Install the LAN driver and Wifi – Intel NUC 7th Gen Server 2012 R2

Note: *These instructions come with no warranty – Use for your test environment only.*

This is a series of blog posts on tips and tricks I have learnt in my experimental journey with these devices. The focus is on how to use the NUCs as windows servers.

In this blog post the focus is on installing and enabling the network adapters for Windows Server 2012 R2.

Drivers link for the 6th Gen

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26481/NUCs-Intel-Gigabit-Ethernet-Network-Connection-Driver-for-Intel-NUC-Kit-NUC7i3BN-NUC7i5BN-NUC7i7BN?product=95065

Enabling Wifi for the Intel NUC:

Here is a summary of the steps:

  1. Download the latest driver for the NUC
  2. Enable the Wireless LAN service in Roles and Features (Feature)
  3. Reboot the server to complete the install
  4. Install the Wireless driver from the Intel site download

The first Gotcha for Wi-Fi on Windows Server 2012 R2 is that you have to enable the Wireless LAN service

 

Make sure you enable the the WLAN configuration feature and reboot before installing wireless software

 

Installing the Ethernet Adapter

Now this is the tricky part. Johan Arwidmark  (MVP) (world guru in Operating system deployments and author) @jarwidmark blogged about the 2 methods you follow to overcome the annoying blocked driver challenge.

http://deploymentresearch.com/Research/Post/454/Deploying-Windows-Server-2012-R2-to-Intel-NUC-devices-using-MDT-2013

I have successfully used the 2nd method to enable the Ethernet drivers in my NUCs.

 

The steps are an enhancement to those documented here by Jay-R Barrios:http://jayrbarrios.com/2014/11/19/intel-nuc-d54250wykh-installing-lan-driver-on-windows-hyper-v-server-2012-r2/

Download the Windows 8.1 LAN drivers from the Intel NUC

sitehttps://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26481/NUCs-Intel-Gigabit-Ethernet-Network-Connection-Driver-for-Intel-NUC-Kit-NUC7i3BN-NUC7i5BN-NUC7i7BN?product=95065

  1. Install
  2. It will error out, don’t close the window
  3. Go to start – %temp%, looking for Intel Driver installation folder
  4. Copy the NDIS64 folder from \PRO1000\Winx64 to C:\temp
  5. Edit the NDIS64\e1d64x64.inf file using Notepad (the sections are in Jay-R’s post but I will provide the instructions from that part into this blog post with a little extra notes)
  6. Follow the steps to install the driver
  7. Update the driver using Device manager

In the inf file search for [ControlFlags] and delete the text between [ControlFlags] and [Intel]

After the deletion:

Next:

Under [Intel.NTamd64.6.3.1] Copy the block

%E1559NC.DeviceDesc%           = E1559.6.3.1,       PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1559

%E1559NC.DeviceDesc%           = E1559.6.3.1,       PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1559&SUBSYS_00008086

%E1559NC.DeviceDesc%           = E1559.6.3.1,       PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1559&SUBSYS_00011179

%E15A0NC.DeviceDesc%           = E15A0.6.3.1,       PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_15A0

%E15A0NC.DeviceDesc%           = E15A0.6.3.1,       PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_15A0&SUBSYS_00008086

%E15A1NC.DeviceDesc%           = E15A1.6.3.1,       PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_15A1

%E15A1NC.DeviceDesc%           = E15A1.6.3.1,       PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_15A1&SUBSYS_00008086

%E15A2NC.DeviceDesc%           = E15A2.6.3.1,       PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_15A2

%E15A2NC.DeviceDesc%           = E15A2.6.3.1,       PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_15A2&SUBSYS_00008086

%E15A2NC.DeviceDesc%           = E15A2.6.3.1,       PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_15A2&SUBSYS_00011179

%E15A3NC.DeviceDesc%           = E15A3.6.3.1,       PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_15A3

%E15A3NC.DeviceDesc%           = E15A3.6.3.1,       PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_15A3&SUBSYS_00008086

%E15A3NC.DeviceDesc%           = E15A3.6.3.1,       PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_15A3&SUBSYS_00011179

Paste the text into the following section [Intel.NTamd64.6.3] under this line as highlighted

%E15A2NC.DeviceDesc%           = E15A2,       PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_15A2&SUBSYS_00011179%E1559NC.DeviceDesc%           = E1559.6.3.1,       PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1559

Save the file.

The next steps are very important:

On the NUC open a command prompt as administrator and type the following commands in turn (press Enter after each command)

  1. bcdedit /set LOADOPTIONS DISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
  2. bcdedit /set TESTSIGNING ON
  3. bcdedit /set nointegritychecks ON

Reboot the server

When the server has successfully restarted type the following command (make sure you replace the path placeholder text with the location of your modified NDIS64 folder containing the modified .inf file

pnputil -i -a <drive letter and path to the NDIS64 folder>:\NDIS64\e1d64x64.inf

e.g. pnputil -i -a C:\temp\NDIS64\e1d64x64.inf

You will get a prompt telling you the driver is unsigned. Click yes to install

After the install:

Open a command prompt as administrator and type the following commands in turn (press Enter after each command)

  1. bcdedit /set LOADOPTIONS ENABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
  2. bcdedit /set TESTSIGNING OFF
  3. bcdedit /set nointegritychecks OFF

Now the final step is in device manager – What I discovered:

Right click the unknown Ethernet Control and select update driver – > choose Browse my computer for the driver software

Click Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer

Select Intel under Manufacturer and Intel® Ethernet Connect (3) I218-LM

 

Click Next and complete the driver update

NIC will start working now!

refer: http://itprocessed.com/2016/02/902/