How to get LACP teaming and VLANs working again after Windows 10 version 1511 upgrade?

Question

I have Intel PRO/1000 PT dual port gigabit adapter. I installed Windows 7 drivers in my Windows 10 computer, and they were working fine, both LACP and multiple VLANs were working properly.

Now, my Windows 10 computer was "upgraded" to Windows 10 version 1511 today, and Intel network adapter driver was replaced by the generic Microsoft driver. Naturally I've lost both LACP and VLANs support. I tried re-installing the Intel drivers as downloaded from Intel web site, but received the following message:

There is an issue with Microsoft windows 10 that prevents the Intel Advanced Network Services feature from working correctly. You may install the feature, although you will be unable to create Intel ANS Teams and VLANs.

This is quite infuriating, since I need both teaming and VLANs, know that they worked OK in Windows 10 before this upgrade, and I cannot uninstall the Windows 10 version 1511 update.

Is there anything I can do to get both LACP teaming and VLANs working again?

Solution

Intel says that base drivers without VLAN are included with Windows. For VLAN it says :

If you don't care about bandwidth and feel adventurous, you could download the Intel Ethernet Connections CD (2.3GB) which contains all of the Intel Ethernet network drivers and software, dating to October 2015.

More practical would be to download the Intel Driver Update Utility which analyzes all Intel system drivers on your computer and could find out if a newer driver is released by Intel in the future. Keep on scanning periodically your computer, in the hope that Intel will release a new driver.

Keep also an eye on Windows Update. Drivers are included in the Optional section, so are are not automatically suggested and rather need manual installation. From the above table, it seems that Intel has abandoned this card, currently only supported by the Windows generic driver, so this is probably your best hope.

If the above does not resolve the problem to your satisfaction, and if you are not willing to wait for Intel or Microsoft to solve this Windows 10 compatibility problem (if ever), the only immediate solution I can see is downgrading back to Windows 7.

Downgrading back to Windows 7 is only easy if you have kept the Windows.old folder from when you upgraded to Windows 10 (see this answer), otherwise a reinstall is required.

Comments

[Ron Maupin]

I think you are going to need to hound Intel to update its driver to work with Windows 10, or hound Microsoft to update its driver to do teaming and VLANs.

[haimg]

@RonMaupin: my point is, it all worked OK in windows 10 before this update, and I have a feeling it's an artificial limitation, e.g. a plot to force users to upgrade to Windows server or whatever. So maybe there is some kind of a workaround?

[Ron Maupin]

Those were Windows 7 drivers, and were never guaranteed to work with Windows 10, and they no longer work with Windows 10. Just because your Windows 7 drivers worked with a previous version of Windows 10 doesn't mean they will work with every version of Windows 10. You either need Intel drivers for Windows 10 with those features (did you look?), or you need Microsoft Windows 10 drivers with those features.

[Ron Maupin]

I just looked, and Intel has a support site which can automatically update your drivers. I don't have your board or Windows 10 on this machine, so I can't validate what you will get. Just go to the support site on intel.com

[haimg]

There are no drivers for Windows 10 for Pro/100pt. I wish it was that easy.

[Ron Maupin]

Then you are back to my original suggestion to bug the vendors, and keep bugging them. At some point, Intel is going to need to support Windows 10, but it may not do so for an existing product (a marketing strategy to sell new products). You could also look for another vendor with a product which will satisfy your needs.

[Vinayak]

Any chance you have a backup copy of the drivers that worked before the upgrade?

[Vinayak]

Are you able to install Intel drivers or are you forced to use the Microsoft driver?

[haimg]

@Vinayak: I can install Intel's driver for windows 7, but unfortunately it gives the Windows-10-specific error message I quoted in my question. I don't have the older driver I used, and I don't know its version, unfortunately.

[Vinayak]

@haimg I can't say with certainty that this will work, but you can try hacking the older Windows 7 driver (or the newer driver that won't install) to add the hardware ID of your NIC in the driver configuration INF file and use the modified INF to install the driver and see if that works. You'll have to run Windows in test mode though. The process is explained quite well in Stephen Owen's blog post

[haimg]

It all worked perfectly well in Windows 10 prior to 1511 update, so Intel flat out lies in that table... I appreciate your efforts but frankly "downgrade to Windows 7 or wait for an updated driver" is not an answer I was looking for.

[harrymc]

My logic is: The 1511 update changed something. It is most probably a Windows bug, but we have no information. Intel is for now not providing software for this card, but maybe will in the future. The only proactive actions you can do are: (1) get in touch with Microsoft and Intel Support, or (2) avoid the 1511 update - which is not possible in Windows 10. Given that logic, there is no other advice I can see. Or maybe someone will answer here who already got a useful answer from Microsoft, but the chances for that are really really slim.

[harrymc]

Actually here is the official answer from Intel from November 2015 : "In this case we may suggest you to contact Microsoft support to check if they have another solution available since their update was taking that feature away from us Intel, this feature will not be supported on your operating system".

[harrymc]

But see also this Intel update : Network Adapter Driver for Windows 10, which you might try to see if it can install. Create first at least a system recovery point, just in case. It seems like Intel is working on the problem, but I don't know if this download applies to your card. I note that the release date for the above is exactly the same as that of the CD I linked-to above, so if bandwidth is not a factor, it might be worthwhile to have a look, although unfortunately this predates the 1511 release.

[haimg]

thanks, that last comment of yours gives me some hope: the driver is not for my card but for much newer cards, but ANS support in windows 10 was pulled there too... Hopefully they will fix it as they promise, and in my card as well.

[harrymc]

Microsoft or Intel are sure to fix this problem, since it concerns too big a public. I believe that the only question is when. You will have to keep on checking for updates from them both, as in my answer. I wish to correct what I said about Windows using generic drivers - it seems that the Windows drivers are after all supplied by Intel.