Installing and uninstalling the network driver on Windows

If you reinstall Windows or just bought a new computer without an OS, then when you try to connect to the Internet, you will fail - a notification appears about the absence of a network adapter driver. Sometimes there is software, but as a result of a system error stops working.

To install and configure everything, you will need another PC connected to the Internet and a USB flash drive / external hard drive or any other removable media.

Where to download and how to install the software for the network adapter

Usually a set of driver discs is included with the new computer - check that you may have forgotten to install the ones you need. Sometimes overlays occur: the drive does not accept the media or the driver has already become outdated. Do not rush to visit questionable sites in the hope of downloading the drivers there - in order for everything to be established and work correctly, you need to choose reliable sources.

Motherboard manufacturer website

Since the task of any driver is mediation between the hardware and the motherboard, it is advisable to start the search from the manufacturer’s site of the latter.

To find out the name of the company and the necessary characteristics, do the following:

  1. Type in “Search”: “Command line” and right-click on its icon to select Run As Administrator.
  2. In the black box, type: “wmic baseboard get Manufacturer” (without quotes) and click “Inter” - you will see the brand name.
  3. Now write: “wmic baseboard get product” (without quotes) - and the alphanumeric model code will appear.

Information about the model of the installed device

Now you can go to the manufacturer’s website and, in order not to get bogged down in searches, type in the model number in the Search line, which is on any resource containing product catalogs. Open the section dedicated to your variation of mainboard, and click the Support button.

Here you will find the Drivers and utilities subsection. You will be asked to specify the Windows version and system capacity. The latter can be found in the “Control Panel” in the “System” chapter.

The drivers that you offer, ordered by purpose. Find the LAN inscription and download the file. If it is in the archive, then you need to pull it out and copy it to removable media, then connect the USB flash drive to the PC that needs the driver, drag the distribution package to a folder and run it. A simple installation procedure will follow, you just have to wait and click “Finish” at the end.

Adapter Settings Window

Now do the following:

  1. Open "Control Panel" - "Network Control Center".
  2. Click on “Change adapter settings” to make sure that the system now recognizes the network card.

General update programs

Now you will learn how to easily install drivers on a network card, without having special computer skills, and at the same time update other firmware that is critical for the OS.

There are special applications that themselves scan the status of drivers and install updates. The biggest plus of this method is that you don’t need an internet connection, which means you don’t need to search somewhere for a second computer with access to the network.

Run Carambis Cleaner

All such utilities work on the same principle:

  1. You start the program and immediately see the “Scan” or “Check” button.
  2. After clicking starts the system analysis process.
  3. You are given a list of required updates.
  4. Sometimes instead of one software package it finds two or three. How to find out which one is needed: just run the installation, if the update is not suitable, a window will appear with the message: “Could not verify the publisher”. If both do not meet the requirements, read the section on searching by ID.
  5. Choose which drivers you want to update at the moment (all at once, but it will be a long time).
  6. Among the list you will see the network driver, click "Update" and wait for completion.
  7. Since, after installing the update packages, failures and errors are possible, you will be prompted to create an OS recovery point.

Choosing a similar program, you should carefully read the reviews and reviews about it - not very successful versions bizarrely form update-packages, putting them into folders with obscure names that can confuse even an experienced user. Some people find many identical updates, presenting them as different and causing them to suffer doubts, either they offer unsuitable and outdated packages, require constant user intervention or conflict with the antivirus.

Equipment ID

In this case, you will have to independently search for and download updates, but then you will learn how to determine the appropriate driver for the network card if the automatically found ones do not meet the requirements.

  1. Click on the “Computer” icon with the right mouse button.
  2. Select Properties - Equipment - Device Manager - Network Adapter.
  3. Find in the list the name of your Network Adapter, click the additional button of the manipulator, expand Properties - Information.
  4. Here you will see the ID card and you can copy it.
  5. Go to the DevID website and enter the ID in the search field.
  6. After that, the list will be available updates, and they can be downloaded.

The installation in this case is no different from the process described above.

device Manager

Another solution, how to find a suitable driver for a network card:

  1. Open Device Manager again and find the Network Adapter.
  2. By right-clicking the list of options, select the Update Driver command.
  3. The system will find the update package itself, all you have to do is confirm the installation.

This method is simple, but it does not always work, sometimes automatic search does not give results.

Driver Removal

If connection problems become permanent, there is nothing else to do but how to remove the old network card drivers and then install new ones.

This can be done as follows:

  1. Look in the Device Manager for the name of the Network Adapter, then go to the Control Panel - Remove Programs and remove a similar name in this list. This method is suitable when the driver was installed separately.
  2. If the driver was already built into the system, then it should be done differently: the driver for the network card is deleted via the Task Manager Windows 7 or 10. Highlight the Network Adapter name, right-click and select Properties - Driver - Remove.

Remember that removing the driver will turn off the Internet, so you first need to stock up on the distribution of the new, and only then get rid of the old.