Unable to bind hyper-v virtual switch to ethernet adapter

Question

I'm having trouble creating a virtual switch for a virtual machine I have in hyper-v. I had a virtual ethernet switch set up and connected to the machine before, after deleting this at some point, I now cannot create one again.

Within hyper-v the error is:

After researching the problem, this appears to be related to the 'Hyper-V Virtual Extensible Switch' item not being checked in the ethernet adapters properties.

Trying to enable this in the GUI isn't possible, as after checking the item then clicking on OK the message is "Your current selection will also disable the following features: Hyper-V Extensible Virtual Switch", like here: https://www.tenforums.com/virtualization/31369-cant-enable-hyper-v-extensible-virtual-switch-networking.html

Within powershell when trying to enable this the error is

PS C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0> Set-VMSwitch Internet -NetAdapterName "Ethernet"
Set-VMSwitch : Hyper-V was unable to find a virtual switch with name "Internet". At line:1 char:1

Set-VMSwitch Internet -NetAdapterName "Ethernet" + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (:) [Set-VMSwitch], VirtualizationException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ObjectNotFound,Microsoft.HyperV.PowerShell.Commands.SetVMSwitch

Using the following command with a microsft uitilty called nvspbind:

nvspbind.exe" /b "Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller"

the result is:

applying changes... cleaning up...releasing write lock...success finished (0)

But inspection afterwards using the properties GUI, powershell and nsvpbind reveals that the virtual switch is in not binded (all list as not binded).

Any ideas?

Specs: Windows 10 64 bit.

Answer 1

If by a small chance you arrive here because you turned off Hyper-V Services on a windows OS for some reason, and then got this error when you tried to turn Hyper-V services back on, then the below should fix it:

Go to the Network Adapters and find the adapter for your physical network card. In properties, unselect the flag 'Hyper-V Extensible Virtual Switch', restart.

Answer 2

With Get-NetAdapter you can get a list of your physically network adapters.

Here the documentation of Set-VMSwitch.

Call this as admin in a Powershell Window:

Set-VMSwitch -Name "My New vSwitch" -NetAdapterName "Ethernet" -SwitchType "External"

My New vSwitch --> Name of new virtual Switch
Ethernet --> Name of Adapter (LAN, WLAN) from the output of Get-NetAdapter
External --> Switch Type, could be internal, external or private

Answer 3

You have tried everything, including re-installing the Hyper-V feature in Windows, but it didn't work out.

The explanation might be some over-active security application or a corruption in Windows.

I suggest the following measures:

• Disable all security software, antivirus and firewall and try again

• Run chkdsk

• Run sfc /scannow and DISM

• If all fails then do Repair Install of Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade.