Network Interface List

[spickles]

Does anyone know where the list of network adapters on the host is populated from? When configuring a bridge and choosing the physical adapter on my host the list contains a LOT of old and no longer valid adapters from my system. I recently cleaned a lot of those adapters up in the system registry and they do not show up in the Windows OS (device manager, network connections, etc.). Where is VirtualBox getting these phantom adapters from? I've searched my PC for any VirtualBox XML or config files that may be storing these and can't find anything like that. I also ran several searches in the system registry looking for the adapter names and the search comes back empty. Where the heck are these coming from!?!?

[scottgus1]

You will need to provide more data for us to be able to help. A screenshot of what you're seeing, for example, cropped & resized & posted with the forum's Upload Attachment tab.

[spickles]

I've uploaded a screen shot of the list I'm referring to. Thanks!

[scottgus1]

There is no Virtualbox file listing past & present host PC network adapters. This problem exists inside your host OS.

To the best of my understanding this list is compiled from information from the host OS. Whatever the host OS reports is what Virtualbox shows.

There is definitely something wrong in your list: Host-Only adapters are not supposed to appear in the Bridged dropdown. (It could be possible that former Host-Only adapters that no longer exist but that the host OS is confused about might appear as existing but unavailable adapters to the host OS and get reported to Virtualbox as Bridge-able adapters.)

I have also read that major Windows updates (like 1803 > 1809 > 1903 > etc.) can deactivate a Host-Only adapter and require Virtualbox to make Host-Only Adapter #2, #3, etc.

There are web-searchable tutorials on how to clear old nonexistant network cards out of Windows (I seem to remember it has something to do with showing then deleting hidden devices in Device Manager.) To help in such a clear-out, you might try uninstalling Virtualbox and rebooting first.

[BillG]

That is correct. If you open Device Manager, then from the View tab enable Show hidden devices, it will display those old devices (and you can remove them from there).

However that does not explain why they are appearing as options in the bridged adapter settings. I will post a picture of my network adapters, including hidden ones which includes some of those multiple entries. They are certainly there, but they are not offered as options for a bridged adapter. I only see Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller and Dell Wireless 1707 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHZ).

DeviceManager.PNG

[spickles]

And that's exactly why I've posted here because I have NONE of those adapters in my device manager. I've removed all of them, including hidden. I've scrubbed the registry and done additional keyword searches and they come back clean. I've done countless reinstallations, and I've gone with VirtualBox 5.2, 6.0, and 6.1. I can't figure out why those are still there....

[fth0]

I can't figure out why those are still there....

Well, in this case, you could search inside your whole hard disk ...

[jlanza]

I have the same problem. Did you solved it?
My issue is even worse, as I cannot find the devices that are really currently valid.