Windows 10: Uninstall hidden “Network Adapters” from Device Manager using PowerShell script

Steps:

1. Open Device Manager from Control Panel
2. Select “Show hidden devices” from View menu
3. Expand “Network adapters”
4. Find hidden adapters

Manually these hidden adapters can be uninstall by below steps

1. Right click on hidden adapter
2. Click on uninstall.
3. Click on Ok button.

How to uninstall these adapters using PowerShell script?

$Devs = Get-PnpDevice -Class net |
? Status -eq Unknown |
Select FriendlyName, InstanceId

foreach ($Dev in $Devs) {
Write-Host "Removing $($Dev.FriendlyName)" -ForegroundColor Cyan
$RemoveKey = "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\$($Dev.InstanceId)"
Get-Item $RemoveKey |
Select-Object -ExpandProperty Property |
%{ Remove-ItemProperty -Path $RemoveKey -Name $_ -Verbose }
}
Write-Host "Done. Please restart!" -ForegroundColor Green

I have Administrator access still, this code throws error - Remove-ItemProperty : Requested registry access is not allowed.

:)

 

Wireless adapter not found in Device Manager

I ran the Lenovo Solution Center. Network Adapter was not listed in the hardware scanned. Not sure if there is a separate listing for that normally or not.

Ever since I ran a power cycle the adapter has not appeared in the Device Manager.

Does anyone believe removing the adapter and putting it back would solve the issue? I would rather not open my computer if there is little chance of it solving the issue. I am a complete novice doing this.

Not sure if this is relevant but in my Network Adapter in Device Manager there was "Microsoft Kernel Debug Network Adapter". It has since disappeared.

 

Wireless adapter not found in Device Manager

Thank you for the help.

Ok. I was able to uninstall the Intel driver and uninstall the Lenovo Driver. Still not working.

I feel I should give a brief but full progression of the issue. It is a little bizarre.

• Initially in the network connection icon in the Windows taskbar there was a red X. In Device Manager on the icon for the adapter there was an exclamation point. What is weird is in Network and Internet Settings t the adapter was not there. Usually if it appears in Device Manager it also appears in the Network and Internet Settings in the same manner as in Device Manager. It might be a clue as to what is going on.

• After the Power Cycle there was a change in Device Manager. This seems bizarre. Initially the adapter did not appear. Then I selected "Show Hidden Devices" and it appeared but was dimmed. Then I am not sure how but it disappeared and another adapter showed. I do not remember the full name of the adapter. It was "Microsoft ______ Adapter". Then that disappeared. I do not recall the middle word but think it began with T. It is a word I have never seen. I believe it was something like "Targon".

Even though the Troubleshooter indicated it was a hardware issue I still believe it is a Windows issue.

 

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