Windows 10: Manually uninstalling network adapter results in no boot

Hi. I have an Acer Aspire E 15 laptop that was not connecting to any Wi-Fi networks. I tried some previous steps I had taken in the past to no avail, then used my phone to search for some solutions which led me to the suggestion to uninstall my network adapter.


I believe that this is where I made a mistake. I uninstalled a Qualcomm adapter, which I believe was the correct one. I also have installed a Virtual Machine application called Virtual Box that had some adapters listed there - figured I'd uninstall those as well since the diagnostic report while trying to connect to the wi-fi had those listed. I also uninstalled another item listed under network adapters - I can't remember exactly what it was. Perhaps that was my problem? Regardless, my understanding was that Windows would re-install any adapter that was missing on a system restart.


However, now my laptop won't boot. It loads to the "Acer" screen with the rotating icon and now brings me to "Automatic Repair." I've tried restarting again, "continue" to windows 10 and running diagnostics on my system startup but none has worked - it still seems to get stuck on the boot screen for ~20+ minutes.


Does anyone have any suggestions or could offer any help? I understand a system reset may be in order here - but if there's a possible solution without doing that then I'd be interested.


Any help is greatly appreciated.


-botanrice

:)

 

network adapters

Hi, Michael.



Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

As per my understanding, you may be facing an issue with your driver updates.

I suggest that you perform the steps mentioned below and check if it helps you resolve your issue.



Method 1: Network troubleshooting

• • • On the search bar type “Troubleshooting”
    • Click on “Network and Internet”
    • Click on “Network Adapter” and run the troubleshooter.

Method 2: Download and install the latest firmware updates for the Network adapter

Follow these steps to un-install the drivers:

• On the search bar type “ Device Manager”
• On the left pane locate “Network Adapter” and expand by clicking on it
• Right on the “ Network driver” option and click “Uninstall’
• Download the latest Wireless network adapter driver setup file from the manufacturer’s website and install it.

Your reply is very important for us to ensure a proper resolution. Please get back to us with the above information in order to assist you accordingly.

For further assistance, you can post your query in Microsoft Community

 

Windows 10 - Cannot connect to WiFi. How to uninstall network adapter driver?

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

I suggest you to follow the steps below and check if it helps.

• Right click on Windows icon on the taskbar.
• Select Control panel.
• Click on network and sharing center.
• At the left top corner click on Change adapter settings.
• There you will be able to see the Driver name of the network Adapter next to the Icon.
  
• Then you can go to device manager and check for that network adapter and you can uninstall the driver.

Keep us posted on this issue so that we can assist you better.

 

Microsoft Network Hosted Virtual Adapter Driver uninstalled


The other day I went to start up my VPN Virtual AP for my Chromecast and iPad to connect to via my Windows 10 Machine using the following commands (have done this several times before and it has worked fine):
netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=NETWORKNAME key=PASSWORD
netsh wlan start hostednetwork
But to my nasty surprise, I was responded with:
The hosted network couldn’t be started.
The group or resource is not in the correct state to perform the requested operation.
Now I've looked everywhere online for a solution to my problem here. The underlying issue appears to be that my Microsoft Network Hosted Virtual Adapter Driver is missing in Device Manager (when showing hidden drivers). This appears to be a result of an update to my WLAN Adapter (Will list spec at end). Here are the following things I have tried:

1. Looked for Microsoft Network Hosted Virtual Adapter Driver in Device Manager as a Hidden device - Not there.
2. Disabled WLAN Adapter and Enabled to refresh drivers
3. Scanned for Hardware changed in DM
4. Tried rolling back WLAN Adapter to oldest version - 09/2015
5. Updated WLAN Adapter to latest version - 23/08/2016
6. Searched the Lenovo website for their default WLAN Adapter driver, downloaded and installed - but was the same one I had as my updated version
7. Looked for older editions of the adapter, but they either installed but didn't have the Network Hosted Virtual Adapter, or weren't compatible with my machine.
8. Restarted my machine after every change made to the network adapters
9. Uninstalled LAN Adapter and reinstalled.

What I've read is that some of the new WLAN Adapters have stopped including the Network Hosted Virtual Adapter in their installation package. Not sure how true this is but it would explain the sudden uninstallation of it.
I think that's pretty much everything. Any help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.
Machine Model: Lenovo 100-15IBD
WLAN Network Driver: Realtek PCI-E Wireless LAN Driver version 2023.37.0616.2016