"Install NIC Driver - Steps to Install or Reinstall Network Card Driver in Windows 7 System"
Do you know how to install NIC driver on your Windows 7 computer?
Network adapters are usually hardware cards, also called network interface cards, or NICs, inserted in a slot, or USB (Universal Serial Bus), port in the back of your computer that connects it to the network.
If you have a build-in network adapter (which mostly come with the motherboard nowadays), you also need to install the driver before it can work.
But most of the time, the NIC driver was not automatically installed by Windows 7, so you need to install NIC driver manually from the driver CD.
If the driver CD was lost, connect to the Internet, browse to the manufacturer's Web site, locate and download the Windows 7 driver for the particular NIC (you need to know the make and model of the NIC).
To verify and install NIC driver
Click Start and click Control Panel.
In Category view, click Hardware and Sound, and then, under Devices and Printers, click the Device Manager link.
From the Device Manager window displayed, double-click on Network Adapters to display the network adapter in your computer.
If you see the NIC and it doesn't have a problem icon (an exclamation mark), Windows thinks that the NIC driver is installed and running properly. If you double-click the device, you should see the device status - This device is working properly.
If you see your NIC with a problem icon, double-click the NIC. You will most likely see a device status message telling you that a driver was not installed.
If you don't see your NIC in the Device Manager window, click the Action menu, and click the Add legacy hardware option.
From the Add Hardware Wizard window displayed. Click Next button to continue.
Select the option Install the hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced) and click Next button.
From the window displayed, scroll down and double-click on Network adapters in the Common hardware types list. A list of network adapters appears. If your NIC had been on the list, Windows would have found and install the driver for it.
So click on Have Disk button. Then, click Browse button to locate the appropriate drive or folder for the NIC driver, and click Open.
You will see the driver path is displayed on the Install From Disk window, click OK, and click Next button to continue. When told that the device will be installed, click Next again.
You may see a message stating that the driver you are about to install does not have a Microsoft digital signature. Click Yes to continue install it.
When finish, click Finish.
If you saw your NIC in the Device Manager window, with or without a problem icon, you can install or reinstall a driver from there.
To reinstall the NIC driver
Place the driver CD disk in the DVD drive.
Click Start and right-click on Computer and select Properties from the menu pop-up.
From the window displayed, in the left-hand panel, click Device Manager.
From the Device Manager window displayed, double-click on Network adapters.
Right-click your NIC and click Update Driver Software
Click the Browse my computer for driver software link, then click Browse, locate the drive and folder with the driver, and click Next. You will be told when the driver is installed.
Click Close to close the Update Driver Software dialog box. Your NIC driver was installed.
To verify NIC functionality
If installing a NIC driver did not cause the Local Area Connection icon to appear, it is likely that the NIC itself is not functioning properly. The easiest way to test that is to swap the NIC with a known good one, ideally one that is both Windows 7 certified and Plug and Play compatible.
To install the NIC driver is not difficult if you follow the steps here. Once installed, you need to ensure other settings are correct. Among them are:
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