Network Adapters–Disable/Enable

Last time we saw the Get-NetAdapter cmdlet from the NetAdapter module

PS> Get-NetAdapter | ft Name, InterfaceDescription, Status -a

Name     InterfaceDescription                           Status
—-     ——————–                           ——
Ethernet NVIDIA nForce 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet        Up
WiFi     Qualcomm Atheros AR5007 802.11b/g WiFi Adapter Up

If you look in the module you also find Disable-NetAdapter & Enable-NetAdapter

PS> Disable-NetAdapter -Name Wifi -Confirm:$false
PS> Get-NetAdapter | ft Name, InterfaceDescription, Status -a

Name     InterfaceDescription                           Status
—-     ——————–                           ——
Ethernet NVIDIA nForce 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet        Up
WiFi     Qualcomm Atheros AR5007 802.11b/g WiFi Adapter Disabled

PS> Enable-NetAdapter -Name Wifi -Confirm:$false
PS> Get-NetAdapter | ft Name, InterfaceDescription, Status -a

Name     InterfaceDescription                           Status
—-     ——————–                           ——
Ethernet NVIDIA nForce 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet        Up
WiFi     Qualcomm Atheros AR5007 802.11b/g WiFi Adapter Up

You can also enable/disable based on an Input Object, the alias (-ifalias) or the description (-InterfaceDescription)

PS> Get-NetAdapter -Name Wifi | Disable-NetAdapter -Confirm:$false
PS> Get-NetAdapter | ft Name, InterfaceDescription, Status -a

Name     InterfaceDescription                           Status
—-     ——————–                           ——
Ethernet NVIDIA nForce 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet        Up
WiFi     Qualcomm Atheros AR5007 802.11b/g WiFi Adapter Disabled

PS> Get-NetAdapter -Name Wifi | Enable-NetAdapter -Confirm:$false
PS> Get-NetAdapter | ft Name, InterfaceDescription, Status -a

Name     InterfaceDescription                           Status
—-     ——————–                           ——
Ethernet NVIDIA nForce 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet        Up
WiFi     Qualcomm Atheros AR5007 802.11b/g WiFi Adapter Up

What’s the alias?

PS> Get-NetAdapter | ft Name, InterfaceDescription, ifAlias, InterfaceAlias -a

Name     InterfaceDescription                           ifAlias  InterfaceAlias
—-     ——————–                           ——-  ————–
Ethernet NVIDIA nForce 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet        Ethernet Ethernet
WiFi     Qualcomm Atheros AR5007 802.11b/g WiFi Adapter WiFi     WiFi

If you want to use these cmdlets against remote machines you can run them through a CIMsession