Find hidden network adapter in Device Manager

May 10, 2008

Error message when you try to set an IP address on a network adapter.
When you trying 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?

CAUSE

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

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RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, uninstall the ghosted network adapter from the registry using one of the following methods:

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Method 1

1.	Click Start, click Run, type cmd.exe, and then press ENTER.
2.	Type set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1, and then press ENTER.
3.	Type Start DEVMGMT.MSC, and then press ENTER.
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.

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Method 2

The DevCon utility is a command-line 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:

1.	Download the DevCon tool by clicking the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 311272 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272/) The DevCon command-line utility functions as an alternative to Device Manager
2.	Unpack the 32-bit or 64-bit DevCon tool binary to a local folder.
3.	Click Start, click Run, then type cmd and press ENTER.
4.	Type CD:`path_to_binaries` to navigate to the devcon.exe is located.
5.	Use the following 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 the following: `PCIVEN_10B7&DEV_9200&SUBSYS_00D81028&REV_784&19FD8D60&0&58F0: 3Com 3C920 Integrated Fast Ethernet Controller (3C905C-TX Compatible)`
6.	Remove the ghosted device by typing the following syntax: devcon -r remove “@PCI`VEN_10B7&DEV_9200&SUBSYS_00D81028&REV_784&19FD8D60&0&58F0`“

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