Duplicate IP on Hidden network card after copying VM guest files to new ESX 4i host
Posted on 12 July 2009
I’ve run into an error a couple times now after moving vm guest files between different esxi hosts. These have been disk to disk moves from a version 3.5 esxi to a esx 4i host. After configuring the vm guest on the new host and upgrading the drivers / hardware I’d notice the machine had a dynamic IP instead of the expected static addresss.
When I tried to set the corret static IP on the Guest I got the following error, “The IP address you have entered for the network adapter is already assigned to another adapter” (see full error below) even though there is no other visible network adapter. Turns out the old AMD PCNet adapter is still installed on the VM but is hidden from view. The new machine is using the e1000 driver for the virtual network. You need to remove the non-present card before you can set the desired static IP. The guests were running Windows 2003 Server RC2.
error message
Solution:
- Open command line
- Set Device Manager to show non-present hardware Set. Type at cmd line: SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
- Start Device Manager. Type at cmd line: START DEVMGMT.MSC
- Device Manager > View > Show Hidden Devices
- Device Manager > Network Adapters > Uninstall greyed out adapter. In my case it was the VMware Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter.
After uninstalling the driver I was able to assign the desired IP and everything was good.
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