When you enter the IP Address on a NIC, you receive:
The IP address <XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX> you have entered for this network
adapter is already assigned to another adapter <Name of adapter>.
<Name of adapter> is hidden from the network and Dial-up Connections
folder because it is not physically in the computer or is a legacy adapter
that is not working. If the same address is assigned to both adapters and
they become active, only one of them will use this address. This may result
in incorrect system configuration. Do you want to enter a different IP
address for this adapter in the list of IP addresses in the advanced dialog box?
Where
<XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX> is the IP address that you are trying to set and
<Name of adapter> is the name of the network adapter that is present in
the registry but hidden in
Device Manager.
If you press Yes, you can change the IP Address. If you press No, your NIC
and the ghosted NIC have the same address. This is not normally a problem as the
driver for the ghosted NIC is disabled.
This problem is genrally caused by moving the NIC to a different PCI slot.
To fix the problem:
1. Open a CMD prompt.
2. Type:
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
3. Type:
Start DEVMGMT.MSC
4. Press View and Show Hidden Devices.
5. Expand the Network Adapters tree.
6. Right-click the ghosted NIC and press Uninstall.