Windows 10: Enable or Disable Network Adapters in Windows

How to: Enable or Disable Network Adapters in Windows

How to Enable or Disable Network Adapters in Windows

A network adapter is a computer hardware component that connects a computer to a computer network known as a network connection.

This tutorial will show you different ways to enable or disable a network adapter (NIC) or network connections in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

*Warning You must be signed in as an administrator to enable or disable network adapters.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: Enable or Disable Network Adapter in Network Connections
• Option Two: Enable or Disable Network Adapter in Device Manager
• Option Three: Enable or Disable Network Adapter using Netsh Command
• Option Four: Enable or Disable Network Adapter using WMIC Command
• Option Five: Enable or Disable Network Adapter in PowerShell

OPTION ONE [/i] Enable or Disable Network Adapter in Network Connections
1. Do step 2 (Settings) or step 3 (Control Panel) below for how you would like to open Network Connections.


2. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Network & Internet icon.

*note This step is only available in Windows 10.
A) Click/tap on Status on the left side, click/tap on Change adapter options on the right side, and go to step 4. (see screenshot below)




3. Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Network and Sharing Center icon.
A) Click/tap on the Change adapter settings link on the left side, and go to step 4. (see screenshot below)




4. Do step 5 (disable) or step 6 (enable) below for what you want to do.


5. To Disable a Network Adapter or Network Connection
A) Select the network connection (ex: "Wi-Fi") you want to disable, click/tap on Disable this network device in the toolbar, and go to step 7. (see screenshot below)

OR

B) Right click or press and hold on the network connection (ex: "Wi-Fi") you want to disable, click/tap on Disable, and go to step 7.





6. To Enable a Network Adapter or Network Connection
A) Click/tap on the disabled network connection (ex: "Wi-Fi") you want to enable, and go to step 7. (see screenshot below)

OR

B) Select the disabled network connection (ex: "Wi-Fi") you want to enable, click/tap on Enable this network device in the toolbar, and go to step 7.

OR

C) Right click or press and hold on the disabled network connection (ex: "Wi-Fi") you want to enable, click/tap on Enable, and go to step 7.





7. When finished, you can close Network Connections and Network and Sharing Center if you like.





OPTION TWO [/i] Enable or Disable Network Adapter in Device Manager
1. Open Device Manager.

2. Do step 3 (disable) or step 4 (enable) below for what you want to do.


3. To Disable a Network Adapter
A) Expand open Network adapters, right click or press and hold on the network adapter you want to disable, and click/tap on Disable device. (see screenshot below)



B) Click/tap on Yes to confirm, and go to step 5. (see screenshot below)




4. To Enable a Network Adapter
A) Expand open Network adapters, right click or press and hold on the disabled network adapter you want to enable, click/tap on Enable device, and go to step 5. (see screenshot below)




5. When finished, you can close Device Manager if you like.





OPTION THREE [/i] Enable or Disable Network Adapter using Netsh Command
1. Open an elevated command prompt.

2. Enter the command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. Make note of the Interface Name (ex: "Wi-Fi") for the network adapter you want to enable or disable. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow netsh interface show interface




3. Do step 4 (disable) or step 5 (enable) below for what you want to do.


4. To Disable a Network Adapter
A) Enter the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 6.

*Arrow netsh interface set interface "Interface Name" disable

*note Substitute Interface Name in the command above with the actual Interface Name (ex: "Wi-Fi") from step 2 you want to disable.

For example: netsh interface set interface "Wi-Fi" disable





5. To Enable a Network Adapter
A) Enter the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 6.

*Arrow netsh interface set interface "Interface Name" enable

*note Substitute Interface Name in the command above with the actual Interface Name (ex: "Wi-Fi") from step 2 you want to enable.

For example: netsh interface set interface "Wi-Fi" enable





6. When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt if you like.





OPTION FOUR [/i] Enable or Disable Network Adapter using WMIC Command
1. Open an elevated command prompt.

2. Enter the command below into the elevated command prompt, and press Enter. Make note of the Index number (ex: 1) for the network adapter you want to enable or disable. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow wmic nic get name, index




3. Do step 4 (disable) or step 5 (enable) below for what you want to do.


4. To Disable a Network Adapter
A) Enter the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 6.

*Arrow wmic path win32_networkadapter where index=Index number call disable

*note Substitute Index number in the command above with the actual Index number (ex: 1) from step 2 of the network adapter you want to disable.

For example: wmic path win32_networkadapter where index=1 call disable





5. To Enable a Network Adapter
A) Enter the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 6.

*Arrow wmic path win32_networkadapter where index=Index number call enable

*note Substitute Index number in the command above with the actual Index number (ex: 1) from step 2 of the network adapter you want to enable.

For example: wmic path win32_networkadapter where index=1 call enable





6. When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt if you like.





OPTION FIVE [/i] Enable or Disable Network Adapter in PowerShell

*note This option is only available in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.
1. Open an elevated PowerShell.

2. Enter the command below into the elevated Powershell, and press Enter. Make note of the network adapter Name (ex: "Wi-Fi") you want to enable or disable. (see screenshot below)

*note To see more usage options for the Get-NetAdapter command, see: Get-NetAdapter | Microsoft Docs
*Arrow Get-NetAdapter | format-list




3. Do step 4 (disable) or step 5 (enable) below for what you want to do.


4. To Disable a Network Adapter

*note To see more usage options for the Disable-NetAdapter command, see: Disable-NetAdapter | Microsoft Docs
A) Enter the command below into the elevated Powershell, press Enter, and go to step 6.

*Arrow Disable-NetAdapter -Name "network adapter name" -Confirm:$false

*note Substitute network adapter name in the command above with the actual network adapter Name (ex: "Wi-Fi") from step 2 you want to disable.

For example: Disable-NetAdapter -Name "Wi-Fi" -Confirm:$false





5. To Enable a Network Adapter

*note To see more usage options for the Enable-NetAdapter command, see: Enable-NetAdapter | Microsoft Docs
A) Enter the command below into the elevated Powershell, press Enter, and go to step 6.

*Arrow Enable-NetAdapter -Name "network adapter name" -Confirm:$false

*note Substitute network adapter name in the command above with the actual network adapter Name (ex: "Wi-Fi") from step 2 you want to enable.

For example: Enable-NetAdapter -Name "Wi-Fi" -Confirm:$false





6. When finished, you can close the elevated Powershell if you like.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Change Network Adapter Connection Priorities in Windows 10
• How to Cleanup and Reset Network Adapters in Windows 10
• How to See Network Adapter Speed in Windows 10
• How to Rename a Network Adapter in Windows
• How to Create Network Connections Shortcut in Windows 10

:)

 

No Internet access but connected

If I recall correctly this can be fixed by disable then re-enable network adapter you are using in device manager . right click start(windows logo)select device manager>expand network adapters and find one you are using > right click one you are using
> disable > re-enable

 

Windows 10 : Entire LAN slowed when enabling wireless devices on one desktop machine

I have a Uverse DSL gateway connection from my house to the internet. Multiple devices are connected on my LAN to the gateway both through ethernet and wifi connections. The IP addresses for the network are all allocated from the Uverse gateway. I use
ookla speed test to test connection speed.

I have a Windows 10 desktop machine which has both ethernet and wifi adapters built in. If I boot up this machine with the ethernet adapter enabled and the wifi adapter disabled via the device manager, the network connection speed is the max expected, download
20 Mbps. I confirm this both from the Windows 10 desktop and other devices connected to the network. As soon as I enable the wireless adapter on the problematic Windows 10 desktop machine, the entire network speed slows to 3-5 Mbps. By that I mean both
the problem desktop and any other device on the network now produce download speed test results of 3-5 Mbps.

To resolve the problem, I must either disable all network adapters on this problematic Windows 10 desktop (disable both the ethernet and wifi adapters in device manager) and re-enable only the ethernet adapter, or reboot with only the ethernet adapter enabled.
Only disabling the wifi adapter on this desktop does not resolve the problem, meaning even with only the ethernet connection enabled on this windows 10 desktop, the entire network performance is still degraded to 3-5 Mbps. The desktop and all devices on
the network produce speed test results of 3-5 Mbps download speed. I have an external USB wifi network adapter than exhibits the same behavior when enabled on this desktop machine, so it does not appear be one specific wifi adapter.

It seems like some network component or service is getting enabled when I start a wireless device on this desktop, that degrades network performance for all devices thereafter, until I disable all network devices on the desktop. I'm really at a loss how
to debug this beyond this point. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Hello Aleks, *Smile

The -Confirm:$false part of the command in Option Five is to not have to confirm y/n to disable the network adapter.

You could use -Confirm:$true instead to have it prompt for confirmation. It will also prompt for confirmation by default if -Confirm:$false or -Confirm:$true is not included in the command.