Enabling/Disabling Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport

Question

I disabled my Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport network adapter from Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections.

Just right clicked on the miniport nic and clicked disable, and its gone. Now how could I enable it? After disabling the nic, netsh wlan start hostednetwork is not working any more. The response is,

The hosted network couldn't be started. The group or resource is not in the correct state to perform the requested operation.

It was working flawlessly, before I disabled the adapter, Anyway, for reference here is the output of netsh wlan show drivers,

Interface name: Wi-Fi

Driver                    : Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter
Vendor                    : Qualcomm Atheros Communications Inc.
Provider                  : Microsoft
Date                      : 7/3/2012
Version                   : 3.0.0.130
INF file                  : C:\Windows\INF\netathrx.inf
Files                     : 2 total
                            C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\athrx.sys
                            C:\Windows\system32\drivers\vwifibus.sys
Type                      : Native Wi-Fi Driver
Radio types supported     : 802.11b 802.11g 802.11n
FIPS 140-2 mode supported : Yes
802.11w Management Frame Protection supported : Yes
Hosted network supported  : Yes
Authentication and cipher supported in infrastructure mode:
                            Open            None
                            Open            WEP-40bit
                            Open            WEP-104bit
                            Open            WEP
                            WPA-Enterprise  TKIP
                            WPA-Personal    TKIP
                            WPA2-Enterprise TKIP
                            WPA2-Personal   TKIP
                            Vendor defined  TKIP
                            WPA2-Enterprise Vendor defined
                            Vendor defined  Vendor defined
                            WPA-Enterprise  CCMP
                            WPA-Personal    CCMP
                            WPA2-Enterprise CCMP
                            Vendor defined  CCMP
                            WPA2-Enterprise Vendor defined
                            Vendor defined  Vendor defined
                            WPA2-Personal   CCMP
                            Vendor defined  Vendor defined
Authentication and cipher supported in ad-hoc mode:
                            Open            None
                            Open            WEP-40bit
                            Open            WEP-104bit
                            Open            WEP
                            WPA2-Personal   CCMP
                            Vendor defined  Vendor defined

netsh wlan show hostednetwork,

Hosted network settings

Mode                   : Allowed
SSID name              : "aczire"
Max number of clients  : 100
Authentication         : WPA2-Personal
Cipher                 : CCMP

Hosted network status

Status                 : Not available

After executing,

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow

The hosted network mode has been set to allow.

But again in,

netsh wlan show hostednetwork

Hosted network settings

Mode                   : Allowed
SSID name              : "aczire"
Max number of clients  : 100
Authentication         : WPA2-Personal
Cipher                 : CCMP

Hosted network status

Status                 : Not available

netsh wlan show settings

Wireless LAN settings

Show blocked networks in visible network list: No
Only use GP profiles on GP-configured networks: No
Hosted network mode allowed in WLAN service: Yes
Allow shared user credentials for network authentication: Yes
Block period: Not Configured.
Auto configuration logic is enabled on interface "Wi-Fi"

Any idea how to re-enable the Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport adapter (in Windows 8 Pro RTM)? I'm at my wits end, Please help :(

Answer 1

You go to your "device manager", find your "network adapters", then should find the virtual wifi adapter, then right click it and enable it. After that, you start your cmd with admin privileges, then try:

netsh wlan start hostednetwork

Answer 2

From accepted answer:

You go to your "device manager", find your "network adapters", then should find the virtual wifi adapter, then right click it and enable it

Maybe your device is hidden - first you should unhide it from the device manger, then re-enable the adapter from the device manger tools.

Answer 3

I had the exact problem and I couldn't find the hosted network adapter in network connections or device manager. So what I did was to disable and enable the wifi adapter after this the hosted network adapter should be listed in the device manager, then you just enable the adapter from there.

Answer 4

I have the same issue after I disabled the adapter in the Network setting. But when I go to the System->Device Manager and find it from the "Network adapters" and re-enable it. Then everything works again.

Answer 5

In my case I had to uninstall and reinstall the wireless adapter driver to be able to execute the command

Answer 6

In the device manager you can select View > Show hidden devices