How to Remove a Network Adapter in Windows 10 and Windows 11

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This tip is about the how to Remove a Network Adapter in Windows 10 and Windows 11. So read this free guide, How to Remove a Network Adapter in Windows 10 and Windows 11. If you have query related to same article you may contact us.

How to Remove a Network Adapter in Windows 10 and Windows 11 – Guide

Learn how to remove an old network adapter entry from your Windows 10 or Windows 11 network connections.

Windows automatically keeps its list of network adapters up to date. Whenever you install a new one, whether it’s a new Bluetooth connection, a new Wi-Fi dongle or a virtual network adapter, you’ll find it listed under Network connections. From time to time, you might want to remove an old network adapter from the list, to keep it organized and help keep track of your active adapters.

So keep reading to learn how to remove a network adapter from Windows 10 and Windows 11.

What is a network adapter?

A network adapter is a piece of hardware that allows your computer to communicate with different devices. For example, in your laptop, you probably have a wireless network adapter to allow Wi-Fi connections and perhaps an Ethernet port to allow Ethernet connections. You may also have a Bluetooth network adapter to allow Bluetooth connections and so on.

Network adapters make it easy for our devices to communicate, largely automating the process of configuring and managing active network connections between devices, but also making it easy to troubleshoot when something goes wrong.

Although not in this article, you may also see network adapters called a Network Interface Card (NIC), but they usually refer to an expansion card connected to a system, such as a PCIe Wi-Fi card.

1. Remove the network adapter from the network connections

The first way to remove a Windows network adapter is through Network Connections. In this window you will find all your network connections and it is a handy way to manage your network adapters.

Open File Explorer.

Copy and paste Control Panel Network and Internet Network Connections into the File Explorer address bar and press Enter.

Right-click the network adapter you want to remove and select Delete.

The network adapter will be uninstalled and you have removed it from the system. However, as you may have noticed in the screenshot, the Delete button button is not always accessible. If you find the network adapter, delete button grayed out, go to the next section.

2. Remove the network adapter using device manager

Next up, you can try to remove the network adapter using Device Manager. Device Manager is a Windows utility that allows you to see all the devices connected to your machine, be it a mouse, keyboard, graphics card or network adapter.

Enter Device Manager in the Start menu search bar and select Best Match.

Scroll down and unroll the network adapters using the arrow icon.

Right-click the network adapter you want to remove and select Uninstall Device.

When the prompt appears, select Uninstall.

Repeat as needed.

3. Remove the network profile using the command prompt

If the network adapter still refuses to move, you can take another step and remove the network adapter profile from your system using the command prompt.

Enter cmd in the Start menu search bar and select Run as administrator.

Now, if you are trying to remove an Ethernet (wired) connection, enter: netsh lan show profiles

But if you are trying to remove a Wi-Fi (wireless) connection, enter: netsh wlan show profiles

Did you get a warning that the wired or wireless Autoconfig service is not working? In the Start menu search bar, type services and select Best Match, scroll down to find Wired AutoConfig or WLAN Autoconfig, right click and select Start.

If you received the warning message, you must now enter the previous commands from step two or three.

Find the network adapter you want to remove from the list and note the interface name found at the top of each profile.

Then enter the following command to remove a wired network adapter interface: netsh lan delete profile interface = ”InterfaceName”

Or enter the following command to remove an interface from the wireless network adapter: netsh wlan delete profile interface = ”InterfaceName”

Now that you have removed the network adapter profile from Windows, you should find that you can remove the network adapter from the Network Connections window or Device Manager.

4. Remove network adapter settings using Windows registry

Another option is to remove network adapter settings using the Windows registry. But first you need to check the details of the adapter you want to remove.

Open the command prompt and enter ipconfig. Find the network adapter you want to remove, note the IPv4 address, and keep the Command Prompt window open.

Now enter regedit in the Start menu search bar and select Best Match.

Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Services Tcpip Parameters Interfaces.

Browse through the list of interfaces, comparing the DhcpIPAddress interface to the IPv4 address at the command prompt. When you found a match, you found the matching network adapter.

Right-click the network adapter interface name (the long alphanumeric string) in the Windows Registry and select Delete.

Like the command prompt fix, this does not completely remove the network adapter from the system. You will still have to finish removing the network adapter through the Network Connections window or Device Manager.

Final note

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