VMware – Windows AMD PCNet Family Adapater Issue

Since we have ESX, I usually don’t get to spend much time playing around with VMware-Server. Interested to see the new interface in VMware-Server 2, I installed it on one of my CentOS servers.dm

The installation was a breeze with the rpm package and running the configuration script was pretty flawless. So I logged in through the Remote Management Console (https/port 8333), and created a fresh host. After copying over a Win2k3 iso, mounted the image and began the installation.

(On a side note I was doing this remotely, and found out that in order to use the Remote Console Client, I needed to allow ports 8333 and 902 through the firewall)

The initial Windows installation zipped right through, however, when I went to configure the network adapter none was listed. So I took a look at the Device Manager and BAM!
This device cannot start. (Code 10)

Having never come across this on VMware/Windows installation, I decided to reinstall my Windows host. Same thing.. So let’s install the driver.. that we need to download.. with no network card..

Lucky for us we have VMware! Downloaded the latest PCNet Family drivers for Windows 2003, tossed them in an .iso image, and mounted it to the Virtual CD-Rom for the host. Once I extracted/updated the driver, everything was running smooth again.

Download the .iso image here: AMD Driver v4
MD5: 78159679b644e64c0ca5618bc4de1995

31 thoughts on “VMware – Windows AMD PCNet Family Adapater Issue

  1. xxrazor

    Well this worked a treat, Thanks, now i have the same problem with driver for Multimedia Audio control with in Vmware, any ideas?

  2. Martin

    The first search on google with keywords “this device cannot start code 10 vmware AMD PCNET” worked like a charm.
    Thanks man!!!!

  3. ricpue@gmail.com

    thanks for your post! I spent 2 hours before finding a solution. It really works great!

  4. maxkaner

    Oh very luck i found you guys its frustrating when cant install the AMD driver. Actually it should fix by VM Ware

  5. Miguel

    Thank you very much.

    I read that installing VMware tools would solve this problem too. But I have vmware server 2 and I don’t know how to install those tools. So, your solution has been very useful for me.

  6. Chris

    Thanks a ton for posting those drivers. Google found and was a big help for me. 2003 server amd pcnet adapter died in virtualbox after applying server 2003 SP2.nn1

  7. Chris

    Incidentally, reinstalling the virtualbox guest additions did NOT fix this issue (amd pcnet adapter won’t start) as many have suggested. Installing the driver you have was the fix.

  8. Leslie Murphy

    Thanks – this worked great for me in converting a XP VMDK from VMWare for use in VirtualBox 4.1.22. I had to use Device Manager (Control Panel .. Administrative Tools .. Computer Management) to go the NIC and then access the driver iso file for XP.

    First I tried “Add Hardware”, but that did not work for some reason.

  9. Jonathan

    Wow!! Thank you very much for sharing your solution! I was googling a couple hours before finding your help!!

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