Inspiron N4010 14R, Broadcom virtual wireless adapter compatibility issue

As you can find out on the forums a virtual adapter, as it implies, relates to a virtual environment. That means, you can create a second (virtual) wifi card. The main use for that is to create a hotspot and allow other devices to connect to your computer and share an internet connection. That is useful, for instance in a hotel, where you have a password for only one device. You then connect your other devices (smartphones, tablets) to your computer, all that using one single wifi card.

If you do not use this feature, you can safely uninstall the VIRTUAL adapter. Go to Control Panel, Device Manager, Network adapters and click the small left arrow: you should see a few  items, including Broadcom 802.11 network adapter and Broadcom Virtual WIFI adapter.

Do NOT delete the 802.11 adapter, since it is the driver that controls you wifi card. But you can safely delete any VIRTUAL adapter. After installing Windows 10, download Microsoft Miniport Virtual WIFI adapter or any other such, if you find the hotspot capability above useful.

First of all, thank you for getting back to me on this issue. This is the first concrete resolution I have seen in a week dealing with is post.

When I open my Network adapter I see the following listing:

Atheros AR8152 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller.

Broadcom Virtual Wireless Adapter

DW1501 Wireless-NWLAN Half mini Card

Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport adapter

Teredo Tunneling Pseudo Inertface.

For clarity, am I to understand that to go ahead and download theW10 update and then go back to the Deice manager and uninstall the Broadcom Virtual wireless adap? thanks again. I certainly appreciate your thoughts.

You can do it before upgrading.

As you can see you have two similar devices - first one Broadcom Virtual Wireless Adapter (supported by Broadcom) and the second one Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport adapter - supported by Microsoft. As I said before - you can safely remove first, not supported device (Broadcom) - but you should remove ONLY DEVICE, NOT THE DRIVER (which controls your DW1501 Wireless-NWLAN Half mini Card - you can check it for sure).

After that, GetWin10 App shouldn't show any issues with your device. You should also force to recheck your system right away. See details at wwwdotthewindowsclubdotcom/manually-run-windows-10-compatibility-appraiser.

Hope that helps.

One more question: What machine are you going to upgrade? Give me some detail to assist you better.

Good Morning and Thanks again for assistance and patience.

This update is being applied to Dell N4010 with M460. Currently, it is running W7 SP1 Home Prem.

at the moment the Broadcom Virtual wireless is the default and therefore, operating. So I am going to DISABLE this driver and ENABLE the drivers for DW1501. Is that correct?

You can not disable the driver. Yon can disable or remove the device (Broadcom Virtual Wireless Adapter. The driver can be removed only. So, once again, there are possibilities:

1. remove Broadcom Virtual along with its driver - if you do that, GetWin10 App will show you no compatibility issues - DO NOT DO THAT - you'll lose internet connection because that driver also controls you DW Card

2. remove Broadcom but not the driver - if you do that, Microsoft Virtual Adapter will be your default virtual adapter and its driver should be supported by Microsoft

3.  do nothing

It really doesn't matter  what you'll choose - 2 or 3. Do not chose 1. If you choose 3. solution and Broadcom will not be supported, you can safely remove it after upgrading and start using Microsoft Adapter.

Virtual Wireless Adapters are used very rarely. Have you ever used it? If the answer is 'no' and if I were you, I'd choose 3. solution and do upgrade. You may also experience some issues with Bluetooth.

Give me a feedback after upgrading, please.

Hello,

Thanks again for your feedback.

I just need to clarify before I execute this change. I really want to move to W10 because it appears to be more stable and most certainly. very dynamic, I have W10 running on another upgrade from W8.1 to W10. and it is operating flawlessly so far. Very stable vs W8.1.

In the device manger under properties for BROADCOM Virtual I see the following 5 boxes:

Driver Details

Update Driver

Roll back Driver

Disable

Uninstall

Broadcom is the device currently in use as previously stated. When I look at the properties for the MS virtual WiFi miniport adapter is see the following 5 boxes:

Driver details

Update driver

Rollback driver

Enable= which enable this device

Uninstall the driver.

So I need to be clear with respect to the Broadcom settings do I DISABLE or Uninstall? When you say remove I am thinking UNINSTALL.

Now with respect to setting up the MS virtual WiFi adapter am I to understand that I need to ENABLE this device?

Thanks so much for your help and patience.

You don't need to uninstall Broadcom. If you do this, Microsoft Adapter will be your default device.

So  you can simply upgrade your device first and then check if broadcom works (in my opinion it should). You can always uninstall it after upgrade and use Microsoft adapter. You don't need to eneble/disable it.

I suggest you to upgrade using MIcrosft Media Creation Tool and choose option "Upgrade this PC". 

Thank you very much for the explanation. I removed the device (but not the driver) and the laptop is working well. I have an Inspiron 5520.

Best regards,.

Hi,

How did you remove the device, I assume you removed Broadcom virtual wireless adapter, with out removing thedrivers? Thank you.

Hi.

Yes, I removed the adapter without removing the driver. (I left the box empty in the Confirm dialogue).

Greetings.-

Hi.

Yes, I followed the steps that ksproboszcz wrote:

"Go to Control Panel, Device Manager, Network adapters and click the small left arrow: you should see a few  items, including Broadcom 802.11 network adapter and Broadcom Virtual WIFI adapter.

Do NOT delete the 802.11 adapter, since it is the driver that controls you wifi card. But you can safely delete any VIRTUAL adapter."

Then I right click over the Broadcom, and uninstall it.

Greetings.-

Hi,

Ok thanks again for your info. I followed your instructions and uninstalled Broadcom but left the driver. Once that has been completed which way did you install W10? any issues? thank you.

I recommend Microsoft Media Creation Tool. Dowload it from MS site, choose "Upgrade my computer now" and follow the instructions.

After the update there might be some issues, as always.It depends on your machine. Try to find out if someone else has upgraded N4010.

Hi.

I will wait until sunday to install Windows 10. Hope no issues with the upgrade.

Greetings.-