Enable the Intel 82579V NIC in Windows Server 2012

After installing Windows Server 2012 on my homebrew server, the onboard Intel 82579V Gigabit NIC on the Asus P9X79 motherboard was not working. On the Asus site I found Windows 8 Intel drivers for the motherboard. After installing the drivers the NIC was still not working. To get the  Intel 82579V NIC working in Windows Server 2012, I used the this forum thread as reference for this blog post.

Here are the steps:

  • To be able to modify the drivers you need to run the the following commands: 
bcdedit -set loadoptions DISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS 
bcdedit -set TESTSIGNING ON

  • Reboot
  • Download the Intel drivers. In my case I used the Intel drivers Asus has available for the Asus P9X79 motherboard
  • Save them to a map and extract them if needed
  • Open the folder PRO1000
  • Open the folder Winx64
  • Open the folder NDIS63
  • Open the e1c63x64.inf file, I used Notepad++  to edit the file
  • In the [ControlFlags] section delete the 3 lines (1)
  • Select and copy the five %E1503 lines (2)
  • Paste the 5 lines in the [Intel.NTamd64.6.2] section below the %1502NC lines

image

  • After the modifications the e1c63x64.inf file must look like this:

image

  • Save the file
  • Install the Intel drivers

image

  • After the installation the Intel 82579V Gigabit NIC is recognized and enabled

image

  • Enable the driver integrity checks and disable test signing again by using the following commands:

 

bcdedit -set loadoptions ENABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
bcdedit -set TESTSIGNING OFF
  • Reboot

 

Now you can use the Intel 82579V Gigabit NIC  in Windows Server 2012.

Related posts:

  1. Intel X79 whitebox for vSphere 5 and Hyper-V 3
  2. Install Windows Server 2012 in VMware Workstation
  3. Nest Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V in VMware ESXi 5
  4. Enable Windows Server 8 Hyper-V in VMware Workstation
  5. Windows Server 2012 PowerShell Cmdlets for Hyper-V help

97 thoughts on “Enable the Intel 82579V NIC in Windows Server 2012”

  1. Hi, Thanks for these helpful articles,
    Can you tell me in windows server 2012 hyper-v how to map a Physical NIC(pnic) to a virtual NIC(vnic) , is there any way or powershell commands to find this?

  2. Thank you! I used this as a template to edit the WIN64 ini for server 2008 R2. Have you found a way to edit the driver for the Bluetooth ASUS BT GO? That is the last thing showing as “unknown” in the device manager. I was going to use server 2012 but the gui interface looked so much like windows 8 it scared me off.
    thanks again!!!

  5. Ivo, thanks for you post. After struggling with a solution for over a week I found you post. Worked perfectly. Very much appreciated!!

  8. Pingback: OS Installation and Using A Server OS With A Workstation Motherboard | MyCloud

  11. Re: Windows Server 2012 R2 (Datacenter Preview) – Your instructions nearly worked for me, but a few changes were needed

    comment out the catalog so that you don’t get a hash fail flag
    and
    right click on the e1c63x64.inf file and select install instead of using the Intel installation program.

    I used the drivers from the following site: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=21694

    Thanks SO MUCH for your blog and help!!!

  12. Hi,

    Thank you so much. I actually stumbled upon this site as i was looking for a way to disable driver integrity checks in Server 2012 to get my 3rd NIC installed (Motherboard NIC). Low and behold you also have a walkthrough for creating the drivers as well.

    Bookmarked and printed out.

    bcdedit -set loadoptions DISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
    bcdedit -set TESTSIGNING ON

    These two commands saved me from a big headache!

  14. Awesome … I initially forgot to restart … but this worked great for me afterwards. Like a previous poster said, you simply have to right click the inf file and install.

    THANKS AGAIN!!

  16. Thanks a ton! This really helped me out. I’m sure Intel has their reasons to restrict installation only to server platforms, but I really needed this to work on my desktop board and following your instructions made it happen.

  18. Pingback: Win 2012 r2 nic drivers for ASUS P8Z68-v Intel 82579 gig card | System Center Operations Manager 2012

  20. Thank you so much, helped me fix this since I wanted to use nic teaming on my workstation.

    The part about copying parts of the inf was a little confusing, but figured it out after reading it a couple of times over 🙂

  22. Updated info for Server 2012 R2 RTM / GA and the newest Intel NIC Drivers Package (ProWin8_64_18.7). The instructions are effectively correct except for the following changes.

    In the newest drivers you need to navigate to the NDIS64 directory and the .inf file to edit is: e1c64x64.inf.

    Download the Intel Drivers from this link: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=23272&lang=eng&OSVersion=Windows%208.1%2C%2064-bit*&DownloadType=Drivers

    Alternate Intel download link: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=21694

    Extract them from the .exe using 7zip or other similar tool of choice.

    In my case I have an Intel DH67BL motherboard with a 82579v. Once I downloaded the newest drivers and tweaked the new files as I mentioned above then it worked and my installed driver is 12.10.28.0 dated 8/21.2013

  24. Hi all,

    for those about you who have the same problem with WHS 2011, you have to make the same process except that you have to modify not the file present in the folder NDIS63 but the one present in NDIS62 (e1d62x64.inf), it works for me.

    Thanks

  25. Excellent post, I am currently running an Asus P9X79 (not D, WS or any other model). I added an Intel Gigabit CT desktop adapter and it was detected without drivers needed. Windows Server 2012 R2 found it the first time.
    However, the latest driver for the 82579V NIC, the Asus Site driver 21c63x64.inf, where you state to copy the 5 lines containing the E1503 lines, in the current Asus driver, there are only 4 lines, not 5.
    I also downloaded the driver from the Intel site (PROWinx64.exe, 32,339 KB), latest for 2014, it also only has 4 lines of the E1503. I followed all your instructions. Ran bcdedit in an administrative cmd prompt, made the necessary changes (there were only 4 lines of the E1503 to copy). Rebooted 2 times as instructed. No luck. Looks like the .inf file you have is older that the one that is now available on the Asus Site or the Intel site.
    Still comes up as device not found.

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