IP address already assigned to another adapter

Networking Error: IP address already assigned to another adapter


Issue:

Under certain conditions, you may see this error message from a Windows guest operating system:

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:

In the above message, XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is an IP address that you are trying to set and Name of adapter is the name of a network adapter that is present in the registry but hidden in Device Manager.

This can occur when you change a network connection's TCP/IP configuration from DHCP to a static IP address,
if:
  • You have upgraded VMware virtual network adapters (for example when you migrate a virtual machine from an older to a new version of VMware software.)
  • You have added and removed network adapters multiple times.

Resolution:
The cause of the error is that a network adapter with the same IP address is in the Windows registry but is hidden in the Device Manager (My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager). This hidden adapter is called a ghosted network adapter.
Using the Show hidden devices option in the Device Manager (View > Show hidden devices) does not always show the old virtual NIC (ghosted adapter) to which that IP Address is assigned
To resolve this problem, follow these steps to make the ghosted network adapter visible in the Device Manager and uninstall the ghosted network adapter from the registry:
  1. Select Start > Run, type cmd.exe, and press Enter.
  2. At the command prompt, run this command:set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
    3.  
  3. Enter start devmgmt.msc and press Enter to start Device Manager.
           Select View > Show Hidden Devices.
     4.  Expand the Network Adapters tree (select the plus sign next to the Network adapter’s entry).
     5.  Right-click the dimmed network adapter and then click Uninstall.
     6.  Close Device Manager.
Another method

Use the DevCon utility. This is a command-line utility that acts as an alternative to Device Manager. When you use DevCon, you can enable utility disable, restart, update, remove, and query individual devices or groups of devices.

To use DevCon:
  1. Download the DevCon tool from Microsoft Knowledge Base article 311272.
  2. Unpack the 32 bit or 64 bit DevCon tool binary to a local folder.
  3. Click Start > Run, type cmd, and press Enter.
  4. Navigate to the path where the binary 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 PCI\.
  6. Run this command to remove the adapter:
    devcon remove @device\name
    For example, devcon remove "@PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_104A&SUBSYS_2800103C&REV_02\3&B1BFB68&0&C8 " .
     
    Note: IDs that include an ampersand character (&) must be enclosed in quotation marks as seen in the example.
     
  7. Reboot the system and you no longer see the ghost network adapters.
If you didn’t get the Device Instance ID or OCI name from devcon. Search for the adapter name in the registry.  Then copy the Device Instance ID for the concerned adapter.  Once you locate the device use the command from Step 6 above.

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