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Accepted
Grant
Asked: 2012-09-14 12:00:41 +0800 CST

Getting network interface device name in powershell

  • 772

I needed a powershell 2 script to get the name and device name of each interface like it is shown in network connections in control panel.

Should be easy...

$interfaces = Get-WmiObject Win32_NetworkAdapter
$interfaces | foreach {
    $friendlyname = $_ | Select-Object -ExpandProperty NetConnectionID
    $name = $_ | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name
    "$friendlyname is $name"
}

However, $name comes back as "Broadcom BCM5709C NetXtreme II GigE (NDIS VBD Client)", whereas in control panel it shows "Broadcom BCM5709C NetXtreme II GigE (NDIS VBD Client) #69", because there are multiple cards. I can't find that number anywhere in the properties.

How can I get both the Name and Device Name, exactly as shown in Network Connections, in powershell 2 on windows server 2008 r2?

Update: The really weird thing is it shows the # part for other kinds of network cards - the interfaces for teamed cards show it properly. My nvidia based ones show it on my desktop system. Maybe it's only the broadcom cards? The server in question is a Dell R715, with 4 onboard broadcom nics, and a 4 port broadcom addon card.

After testing on some more systems (and commenter's tests on their systems), it appears to be a "feature" of the broadcom drivers. Updating the drivers didn't change anything.

What ways are there, besides Get-WmiObject Win32_NetworkAdapter to get both the Name and Device Name of all the network adapters in a system?

powershell

5 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Finally, found the solution! Since it does show up correctly in the registry and device manager, we can get it from the related Win32_PnPEntity object. So the code becomes:

    $interfaces = Get-WmiObject Win32_NetworkAdapter
$interfaces | foreach {
    $friendlyname = $_ | Select-Object -ExpandProperty NetConnectionID
    $name = $_.GetRelated("Win32_PnPEntity") | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name
    "$friendlyname is $name"
}

    This matches perfectly with the names in device manager and network connections on all of the systems I have tried it on.

    • 6

  2. I'm not sure if this is your whole code, but with your current loop, you are just writing over the $friendlyname and the $name variables. It might be that the last item was the one without the number on it. The following code gave me the results you are looking for:

    $interfaces = Get-WmiObject Win32_NetworkAdapter
$Outputs = @()
foreach ($Interface in $Interfaces) { 
    $Output = New-Object -TypeName System.Object
    $Output | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name FriendlyName -Value $Interface.NetConnectionID
    $Output | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Name -Value $Interface.Name
    $Outputs += $Output
}

    You can then use $outputs | out-grid to see all that was listed on your system.

    • 2

  3. When attempting the answer from Grant I got some errors indicating I was attempting to print a null variable. Here is the workaround:

    $interfaces = Get-WmiObject Win32_NetworkAdapter
$interfaces | ForEach{
    $friendlyname = $_ | ForEach-Object { $_.NetConnectionID }
    $name = $_.GetRelated("Win32_PnPEntity") | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name
    # This tests to ensure friendlyname isn't null
    if($friendlyname){
        "$friendlyname is $name"
    }
}
    • 2

  4. Here is a way to list only PHYSICAL device names:

    $query = "SELECT * FROM Win32_NetworkAdapter WHERE Manufacturer != 'Microsoft' AND NOT PNPDeviceID LIKE 'ROOT\\%'"
$interfaces = Get-WmiObject -Query $query | Sort index
$interfaces | ForEach{
    $friendlyname = $_ | ForEach-Object { $_.NetConnectionID }
    $name = $_.GetRelated("Win32_PnPEntity") | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name
    # This tests to ensure friendlyname isn't null
    if($friendlyname){
        "$friendlyname is $name"
    }
}

    Output:

    Ethernet is Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (6) Is19-LM
Wi-Fi is Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 X200 160MHz
    • 1

  5. I use this on Windows10:

    Get-NetAdapter -Name * | %{ $_.name }

# Ethernet

    You can find more examples on Get-NetAdapter

    • 1