Friday, August 8, 2025

Failed while adding virtual ethernet switch connection

 








Error Applying Virtual Switch Properties Changes Failed while adding virtual Ethernet switch connections.  External Ethernet adapter 'Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet is already bound to the Microsoft Virtual Switch protocol.

This means:
🔧 Your physical network adapter is already linked to a virtual switch, but Hyper-V is trying to bind it again, which causes the failure.

✅ Here's How to Fix It Step by Step:

🔹 Step 1: Check for Existing vSwitch Binding

  1. Go to:

    • Control Panel → Network and Sharing Center →
      Click "Change adapter settings" (left panel)

  2. Look for:

    • Any adapter called: vEthernet (YourSwitchName)

    • If found, this confirms a virtual switch already exists.

🔹 Step 2: Delete the Existing Virtual Switch in Hyper-V

  1. Open Hyper-V Manager

  2. On the right pane, click “Virtual Switch Manager…”

  3. Look under “Virtual switches”

  4. If a switch is listed:

    • Select it

    • Click “Remove”

    • Confirm

🧠 This removes the existing virtual switch and unbinds the adapter.

🔹 Step 3: Manually Unbind in Network Adapter Settings

  1. Press Windows + R, type ncpa.cpl, press Enter

  2. Right-click your Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet adapter → Properties

  3. In the list, look for:

    • Hyper-V Extensible Virtual Switch

  4. ✅ Uncheck it

  5. Click OK

  6. ⚡ Reboot the system

🔹 Step 4: Recreate the External Virtual Switch

After reboot:

  1. Open Hyper-V Manager as Administrator

  2. Click Virtual Switch Manager…

  3. Select External → Click Create Virtual Switch

  4. Give it a name like: ExternalSwitch

  5. In the "External network" dropdown, select your physical adapter (Broadcom)

  6. ✅ Check “Allow management OS to share this network adapter”

  7. Click Apply and then OK

This time it should work ✅

✅ Optional (PowerShell Method):

If the above GUI method still causes an issue, run this:

powershell

New-VMSwitch -Name "ExternalSwitch" -NetAdapterName "Ethernet" -AllowManagementOS $true

Replace "Ethernet" with the exact adapter name. You can check adapter names using:

powershell

Get-NetAdapter

✅ You’re Done!

This new external switch lets you connect your virtual machines to the network.

After that, if you face this issue when you start Windows or connect.

✅ Step-by-Step Fix: "Virtual Machine Failed to Start"

🔹 Step 1: Check the Exact Error Message

  1. In Hyper-V Manager, right-click the VM → Click Start

  2. If it fails, you’ll get an error.

  3. Note the exact error (e.g., “failed to bind to switch”, “could not initialize memory”, etc.)

📝 Please copy or screenshot the error and send it to me if unsure.

🔹 Step 2: Disconnect the Network Adapter (Test Boot Without It)

Let’s isolate whether the network switch is causing the problem.

  1. In Hyper-V Manager, right-click your VM → Settings

  2. Click on Network Adapter

  3. Set "Virtual Switch" to Not connected

  4. Click OK

  5. Now, try to start the VM

  • ✅ If it starts now, the issue is with your virtual switch.

  • ❌ If it still fails: it's likely a memory, disk, or Hyper-V config issue.

🔹 Step 3: Fix the Virtual Switch (If It’s the Cause)

  1. Go to Virtual Switch Manager in Hyper-V

  2. Remove the existing switch if it's broken

  3. Recreate it as an External switch bound to your Broadcom adapter

  4. Re-assign this new switch to the VM under Settings → Network Adapter

🔹 Step 4: Check VM Memory Settings

  1. Right-click VM → Settings

  2. Go to Memory

  3. Make sure:

    • Startup memory is not too high (try 2048 MB)

    • Dynamic memory is turned off (for now)

🔹 Step 5: Run Hyper-V Check Commands

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

powershell
Get-VM | Select-Object Name, State, Status

Get-VMNetworkAdapter -VMName "YourVMName"

Get-VMSwitch

These will help verify if:

  • VM exists

  • Adapter is connected

  • The virtual switch is working

🔹 Step 6: Check for Conflicts (if still failing)

  • Is Hyper-V enabled correctly?
    Run:

    powershell
    systeminfo | find "Hyper-V"

    Look for:

    • "Hyper-V Requirements: A hypervisor has been detected." → Good

  • Reboot the host system once after setting up the virtual switch


All other Virtual Machine "network issue link"

https://www.fixcoretech.com/2025/08/hyper-v-network-issue-in-window-servers.html

https://www.fixcoretech.com/2025/08/network-issue-in-window-server-no.html