[SOLVED] No network adapter on server2016, but on win10

[erik.berggren80]

Hello there. I have a problem that i fear might be a compability issue but not sure so figured i should throw a question out there.
To make a long story short i have this old computer (specs provided below) that i was hoping to re-purpose to act as a vm-host in my lab. Whenever i have Windows 10 installed all works well. However whenever i install server 2016 or hyper-v core server it just will not detect or make use of the network adapter that i know is working.
I have tried installing drivers from USB, tried the usual troubleshooting by resetting the network adapter etc and god knows what other gazillion troubleshooting steps. The only thing i didn't try was manually updating all the motherboard and other system drivers from USB (a lot of them and don't have original vendor CD's left so would have to find and download them all). I also tried to download the Lan driver from Gigabytes Support Page but all i got when trying to install that one from USB was that no Intel Network adapter was found in the system, no idea whats up with that as it's the model of motherboard in use that the driver is for...

It seams highly unlikely to me that it would work under Win10 architecture but not under server2016 since as far as i know its the same underlying requirements but of course i might be wrong.
I would highly appreciate any or all help to solve this problem as it is driving me crazy not being able to re-purpose this machine because of the motherboard network card of all the possible things.
Thank you in advance for any and all suggestions and ideas.

The relevant specs are:
Motherboard: Gigabyte X79-UD5 x79 (built in Intel NIC)
CPU: Intel i7-3820
RAM: Corsair 16 GB DDR3 Vengeance LOW XMP

 

[Alabalcho]

Something similar happened to me on Gigabyte B360N board - Windows 10 did not need any help detecting the two Intel adapters, but WSE 2016 did not like the drivers at all. I solved this by forcefully installing "generic" Intel I210 drivers known to 2016.

 

[erik.berggren80]

Is something to try at least, and where would I find this generic driver fitting this model of motherboard?

As a sidenote. What's even more puzzling though is that even if I turn of wifi feature in server 2016, it doesn't recognize that either, nor does it detect or make use of the wifi dongle I plugged in for testing either.

 

[Calvin7]

Intel Ethernet Adapters with driver support for Windows Server 2016
https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...022599/network-and-i-o/ethernet-products.html

 

[erik.berggren80]

Thx for that. Tried that one and a couple of others for good measure. The result made me a bit perplexed. These and the official lan driver from gigabyte all gave same result, an error message saying no Intel adapter was found on the system. This leads me to think that either there isnt actually Intel tech, or is requiring some sort of dependency from other drivers and that I might need to manually install these also before the adapter/controller. The only puzzle piece I managed to dig up was in the controller properties mentioning "atheros qualcomm" deep in the logs. Either way still a no go and of course gigabyte support is about as helpful as any other support for non business people

 

[erik.berggren80]

After a lot of mailing around i finally got the information i think i needed to solve this issue, not sure if im able to but will give it a try.

The Gigabyte support gave me this piece of info:
"The LAN chip on this board is Intel 82579V. "

A google session later i came up with This Article

The question is if that articles info is still valid or if it has changed. I will of course give it a try after i tested a few more of the possible drivers suggested by the support, although have my dubts about those.
Any other bidders on a solution meanwhile?

 

[erik.berggren80]

Update to last post IT WORKS 😀

Although i thought it was a long shot at best, it actually worked like a charm. The instructions where a bit vague in a few places but once i understood the instructions it was easily done and it just started working.
And to think all of these problems just because Intel/Gigabyte turned off a feature because they cant guarantee a 100% compability. Oh well, resolved and done. Thank you for the help along the way