how to delete removed network adapters from the registry ? / irrelevant netsh output

Question

_{Monday, November 22, 2010 9:19 PM}

Hi,

After substituting Ethernet NICs with new identical ones on a Windows Server 2008 R2 machine, new adapters were quite normally named "Local Area Connection <number>". If I try to rename them using the original adapter names (the ones I had given them when the original NICs were in place), using 'netsh interface set interface ... newname=...', the operation fails, most likely because the OS kept a memory of the previous adapters.

Furthermore, the actual output of the netsh error is totally irrelevant, as it reads "You were not connected because a duplicate name exists on the network. If joining a domain, [...]".

So,

- Is there a way I can delete the previous adapters from HKLM and rename the new ones to my liking ?

- perhaps submit the output message issue to the netsh team ?

Lucas Cohen
MCSE, Windows Server 2003 - Security

All replies (5)

_{Tuesday, November 23, 2010 3:04 AM ✅Answered | 3 votes}

Hi Lucas,

Thanks for posting here.

Based on my test, the previous adapters could be displayed in device managre MMC snap-in with set trigger “devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices”, please following the workaround below to check if it worked:

·         Run command prompt with administrator privilege.

·         perform “set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1”.

·         perform “start devmgmt.msc” to start device manager MMC snap-in.

·         Click “Show hidden devices” on the View menu in Device Managers ,so that you should see the old devices that are not connected to the computer.

·         remove the old NIC form network adapters category.

Here is an article for you refer:

Device Manager does not display devices that are not connected to the Windows XP-based computer

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315539/en-us

Thanks.

Tiger Li

TechNet Subscriber Support in forum

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_{Wednesday, November 24, 2010 9:15 AM}

Hi Lucas,

If there is any update on this issue, please feel free to let us know.

We are looking forward to your reply.

Thanks.

Tiger Li

TechNet Subscriber Support in forum
If you have any feedback on our support, please contact [email protected] 

Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

_{Thursday, November 25, 2010 8:45 PM}

Hi,

Sorry for the silence; the reason was that my question was in fact pertinent to a Server Core computer, which I didn't mention in my original post. I wanted to go looking for the answer on my own before posting back, but haven't gotten around to do it at this time.

Thank you for the answer.

Lucas Cohen
MCSE, Windows Server 2003 - Security

_{Thursday, October 30, 2014 4:28 AM}

Sorry to resurrect this old thread. But has anyone found an answer to this problem on a server core server? For obvious reasons, it's not possible to launch devmgmt.msc on a Server Core machine, so I was wondering if anyone know an alternative method for removing old phantom devices that are still hogging on to old interface names?

_{Tuesday, January 14, 2020 8:45 PM}

years later but Solution: Manually delete the entry from:

-[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\
Interfaces\Adapter ID]]