This week we converted a series of Windows servers to VMWare machines. The VMWare Converter worked perfectly (albeit very slowly). After starting the new VM and installing the VMWare Tools we came across an interesting issue – the IP address was already in use by another NIC in the system, one that we could not see to reconfigure/delete. My initial hack was to just to search the registry and remove the IP address entries from the devices. After some Internet research I found the real solution:
To get rid of that unwanted driver, device, or service:
1. Open the "Start" menu and choose "Run"
2. Type in "cmd" (without the quotes) and click "ok".
3. At the cmd prompt, type in "set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1" (without the quotes) and press enter.
4. On the next cmd prompt line, type in "devmgmt.msc" (without the quotes) and press enter.
5. In the Device Manager Console, from the "View" menu, select "Show Hidden Devices".
6. Uninstall the offending Devices.
I should probably give caution to make sure you know what you are removing before you do it.
