A Network Adapter Is Missing in Device Manager After a Full Restore

After you use Ntbackup.exe to perform a full restore or a full System State restore to restore a Windows 2000 installation over a clean Windows 2000 installation, the network adapter may be missing in Device Manager. Instead of the correct network adapter, a new device, such as a WAN miniport (L2TP) device, may be listed. You also might not be able to reinstall the network adapter.

This behavior can occur if the deployment method that was used to install the clean Windows 2000 installation differs from the deployment method that was used to install the original installation.

Before you perform the restore operation, you must reinstall Windows 2000 by using the same deployment method that was used to install the original installation. For example, if the original installation was installed by using the Windows 2000 CD-ROM, you must install the clean installation of Windows 2000 by using the Windows 2000 CD-ROM. If the installation was originally installed by using an unattended installation script, you must use the same script to install the clean installation. After you perform the clean installation by using the same deployment method, you can perform the restore operation.

You might also be able to work around this behavior with an in-place upgrade of Windows 2000 after you perform the restore operation. For additional information about performing an in-place upgrade, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: If an in-place upgrade of Windows 2000 does not correct the issue, the following workaround might resolve the issue:

1. Install a secondary protocol such as the NetBEUI protocol. If you already have a secondary protocol installed, skip this step.
2. If the computer is a domain controller, restart the computer in Directory Services Restore mode. Otherwise, restart the computer in "Safe Mode with Networking" mode.
3. Remove the TCP/IP protocol from properties of the Local Area Connection.
4. If the computer is a domain controller, restart the computer again in Directory Services Restore mode. Otherwise, restart the computer again in "Safe Mode with Networking" mode. You must restart the computer again at this stage because the TCP/IP protocol is not available for reinstallation until you restart the computer.
5. Reinstall the TCP/IP protocol in the Local Area Connection properties.
6. Remove the protocol that you temporarily added in step 1 (if appropriate), and then restart the computer.

For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: