Stop Hyper-V network adapters being created for certain network adapters

[LewisSpring]

I have Hyper-V features enabled for Application Guard and Sandbox, but also use VMWare and Virtualbox.

How can I stop Hyper-V network adapters being created for these adapters? This

is really obnoxious.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thank you!

[leadeater]

I'm not sure you can, however I have a question. Why are you using multiple different VM tools... just pick one.

[Akolyte]

This is because they each have their own bridges and network adapters.  If they didn't make this you wouldn't be able to run VMs that have any network access. 

 

I see on there:

• The base 3 VMWare NICs - VMNet 8, VMNet 1 and NAT. 
• Basic VirtualBox NICs
• HyperV bridged NIC. 

 

 

As @leadeater stated, I don't know why you're using 3 hypervisors.  You can run any OS on all 3 of them - They might all compete for system calls and end up timing each other  out and resulting in slower speeds. 

[LewisSpring]

@leadeater / @Akolyte

Hello there.

I use VMWare Primarily, but for older OSes VirtualBox works better.

I don't use Hyper-V explicitly, but for WSL, Application Guard (and Windows Sandbox, but I don't use it), Hyper-V components are enabled for those.

 

I don't need Hyper-V Network adapters for the other Hypervisors since i'll never want to make Hyper-V connect to these Hypervisor's adapters.

I don't use them all at once, so I'm not too concerned about performance, I just want them hidden or similar if possible

 

[leadeater]

7 minutes ago, LewisSpring said:

I don't use Hyper-V explicitly, but for WSL, Application Guard (and Windows Sandbox, but I don't use it), Hyper-V components are enabled for those.

Even for WSL you're actually running a full Linux OS using all the core componentry of Hyper-V so if you were to remove the Hyper-V switch your WSL instance would have no networking anymore.

[LewisSpring]

1 minute ago, leadeater said:

Even for WSL you're actually running a full Linux OS using all the core componentry of Hyper-V so if you were to remove the Hyper-V switch your WSL instance would have no networking anymore.

Yes, Hence why I was wondering if I could disable the Hyper-V network adapters for the VirtualBox and VMWare network adapters

[leadeater]

7 minutes ago, LewisSpring said:

Yes, Hence why I was wondering if I could disable the Hyper-V network adapters for the VirtualBox and VMWare network adapters

Have a look in Device Manager under network adapters, if they don't show try enabling Show Hidden Devices and then disable them.

[LewisSpring]

1 minute ago, leadeater said:

Have a look in Device Manager under network adapters, if they don't show try enabling Show Hidden Devices and then disable them.

If I disable them, they become enabled after reboot. 

[LewisSpring]

I suppose I could have a PowerShell script to run every boot to disable the adapters I don't want - that could work.

The main problem is I've looked on loads of websites with no result, so I'm thinking it might be something that's just not possible without a janky UAC prompt at every boot.

[leadeater]

5 minutes ago, LewisSpring said:

I suppose I could have a PowerShell script to run every boot to disable the adapters I don't want - that could work.

Probably your only option, even installing the Hyper-V management tools doesn't let you manage anything (not even the PS modules) without fully enabling Hyper-V

 

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-VMSwitch
Get-VMSwitch : The Hyper-V Management Tools could not access an expected WMI class on computer 'COMPUTERNAME'. This may
indicate that the Hyper-V Platform is not installed on the computer or that the version of the Hyper-V Platform is
incompatible with these management tools.
At line:1 char:1
+ Get-VMSwitch
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-VMSwitch], VirtualizationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Unspecified,Microsoft.HyperV.PowerShell.Commands.GetVMSwitch

Get this on my WSL only system, no full Hyper-V installed

[LewisSpring]

2 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Probably your only option, even installing the Hyper-V management tools doesn't let you manage anything (not even the PS modules) without fully enabling Hyper-V

 

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-VMSwitch
Get-VMSwitch : The Hyper-V Management Tools could not access an expected WMI class on computer 'IT079776'. This may
indicate that the Hyper-V Platform is not installed on the computer or that the version of the Hyper-V Platform is
incompatible with these management tools.
At line:1 char:1
+ Get-VMSwitch
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-VMSwitch], VirtualizationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Unspecified,Microsoft.HyperV.PowerShell.Commands.GetVMSwitch

Get this on my WSL only system, no full Hyper-V installed

I do have Hyper-V enabled, since I was testing to see if it'd add more vEthernet adapters than Application Guard and Sandbox, so I might look into if it is worth moving to Hyper-V.

The only downside is, I suppose, is that I'd not gain any advantage without uninstalling VMWare and Virtualbox. I suppose I don't need-need them if Hyper-V works well enough.

[LewisSpring]

Moving from VMWare to Hyper-V is awful and seemingly impossible.. I'm going to give up. It's a aesthetic thing anyway.