ghosted adapter) to which that IP Address is assigned

To resolve this issue, make the ghosted network adapter visible in the Device Manager and uninstall the ghosted network adapter from the registry:

Select Start > Run , type cmd.exe, and press Enter.
Enter Start DEVMGMT.MSC and press Enter to start Device Manager.
Select View > Show Hidden Devices .
Expand the Network Adapters tree (select the plus sign next to the Network adapters entry).
Right-click the dimmed network adapter, and then click Uninstall .
Close Device Manager.
Download the DevCon tool from Microsoft Knowledge Base article 311272 .
Unpack the 32 bit or 64 bit DevCon tool binary to a local folder.
Click Start > Run , type cmd, and press Enter.
Type CD:\path_to_binaries to navigate to the devcon.exe is located.

devcon findall *net*

devcon listclass net

devcon remove @device\name

Reboot the system and you no longer see the ghost network adapters.

Note : If you did not get the Device Instance ID or the OCI name from devcon, search for the adapter name in the registry using Find by going to Start > Run and type regedit. Then copy the Device Instance ID for the concerned adapter. When you locate the device use the command from Step 6 above.

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IP address assigned to non-existent adapter

So I automatically received the Windows 10 anniversary update this afternoon (against both my will and my explicit no-update settings) on my work computer. When I logged back in, all of my network adapters except one had disappeared (I previously had a virtual switch set up via Hyper-V to allow emulated devices to have internet access).

When I try to assign an IP address to the remaining NIC, I get this delightful message:

The IP address you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter 'Hyper-V Virtual Ethernet Adapter' on this computer. If the same address is assigned to both adapters and the both become active, only one of them will use this address. This may result in incorrect system configuration.

It appears that the update unhelpfully uninstalled hyper-v manager, but did it in such a way that the ghosts of networks past still haunt me.

When looking in the Device Manager, the listed adapter does not appear. Having device manager 'Show hidden devices' does not make it appear either (even if I run the 'set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1' command).

Ipconfig doens't list the device either.

I thought maybe if I re-installed Hyper-V I'd be able to manage it from there, but having done that and rebooted, the adapter isn't there either.

I tried removing it in Powershell via 'remove-vmswitch' but that failed saying it couldn't find such an adapter.

How can I remove all traces of this apparently invisible adapter so that my NIC starts working properly again?

network-adapter

2 Answers 2

Insert usual registry editing warning here - in short backup your system before you mess with the registry and don't mess with it if you're not comfortable doing so.

Now that that's out of the way...

Search the following registry location for the IP address:

If you find the IP address in question under a GUID key (ie {xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx} ), then there should be a correlating key under:

Which has a sub value named " NetCfgInstanceId " with the same GUID you identified in your first search.

You will also find a reference to that GUID under:

Which has a subkey\value of Connection\Name that contains the name of the network connection as you saw it in the Network devices view from control panel (ie. "Local Area Network").

I haven't done this in Windows 10 yet, but in previous versions of Windows (7 and 2008 R2) I've deleted all three of the keys that reference the NIC/IP (do not delete the parent keys that contain ALL the NICs on the system - just the key for the specific NIC/IP you're having problems with) in order to get rid of problems like the one you're describing. At the very least you should export the keys first so that you can add them back as needed.

And, I don't remember, but I wouldn't be surprised if you have to reboot before the changes will be effective.

FYI: This same method can be used when Windows says the name you're trying to assign to your network connection/NIC is in use and you can't see it. (The name will be under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\{4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\<GUID>\Connection\Name )

I had to find a few other instances of the GUID and remove them as well, but this did the trick, thank you! (Reboot was necessary). – hobwell Sep 26, 2016 at 15:16
Glad to hear this helped resolve your issue. If you happen to remember what other keys you had to delete, I'll update my answer to include those for reference by other users having the issue. – David Woodward Sep 26, 2016 at 17:20

You can use devcon findall to list all the devices and devcon removall to remove the problem devices.

A removeall command has been added to devcon. devcon is part of the Windows Driver Kit (WDK), but I did not find the new removeall command in the executables that come in the WDK. I assume you must build it from the source code; that is what I did. Instructions are here: Building devcon from source

It involves installing Visual Studio, Windows SDK, WDK, then downloading the latest samples from the git repository. I found that I needed to execute "MC msgs.mc" by hand to make the build work.

1 Please do not post the same answer to multiple questions. If the same information really answers both questions, then one question (usually the newer one) should be closed as a duplicate of the other. You can indicate this by voting to close it as a duplicate or, if you don't have enough reputation for that, raise a flag to indicate that it's a duplicate. Otherwise tailor your answer to this question and don't just paste the same answer in multiple places. – DavidPostill ♦ Apr 2, 2021 at 21:50

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Windows OS Hub / Windows 10 / How to Remove Hidden/Ghost Network Adapters in Windows

How to Remove Hidden/Ghost Network Adapters in Windows

Windows automatically hides the devices that are present in Windows configuration but are not physically connected to the computer. A hidden network adapter in Windows remains if you physically disconnect the previously installed network card (this can be either a physical NIC or a virtual network adapter). The previously installed network card becomes hidden and you cannot see it in the Device Manager.

The IP Address is Already Assigned to Another Network Adapter

Show hidden (non-existent) network adapters in windows device manager, how to remove hidden/non-present network adapters with powershell and cmd, remove network adapter settings from the registry.

The main problem with hidden network adapters is that you cannot assign an IP address of your old network adapter to a new network interface. When you try to assign the old IP address, the following error appears:

The IP address you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter

New-NetIPAddress –IPAddress 192.168.10.155 -DefaultGateway 192.168.10.1 -PrefixLength 24 -InterfaceIndex 22

I often come across this issue in VMware virtual machines with a VMXNet3 virtual network adapter. A new virtual NIC card is identified as a new device (unlike vNIC type E1000). If you have removed a network card (vNIC) on a VMWare virtual machine and added a new one, you won’t be able to set your old IP address assigned to the removed network interface.

Also, the problem of hidden network adapters appears after migrating a physical server to a VM (Physical-to-Virtual — P2V), for example, using the VMware Converter . After migration, disabled NICs remain in Windows and you cannot assign old IP address settings to new vNICs.

Prior to assigning an old IP address to a new network adapter, you must remove the configuration of disconnected NICs.

To show hidden (physically disconnected) network adapters in Windows, open the Device Manager console in a special mode. To do this on Windows 7 (and previous versions):

Open the command prompt as an administrator;
Run the command: set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
Start the Device Manager console: devmgmt.msc

In the top menu, click View -> Show hidden devices .

Expand the Network adapters section. Hidden network cards should appear in the list (they have pale icons). Select the network controller you want to remove, right-click it -> Uninstall Device . You can remove the network adapter driver by checking the Delete the driver software for this device option.

ghost (hidden) network adapter on windows

You can list unused/hidden network adapters in Windows using PowerShell:

Get-PnpDevice -class net | ? Status -eq Unknown | Select FriendlyName,InstanceId

Then you can remove such a network adapter by its InstanceId (copy its value from the previous command result):

$InstanceId = “PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_10D3&SUBSYS_07D015AD&REV_00\000C29FFFF66A80700” $RemoveKey = "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\$InstanceId" Get-Item $RemoveKey | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Property | %{ Remove-ItemProperty -Path $RemoveKey -Name $_ -Verbose}

powershell: Get-PnpDevice show hidden NICs

You can remove all hidden (non-present) network adapters using a PowerShell script:

$Devs = Get-PnpDevice -class net | ? Status -eq Unknown | Select FriendlyName,InstanceId ForEach ($Dev in $Devs) { $RemoveKey = "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\$($Dev.InstanceId)" Get-Item $RemoveKey | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Property | %{ Remove-ItemProperty -Path $RemoveKey -Name $_ -Verbose }}

You can use the DevCon.exe (Device Console) tool to remove devices in Windows. This tool is part of the Windows Driver Kit (WDK).

List all network adapters:

devcon findall =net

Copy the Device Instance ID of the network adapter you want to remove and run the command:

devcon: remove ghost network adapter on windows

On Windows 10/11 and Windows Server 2022/2019/2016, you can use the PnPUtil built-in command instead of the devcon.exe.

List network adapters:

pnputil /enum-devices /class net

To remove a device by its InstanceID:

pnputil /remove-device "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_10D3&SUBSYS_07D015AD&REV_00\000C29FFFF66A80700"

pnputil remove ghost network adapter on windows 11

Open the Device Manager, select Actions -> Scan for hardware changes from the menu and check that the hidden network adapter has been removed.

windows device manager: scan for hardware changes

If after removing the ghost NIC in the Device Manager you still cannot assign the old IP address to a new adapter, remove the IP configuration of the old NIC from the registry.

The IP settings of your network interfaces are located under the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces .

This registry key contains some {Interface GUID} keys. Check them one by one until you find the interface, which IPAddress value contains the IP address assigned to the old network interface.

remove old non-existent network adapter from registry

Remember the name of the registry key (it is the identifier of the network adapter). Remove the keys:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Adapters\{your_NIC_ID}
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\{your_NIC_ID}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network{your_NIC_ID}

Restart your computer and try to assign the old static IP address to a new network adapter.

It is also recommended to reset the network settings . In Windows 10 and 11, you can do it in Settings -> Network and Internet -> Network Reset .

If you face a problem after you installed an additional network card on your computer, make sure that the built-in LAN interface is disabled in BIOS/UEFI settings (the item is usually called Onboard Gbit NIC or Onboard LAN ).

Shutdown/Restart Windows using Command Prompt and PowerShell

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