How to reset network interface for Azure Windows VM

Applies to: ✔️ Windows VMs

This article shows how to reset the network interface for Azure Windows VM to resolve issues when you can't connect to Microsoft Azure Windows Virtual Machine (VM) after:

  • You disable the default Network Interface (NIC).
  • You manually set a static IP for the NIC.

The following article also introduces how to view and change settings for a NIC, which might help you:

Create, change, or delete a network interface

If your Azure issue is not addressed in this article, visit the Azure forums on MSDN and Stack Overflow. You can post your issue in these forums, or post to @AzureSupport on Twitter. You also can submit an Azure support request. To submit a support request, on the Azure support page, select Get support.

Reset the NIC using Azure portal, Azure PowerShell or Azure CLI

Note

We recommend using the az vm repair reset-nic command to reset the NIC. To run this command, see the following "Azure CLI" tab.

  1. Go to the Azure portal.

  2. Select the affected Virtual Machine.

  3. Select Networking and then select the network Interface of the VM.

    Screenshot shows the Network interface location.

  4. Select IP configurations.

  5. Select the IP.

  6. If the Private IP assignment isn't Static, change it to Static.

  7. Change the IP address to another IP address that is available in the Subnet.

  8. The virtual machine restarts to initialize the new NIC to the system.

  9. Try to use RDP to connect to your machine. If successful, you can change the Private IP address back to the original if you would like. Otherwise, you can keep it.

Delete the unavailable NICs

After you can remote desktop to the machine, you must delete the old NICs to avoid the potential problem:

  1. Open Device Manager.

  2. Select View > Show hidden devices.

  3. Select Network Adapters.

  4. Check for the adapters named as "Microsoft Hyper-V Network Adapter".

  5. You might see an unavailable adapter that is grayed out. Right-click the adapter and then select Uninstall.

    Screenshot shows network adapters in which Microsoft Hyper-V Network Adapter is greyed.

    Note

    Only uninstall the unavailable adapters that have the name "Microsoft Hyper-V Network Adapter". If you uninstall any of the other hidden adapters, it could cause additional issues.

  6. Now all unavailable adapters should be cleared of your system.

Contact us for help

If you have questions or need help, create a support request, or ask Azure community support. You can also submit product feedback to Azure feedback community.