Using nvspbind to modify protocol bindings from the command line

In server core environments, the task of modifying and troubleshooting NICs protocol bindings may require the use of a tool called nvspbind which is available from MSDN here. However, the same tool can become very handy when you need to change the network binding order of network interfaces from the command line during the installation of Windows 7, and where the GUI tools are not yet available. Also, you can leverage the tool in environments where the default Windows shell (Windows Explorer) is replaced with other shells such as, command prompt, Windows PowerShell or custom built shells.

The nvspbind documentation states that ‘The purpose of nvspbind is to disable and enable protocol bindings from the command line when operating in the parent partition for Hyper-V in a server core environment.  This is typically accomplished using the network control panel. However, the network control panel GUI applet is not available in a server core installation of Windows Server 2008 or Microsoft Hyper-V Server.  Nvspbind provides a means for enabling and disabling the protocols from the command line.’

For help and detailed info, run “nvspbind.exe /?”

Here is a simple example of nvspbind in action:

Start by typing nvspbind /n from the command line to list all NICs on your system, and identify the one you need to modify. Take a note of the NIC unique identifier as this is how you can access your specific NIC. Type nvspbind followed by the unique identifier to list all protocols bound and unbound with your NIC. Finally, to enable or disable a specific protocol use the correct option followed by the unique identifier and protocol name as shown below:

You can download nvspbind from here – http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/nvspbind