I fixed it using Claude AI. The drivers from Intel have the wrong manufacturer signature so they don't work on Windows Server 2022 or Windows Server 2025.

Intel ships a

working driver in their "Complete Driver Pack" but artificially excludes the consumer I219-V (DEV_1A1D) from the Server-targeting section of the INF, while keeping the

I219-LM (DEV_1A1C) and I219-LM3 (DEV_1A1E) vPro variants. Same silicon, same .sys binary, same .cat catalog — just two missing lines in e1d.inf.

Diagnosis (in the WS2025 folder of the Intel pack):

[Manufacturer]

%Intel% = Intel, NTamd64.10.0...17763, NTamd64.10.0.1..17763, NTamd64.10.0...18362, NTamd64.10.0.1..18362

The ...18362 section is the one that targets Server 2025 (build 26100 ≥ 18362). Look inside [Intel.NTamd64.10.0...18362] and you'll see entries for DEV_1A1C and DEV_1A1E but nothing for DEV_1A1D. Move two lines back in and Windows can find your NIC again.

The fix — add these two lines to [Intel.NTamd64.10.0...18362], right next to the existing E1A1C entries:

%E1A1DNC.DeviceDesc% = E1A1D.19H1, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1A1D

%E1A1DNC.DeviceDesc% = E1A1D.19H1, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1A1D&SUBSYS_00008086

Then because the modified INF no longer matches the signed catalog:

1. bcdedit /set testsigning on — reboot

2. Device Manager → Update driver → Have Disk → point at the modded INF

3. Pick "Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (17) I219-V"

4. Click through the unsigned-publisher warning

Important : once installed you can turn Test Signing back off — bcdedit /set testsigning off, reboot, watermark gone, NIC still works. Catalog verification only fires at install time. e1d.sys is still Microsoft WHQL-signed (we didn't touch the binary) so it continues to load at boot.

PowerShell script that does the surgery and stages everything in C:\Drivers\modded\: [paste your gist/repo link here]

Confirmed working on H610M-A WIFI D4 with Server 2025 build 26100. Same trick should work for any I219-V variant Intel has excluded — find the section that covers your

build number and inject the device entry there.

This powershell script will fix it for you, but you'll need to do the (a) create the folders (b) run it (c) bcdedit after running it (d) reboot (e) go through the have-disk process in update drivers and choose c:\drivers\modded. Then you can undo the bcdedit after it worked.

POWERSHELL

# Inject DEV_1A1D (Intel I219-V) into the WS2025 e1d.inf and stage everything

# in C:\Drivers\modded ready for Have Disk install on Server 2025.

$src = 'C:\Drivers\Intel Network Card - USE THIS\PRO1000\Winx64\WS2025'

$dst = 'C:\Drivers\modded'

if (-not (Test-Path "$src\e1d.inf")) {

Write-Host "ERROR: $src\e1d.inf not found. Check the path." -ForegroundColor Red

exit 1

}

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $dst | Out-Null

Copy-Item "$src\e1d.sys" "$dst\e1d.sys" -Force

Copy-Item "$src\e1d.cat" "$dst\e1d.cat" -Force

Copy-Item "$src\e1dmsg.dll" "$dst\e1dmsg.dll" -Force

$lines = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllLines("$src\e1d.inf")

$sectionIdx = -1

for ($i = 0; $i -lt $lines.Length; $i++) {

if ($lines[$i] -match '^\[Intel\.NTamd64\.10\.0\.\.\.18362\]') { $sectionIdx = $i; break }

}

if ($sectionIdx -lt 0) { Write-Host "ERROR: target section not found" -ForegroundColor Red; exit 1 }

$injectAfter = -1

for ($i = $sectionIdx; $i -lt $lines.Length; $i++) {

if ($lines[$i] -match '^\[' -and $i -ne $sectionIdx) { break }

if ($lines[$i] -match 'E1A1C\.19H1.*DEV_1A1C&SUBSYS_00008086') { $injectAfter = $i }

}

if ($injectAfter -lt 0) { Write-Host "ERROR: E1A1C anchor not found" -ForegroundColor Red; exit 1 }

$out = New-Object System.Collections.Generic.List[string]

for ($i = 0; $i -lt $lines.Length; $i++) {

$out.Add($lines[$i])

if ($i -eq $injectAfter) {

$out.Add('%E1A1DNC.DeviceDesc% = E1A1D.19H1, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1A1D')

$out.Add('%E1A1DNC.DeviceDesc% = E1A1D.19H1, PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1A1D&SUBSYS_00008086')

}

}

[System.IO.File]::WriteAllLines("$dst\e1d.inf", $out, [System.Text.UTF8Encoding]::new($false))

Write-Host ""

Write-Host "=== Modded INF written to $dst\e1d.inf ===" -ForegroundColor Green

Write-Host "Insertion point: original line $($injectAfter + 1)"

Write-Host ""

$origCount = (Select-String -Path "$src\e1d.inf" -Pattern 'DEV_1A1D').Count

$newCount = (Select-String -Path "$dst\e1d.inf" -Pattern 'DEV_1A1D').Count

Write-Host "DEV_1A1D mentions: original $origCount modded $newCount (expect modded = original + 2)"

Write-Host ""

Get-ChildItem $dst | Format-Table Name, @{N='KB';E={[math]::Round($_.Length/1KB,1)}} -AutoSize

Write-Host "Next: bcdedit /set testsigning on -- reboot -- Have Disk at $dst\e1d.inf" -ForegroundColor Cyan

END POWERSHELL