Windows Server 2019 came out recently and I installed it on my private Lab HP ML350 Gen10 Server. The server comes with a  HPE Ethernet 1Gb 4-port 369i Ethernet (LOM) adapter. I installed the Hyper-V role and tried to add a virtual switch. But I was not successful with that.

New-VMSwitch -Name VMNetworks -NetAdapterName "Embedded LOM 1 Port 1" -AllowManagementOS $true

New-VMSwitch : Failed while adding virtual Ethernet switch connections.
Failed to connect Ethernet switch port (switch name = ‘61223D59-5629-4B80-80A9-DFC1022B14CE’, port name =
‘D53A4E64-5F2B-4E2D-9D94-E1253E4E315E’, adapter GUID = ‘{1EFEC8FE-E2D3-48C0-A408-78673A8F5F8D}’): The system cannot
find the file specified. (0x80070002).
At line:1 char:1
+ New-VMSwitch -Name VMNetworks -NetAdapterName “Embedded LOM 1 Port 1” …
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (:) [New-VMSwitch], VirtualizationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ObjectNotFound,Microsoft.HyperV.PowerShell.Commands.NewVMSwitch

I tried several troubleshooting steps for this error but could not resolve the issue. So I did wait for the new HP SPP from November 2018 which included the drivers for Windows Server 2019. As soon as it was available I installed enthusiastically the new SPP but already saw, there are no new drivers for my network adapter.

Well, I thought, let’s revisit Intel driver homepage (what I already tried in October) as the adapters run with an Intel driver (i40ei65.sys) version 1.8.103.2:

Embedded LOM 1 Port 1 Driver Date 2018-06-08 Version 1.8.103.2 NDIS 6.80 i40ei65.sys 1.8.103.2 2018-06-08 00

Intel recently released a new Ethernet Adapter Driver Pack Version 23.4 on November 11. After installing that driver pack the Adapter drivers had the newer Version 1.9.221.0:

Embedded LOM 1 Port 1 Driver Date 2018-10-26 Version 1.9.221.0 NDIS 6.82 i40eb65.sys 1.9.221.0 2018-10-26 00

With this new driver I could finally create the Hyper-V Virtual Switch.

Update: Since December 6, 2018, Intel made driver pack Version 23.5 available which brings official Support for Windows Server 2019. So I think in the next HPE SPP update these new drivers will be included too.

Intel Ethernet Adapter Driver Pack download site: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/22283/Ethernet-Intel-Ethernet-Adapter-Complete-Driver-Pack