Have you see the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter on your laptop and wondered what it was? Want to know how it got there or what to do with it? Do you need the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter? Want to know how remove the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter from your device? By the end of this tutorial you will know the answers to all those questions and more!
- Microsoft Virtual Wifi Miniport Adapter Windows 7 64 Bit
- Windows 7 Microsoft Virtual Wifi Miniport Adapter Not Connected
- Windows Virtual Wifi Miniport Adapter Driver
- Windows Virtual Wifi Miniport Adapter
Also see our article How To Speed Up Windows 10 – The Ultimate Guide
You will likely see the adapter when checking out Network Connections in Windows. It may show up as Wireless Network Connection 2 and be labeled Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter underneath. It will likely not be connected, or shouldn’t be anyway. So what is it and why is it there?
What is the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter
Mar 29, 2019 The Microsoft Virtual Wifi Adapter allows you to create a WiFi hotspot from your PC. It is basically a software service that facilitates the creation of the hotspot. Dec 15, 2010 Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter Firestrider, YOU MUST HAVE SET UP A WIRELESS AD HOC. IT'S KIND OF VIRTUAL WIRELESS NETWORK, WHICH HELPS YOU TO CONNECT WITH ANOTHER WIRELESS ENABLED LAPTOP. Microsoft virtual wi-fi Miniport adapter is the latest addition to Windows operating system which virtualizes your network adapter and converts one physical wireless adapter into two or more virtual adapter. The first one can be used as a normal wireless network adapter (to connect the PC to a network) when the second virtual wi-fi adapter can be used to connect to another ad-hoc network or to create a wi-fi. Aug 02, 2016 How to Enable Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter! Open CMD Run As administrator Just copy and past under link and press enter netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow If your virtual adapter. 36 rows Microsoft Virtual Wifi Miniport Adapter Driver for Windows 7 32 bit, Windows 7 64 bit.
The Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter has been around since Windows 7 and features on laptops and mobile devices with WiFi cards. It is a virtual adapter that allows Windows to split a network in two, either to act as a wireless bridge or WiFi hotspot. These are useful if you need to extend a wireless connection or provide WiFi for other devices but does come with a performance overhead.
For example, if you connect your laptop to your only Ethernet port, you can make your laptop a wireless hotspot for other devices to connect to in order to gain internet access. As a network card can only connect to a single network at a time, Microsoft introduced the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter to overcome that limitation.
It uses virtualization to allow the network card to appear as two separate ones. In the laptop example above, the physical card will connect to your Ethernet network to provide a primary connection. The Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter will simulate another connection which would provide the hotspot or bridge for other devices to connect to. It is a useful feature in some circumstances but if you don’t use it, it is best to disable it.
Leaving Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter enabled can slow down your primary wireless connection. It likely comes with a small performance and battery overhead too but these will likely be very small.
Do I need the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter?
Unless you use your computer as a WiFi hotspot or as a bridge for other devices, you do not need the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter. It is a great idea by Microsoft but is only useful in certain situations. As there is a network overhead involved with having the adapter running, you may receive a marginal network performance gain from disabling it.
If you already have a wireless network and you don’t envision using your laptop or device as a wireless access point then you are unlikely to need the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter running.
How to disable the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter
If you’re sure you won’t need the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter, it takes less than a minute to disable the hosted network it provides and to remove the device. As it’s virtual, disabling is just a configuration change.
You can either turn off the adapter or remove the driver to make the change permanent. Turning off gives you the opportunity to use it at a later time if you think you might need it.
To turn off the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter
- Open a command line window as an administrator.
- Type ‘netsh wlan stop hostednetwork’ and hit Enter. This turns off the hosted network.
- Type ‘netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=disallow’ and hit Enter. This stops Windows from restarting the hosted network.
Microsoft Virtual Wifi Miniport Adapter Windows 7 64 Bit
This alone is enough to disable the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter. It will no longer appear in your Network Connections and will no longer take up any of your network.
Windows 7 Microsoft Virtual Wifi Miniport Adapter Not Connected
To remove the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter completely:
- Open a command line window as an administrator.
- Type ‘net start VirtualWiFiService’ and hit Enter.
- Open Control Panel and Network and Sharing Center.
- Right click the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter and select Properties.
- Select Uninstall from the popup window and follow the wizard.
- Type ‘net stop VirtualWiFiService’ and hit Enter.
- Type ‘VirtualWiFiSvc.exe -remove’ and hit Enter.
Windows Virtual Wifi Miniport Adapter Driver
This process enables the service so we can remove the driver and device and then disables and then removes the executable so it cannot run again. This is more relevant if you know you won’t need the Microsoft virtual WiFi miniport adapter on your device. If you change your mind at a later date, you can always download the driver again directly from Microsoft or from your device vendor’s website.
Scan performed on 4/26/2017, Computer: HP ES116AA-B14 m7480.be - Windows 7 64 bit
Outdated or Corrupted drivers:8/21
Windows Virtual Wifi Miniport Adapter
Device/Driver | Status | Status Description | Updated By Scanner |
Motherboards | |||
Intel Standard PCI-zu-USB universeller Hostcontroller | Up To Date and Functioning | ||
Mice And Touchpads | |||
ELAN ELAN PS/2 Port Input Device | Corrupted By Microsoft Virtual Wifi Miniport Adapter | ||
Usb Devices | |||
Microsoft NEC PCI-zu-USB Open Host-Controller | Up To Date and Functioning | ||
Hewlett-Packard Officejet Pro 8500 A909a (DOT4USB) | Up To Date and Functioning | ||
HTC PTAB7200 | Corrupted By Microsoft Virtual Wifi Miniport Adapter | ||
Sound Cards And Media Devices | |||
Pixela Sony Digital TV Tuner | Up To Date and Functioning | ||
ViXS ViXS PureTV-U ISDB-T Tuner | Up To Date and Functioning | ||
Realtek Audioapparaat op de bus voor High Definition Audio | Corrupted By Microsoft Virtual Wifi Miniport Adapter | ||
Network Cards | |||
Intel(R) PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter | Up To Date and Functioning | ||
Keyboards | |||
Microsoft Keyboard Device Filter | Up To Date and Functioning | ||
Hard Disk Controller | |||
NVIDIA NVIDIA NForce MCP2 IDE Controller | Outdated | ||
Others | |||
ULi Intel(R) 82801DB/DBM USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller - 24CD | Up To Date and Functioning | ||
AuthenTec Biometric Coprocessor | Outdated | ||
Microsoft HID-compliant device | Outdated | ||
Unibrain OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller | Up To Date and Functioning | ||
Cameras, Webcams And Scanners | |||
USB2.0 PC CAMERA Periferica video USB | Up To Date and Functioning | ||
Video Cards | |||
ATI ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600/9700 Series | Up To Date and Functioning | ||
Input Devices | |||
Microsoft HID-compliant system control device | Up To Date and Functioning | ||
Port Devices | |||
Huawei Vodafone Mobile Broadband Secondary Port Modem (Huawei) (COM28) | Outdated | ||
Monitors | |||
Sony Digital Flat Panel (1024x768) | Up To Date and Functioning | ||
Mobile Phones And Portable Devices | |||
Acer NOKIA | Corrupted By Microsoft Virtual Wifi Miniport Adapter |