Intel E810 iSCSI Adapter Not Visible in Windows Server 2022

Hello guys,

thank you “tan vu” for your reply,

I’ve actually made sure that the adapter is installed & healthy from the idrac perspective.

however, I’ve managed to solve my issue by doing the os deployment (same iso) using the life cycle manager.

Hi Mouath,

From the screenshot, the yellow-banged entries are Base System Device items, not the Intel NIC itself. On Dell PowerEdge systems, missing chipset/platform drivers can show up this way, Dell’s OS Driver Pack notes that chipset devices may appear unnamed or with yellow bangs until the proper INF packages are installed. So this looks more like a PCIe enumeration / platform-driver issue than an iSCSI problem. Dell says Windows Server 2022 includes Intel network drivers in-box, while Intel chipset drivers and some other PowerEdge components may still need out-of-box installation. Intel’s Windows Server 2022 package does support E810-family adapters.

The first thing I would check is the BIOS/iDRAC slot configuration for the slot where the E810 is installed. Dell documents PCIe slot enable/disable and bifurcation controls on the R760xs, and the chassis supports specific PCIe slot/riser combinations. If the card is in a slot that is disabled, mis-bifurcated, or not the expected riser/slot type, Windows may never enumerate it correctly.

After any E810 firmware/NVM update, do a true cold power cycle. Intel’s NVM update guidance says a power cycle is required to complete the update, and a soft reboot is not enough; Intel’s recovery-mode documentation also says an A/C power cycle is required after NVM updates. https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products/ethernet/adapters-and-devices-user-guide/30.4/intel-ethernet-nvm-update-tool/

I would take is to repair:

• In iDRAC/BIOS, confirm the E810’s PCIe slot is enabled and the card is visible in hardware inventory.
• Install the Dell R760xs driver pack / chipset drivers in addition to the Intel NIC package. Dell’s driver pack is intended to provide the storage, NIC, and video drivers used for PowerEdge OS deployment.
• In Device Manager, open each Base System Device, check its Hardware Ids, then update that specific missing driver. Microsoft recommends uninstalling and rescanning hardware if a device driver is corrupted or missing.
• Perform a full shutdown, remove AC power for a short time, then boot again.
• If the E810 is still absent after that, treat it as a hardware/slot-level issue and test the adapter in another supported slot or open a Dell case with the iDRAC slot inventory and the Hardware Ids from the unknown devices.

If you send the Hardware Ids for one of the Base System Devices, I can help identify exactly which driver is missing.

Have a nice day!

TV

The behavior described (NIC visible in hardware management but missing from Windows, with several unknown PCI devices) indicates that Windows is not loading the correct driver for the adapter and is instead enumerating it as generic PCI devices.

From the available context, the closest supported and documented pattern is when network adapters used for iSCSI or boot are not started or not correctly enumerated by Windows after setup. In such cases, Microsoft recommends ensuring that the correct hotfixes or boot‑time drivers are injected during installation and that the adapter is presented to Windows in the correct mode.

For iSCSI/boot NICs, the supported approach is:

1. Make sure the NIC is presented to Windows in the correct mode (for example, HBA mode for iSCSI boot if supported by the hardware) before running Windows Setup.
2. If the NIC is used for iSCSI boot or the OS disk is on iSCSI, inject the required hotfix/driver into Windows Setup so that the NIC is initialized correctly and not left in an error state after installation.
3. After installation, if HBA mode was changed for setup, it can be reverted according to the hardware vendor guidance.

In environments where Windows fails to start or enumerate network adapters correctly after setup when iSCSI is involved, Microsoft documents using an out‑of‑band method (USB + Autounattend.xml) to preload the necessary hotfix/driver so that the NIC is recognized as a network adapter instead of an unknown PCI device.

Given the symptoms, the recommended next steps aligned with the documented guidance are:

1. Confirm with the server/NIC vendor whether the Intel E810 is configured in a special iSCSI/HBA or offload mode that requires a specific boot‑time driver.
2. If the adapter is used for iSCSI boot or storage, prepare installation media that injects the vendor’s driver or any required hotfix into Windows Setup (similar to the documented method using an Autounattend.xml and driver/hotfix files on removable media) and perform a clean installation so that Windows enumerates the adapter correctly during setup.
3. If the adapter is not intended for iSCSI boot, verify with the vendor that the current firmware and configuration expose it as a standard Ethernet NIC to the OS and that the correct Windows Server 2022 driver package is being used.

If, after ensuring the correct firmware/mode and driver injection, the adapter still does not enumerate as a network adapter and remains as unknown PCI devices, this matches scenarios where Microsoft directs customers to work with the hardware vendor for further investigation, as the OS relies on the vendor‑supplied driver and configuration for proper enumeration.

References:

• Network adapters are not started after Windows Server 2012 setup
• "0x0000007B" Stop error when you replace an iSCSI or PCI Express network adapter or a motherboard with an identical device on a Windows Server 2008 R2-based or Windows 7-based computer
• Windows may fail to boot from an iSCSI drive if networking hardware is changed
• Supported Ethernet NICs for Network Kernel Debugging in Windows 11 22H2
• Cannot update drivers for a RAID card using Device Manager - Microsoft Q&A
• avshws of Windows-driver-samples can not be started - Microsoft Q&A