Recently I decided to refresh my LAB and I bought 2 Intel NUC 6th Generation devices. After short consideration I selected NUC6I5SYH as device with the best price/performance ratio. Windows Server Hyper-V 2016 will be installed on the new hardware as a platform for new LAB infrastructure servers.In comparison to NUC 5th generation the most important changes are: new Skylake processor and 32 GB RAM support.
NUC6I5SYH Features
- Intel Core i5-6260U Processor, 2.8GHz, dual-core, 15W TDP
- Intel Iris Graphics 540 GPU, 48 EUs, 64 MB eDRAM cache
- 2 slots for DDR4-2133 SO-DIMM memory, 1.2V, max. 32GB
- Support for M.2 SSD card (sizes 22×42 and 22×80)
- Slot for a single 2.5″ drive (SSD or HDD, max. 9.5mm thickness)
- Normal, full-size HDMI 1.4b port
- Mini DisplayPort 1.2 port
- Four USB 3.0 ports (2 on the front, 2 on the rear)
- Intel I219V Gigabit Ethernet LAN adapter
- Intel Wireless-AC 8260 WiFi adapter (802.11ac, dual-band, max. 867 Mbps, Bluetooth 4.1)
- SD card reader (support SDXC cards and UHS-I)
- Infrared sensor and 3.5mm audio jack
Technical specification (PDF) is available here.
Final configuration for my LAB devices is the following:
- Intel NUC – NUC6i5SYH
- HyperX Impact SODIMM DDR4, 2x16GB, 2133MHz, CL13 (HX421S13IBK2/32)
- Samsung SSD 850 PRO 256 GB
Operating system installation
When all ordered components have arrived it was quite easy thing to put them together and start installation. Surprisingly operating system installation was more challenging than I expected. This is my fault – I didn’t check product documentation and I just started installation. After 2 hours I checked Intel community forum and I found the following information:
Windows Server 2016 Core
Windows Server does not provide support for the Intel I219-V network adapter. Due to the fact that the driver is not signed for Windows Server, automated driver installation or driver update will fail. To install network driver please follow the procedure below.
- List installed network controllers. Open powershell window and type the following command:
# Get-NetAdapter #
The result is shown in the figure below:
- Download the Intel NUC network driver for Windows 10 10PROWin64.exe from Intel website and extract to a folder.
- Verify vendor id for network controllers. Open powershell and type the following commands:
# Get-WMIObject win32_PNPEntity |select name,deviceid |where {$_.Name -match "Ethernet"} # Get-WMIObject win32_PNPEntity |select name,deviceid |where {$_.Name -match "Network"} #
The result is shown in the figure below:
- List network drivers available for vendor id’s found in step 2. Go to folder extracted in step 1 and type the following commands:
# Get-ChildItem -Recurse |Select-String -Pattern "VEN_8086&DEV_1570" |group Path |select Name # Get-ChildItem -Recurse |Select-String -Pattern "VEN_8086&DEV_24F3" |group Path |select Name #
The result is shown in the figure below:
- For Windows Server 2016 installation and we will use e1d65x64.inf file located in NDIS65 folder. Open inf file in notepad and find vendor id in section
%E1570NC.DeviceDesc% = E1570.10.0.1, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1570&SUBSYS_00008086
%E1570NC.DeviceDesc% = E1570.10.0.1, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1570&SUBSYS_00011179


bcdedit /set LOADOPTIONS DISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
bcdedit /set TESTSIGNING ON
bcdedit /set NOINTEGRITYCHECKS ON

# pnputil.exe -i -a D:\Intel\PRO1000\Winx64\NDIS65\e1d65x64.inf #

# Get-NetAdapter #
bcdedit /set LOADOPTIONS ENABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
bcdedit /set TESTSIGNING OFF
bcdedit /set NOINTEGRITYCHECKS OFF
Windows 10
Installing Windows 10 is straight-forward. Installer is able to recognise almost all devices, only chipset and display driver will require updates. If you prefer automated method you can download the Intel Driver Update Utility.
Thank you very much
This was very helpful with my ASUS Z170-AR with an install of Server 2016 as it would not recognise the I219-V ethernet controller. Thanks!
Very helpful – thanks. MS/Intel really don’t want you to run Server 2016 on non-server motherboards…
But how do I get wireless networking to work? Intel’s setup can’t be extracted, so the INF files can’t be modified
1) @Peter Hjalmarsson – what Microsoft and Intel do not want us to run Server 2016 on non-server motherboards?
2) @Andrzej Gołębiowski – thanks!
I was able to install Network Adapter (Ethernet Controller) under Windows Server 2016 on NUC7i7BNH:
https://dennisgorelik.dreamwidth.org/129240.html
Thanks for the guide.
Very helpful, worked perfectly
Mannnnnnn you’re brilliant! Works perfect, even for Windows Server 2012 R2 …. although the NDIS folder is obivously different, this tweak works perfectly. Thanks a lot!!
Gracias por la ayuda!
Hi, great post. However I am trying to install Windows Server 2016 on a NUC7i7BNH and the above differs from the inf in the new package. Has anyone got this to work?
I didn’t try this procedure on NUC version7. but should be similar I guess.
What’s the network driver in your box ?
Hi, thank you very much. I have installed the network driver for Win2016 on my D54250WYK
Excellent advice! Got my LAN working on NUC7i3BNH with Server 2016!
Fantastic – thanks very much
Thank You Very much
excellent Advice My LAN is Working now
If you’re running a Windows Server 2016 with GUI, then there’s a much easier and prettier way (no need to hack drivers or turn off driver signing) to get the NIC working: Use the built-in I219-LM driver.
I tested this on a NUC7i5BNH (with I219-V NIC) and Windows Server 2016:
– Go to Device Manager and select to update the driver for the Unknown Ethernet Controller.
– Select “Browse my computer for driver software”
– Select “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer”
– Select “Intel” as vendor
– Select “Intel(R) Ethernet Connection I219-LM” as model
Windows should now install the driver and confirm with “Windows has successfully updated your driver software” and state that the device is a I219-LM, even though the device is a I219-V. Works perfect here and without the security risk of disabling driver signing 🙂 Works perfectly fine here…
Yes, with GUI it’s easy but the goal for this post was to show how to do this on server core
Thank you Kenni
Without editing inf files etc just use this build in driver. I tested it on speed etc and everything works perfect.
Works perfectly on Intel NUC8i3BEH with Windows Server 2019
I don’t know how you figured this out, but it works.
NUC C7i5BNK, Windows Server 2019 using the 2016 network driver.
Thanks Andrzej,
works perfect on NUC8i7BEH!
Outstanding! Worked like a charm! Thanks.
Thank you. You are a legend ! Working on Windows Server 2019 installed on NUC7i5BNH
How did you get it working?
I really cannot thank you enough for this solution. My system would be unusable without it. You have my extreme gratitude!
NUC5i7RYH, Windows Server 2019 Standard, using the regular Windows 10 network driver.
How did you get it working?
This is brilliant! Worked on my Windows Server 2019 build with a X399 chipset for AMD TR4 on an ASROCK Taichi MB. I imagine not as much driver support for AMD’s ThreadRipper CPUs.
Both NICs showing up now! I downloaded the latest Intel Ethernet Adapter Complete Driver Pack, and sure enough all is well.
Question:
Will I have to do this each time I feel the need to update the drivers? Or will Windows Update do it’s thing?
Thank you very much!
DUDE!!! Worked like a charm. I have Windows 2016 now running on my nuc with network. Now for the rest of the devices that are not recognized…
So it seems people are satisfied with the solution. Is there a step by step video tutorial on this? I have NUC 10:th gen and have successfully installed win server2019.
Tried but getting error message: Failed to install the driver: No more data is avaible.
NUC5i7RYH, and Windows 2019.
For Windows Hyper-V 2019 Server: Looks like the Intel version 26.2 driver is now updated and has the missing two lines added into both the e1r68x64.inf and e1d68x64.inf. I tried installing the e1r68x64.inf version but it didn’t work. Then tried the e1d68x64.inf via your pnputil.exe -i -a D:\Intel\PRO1000\Winx64\NDIS68\e1d68x64.inf and it updated my driver perfectly without needing to mess with bcdedit/security settings. I had to pnputil.exe /enum-drivers and then pnp-util /delete-driver oem0.inf after trying/failing the e1r68x64.inf.
This worked for me on an Intel NUC 9 Extreme – Ghost Canyon
Thanks for the help!!
I can’t get bcdedit /set TESTSIGNING ON or bcdedit /set NOINTEGRITYCHECKS ON.. to work
“an error has occurred setting the element data”
“The value is protect by Secure Boot policy and cannot be modified or deleted”
This is an eval copy of Server 2016.. Anyone see this ?
I did this on a nuc11pahi3 11th gen. Worked like a charm after I disabled secureboot and ran the remaining two bcedit commands. I used the drivers downloaded for the Nuc itself and selected a I225 driver. I came across this blog by way of “Technology Lowdown” youtube channel. I didn’t watch the video unfortunately for him as reading instructions is far quicker.