Additional NIC for your Laptop and Hyper-V

If you are like me and use Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V on your laptop, you have possibly found out that Hyper-V does not support wireless adapters. This is an issue with the Wireless spec no Hyper-V.  You can use ICS or bridging to get it to work, but having a 2nd wired network adapter can be helpful in some situations.

What you need is a USB NIC that can be quickly added to your machine when you need it.  I have been searching an have bought some adapters from local computer stores to find none that have x64 drivers.

Well another MS consultant told me about an adapter that his friend uses with Hyper-V.  I bought one and found some drivers that work

These two adapters work with Vista x64 and Windows Server 2008 x64 if you use the Vista x64 drivers from the chipset manufacturer.

https://www.airlink101.com/products/agigausb.php - 1 Gb version (AS88718)

https://www.airlink101.com/products/asohousb.php - 100 Mb version (AS88772)

Use drivers from chipset mfgr https://www.asix.com.tw

TrendNet also makes a 10/100 USB adapter that has x64 Vista drivers.

https://trendnet.com/products/proddetail.asp?prod=150_TU2-ET100&cat=49

Their gigabit adapter might also have drivers, but I have not investigated it to find out.

So if you find yourself in need of another wired NIC on your notebook running x64, then you have options….doesn’t everyone do clustering on their notebooks :-)

BTW, Fry’s carries the 10/100Mb AirLink101 adapter and it is on sale right now for $2.99 in stores.