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

Article ID: 269155 - View products that this article applies to.
This article was previously published under Q269155
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Symptoms

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?
Note 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 click Yes, you see the TCP/IP properties. There, you can change the IP address to something different for the currently displayed network adapter in Device Manager. If you click No, the IP address is assigned to the network adapter. Notice that if you click 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.

Note 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.
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Cause

This issue occurs because 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 adapter from one PCI slot to another PCI slot.
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Resolution

To have us uninstall the ghosted network adapter for you by using method 2, go to the "Fix it for me" section. If you prefer to uninstall the ghosted network adapter yourself, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section.

Fix it for me

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To uninstall the ghosted network adapter, click the Fix it button or link. Then click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in the Fix it wizard.

For Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012
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Fix this problem
(http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9829438)

Microsoft Fix it 25010
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For Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2003
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Fix this problem
(http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9763075)

Microsoft Fix it 50609
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Notes
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  • This wizard may be in English only. However, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.
  • If you are not on the computer that has the problem, save the Fix it solution to a flash drive or a CD and then run it on the computer that has the problem.
  • We would appreciate your feedback. To provide feedback or to report any issues with this solution, please leave a comment on the "Fix it for me
    (http://blogs.technet.com/fixit4me/)
    " blog or send us an email
    (mailto:fixit4me@microsoft.com?Subject=KB)
    message.
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Let me fix it myself

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

Method 1

  1. Use one of the following methods to go to a command prompt:
    • In Windows 8 or in Windows Server 2012, use the Search charm to search for cmd, and then tap or click Command Prompt.
    • In earlier versions of Windows, 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.

Method 2

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:
  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, type cmd, and then press Enter. If you are running Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012, use the Search charm to search for cmd.
  4. Type CD:\<path_to_binaries> to move to where devcon.exe is located.
  5. Run the following command to list all network adapters that are present:
    devcon listclass net
  6. Run the following command to retrieve all network adapters:
    devcon findall =net
  7. For those network adapters that are not 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:
    devcon -r remove<instance ID>
    For example, run the following command:
    devcon -r remove "@PCI\VEN_10B7&DEV_9200&SUBSYS_00D81028&REV_78\4&19FD8D60&0&58F0"
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More information

When you receive the error message that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section, the hidden or ghosted network adapter does not 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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Properties

Article ID: 269155 - Last Review: April 22, 2013 - Revision: 10.0
Applies to
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
  • Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems
  • Windows Server 2008 Datacenter
  • Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
  • Windows Server 2008 Standard
  • Windows Vista Business
  • Windows Vista Enterprise
  • Windows Vista Ultimate
  • Windows 7 Enterprise
  • Windows 7 Professional
  • Windows 7 Ultimate
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
  • Windows 8
  • Windows 8 Pro
  • Windows Server 2012 Foundation
  • Windows Server 2012 Standard
  • Windows Server 2012 Datacenter
Keywords: 
kberrmsg kbhardware kbprb w2000device kbfixme kbmsifixme KB269155
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