Install A Loopback Adapter In Windows 7

The Microsoft Loopback adapter is a groovy little tool originally designed for testing network configurations.  Over time however, many other uses have been found for it such as networking two computers together without using a cross-over Ethernet cable, and connecting virtual machines to the internet.  We’ve covered setup for the loopback adapter in XP and Vista but for reasons unknown Microsoft annoyingly has decided to hide the “Add New Hardware wizard” in Windows 7.  This changes the setup process around and can make it very difficult to start, so here is a new groovy How-To guide just for installing the Windows 7 Loopback adapter!

How To Setup A Loopback Adapter On Windows 7

1. Click the Start Menu Orb. In the search box Type hdwwiz and then Click the hdwwize.exeprogram link.

2. Now the Add Hardware wizard should be open.  Click Next through the first page, and then on the second Select Install the hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced). Click Next to continue.

2. Scroll down the list and Select Network Adapters then Click Next.

3. Give the next window a moment to load, and then Click Microsoft and Select Microsoft Loopback Adapter.

Now the Microsoft Loopback Adapter should be installed and it will show up in your network connections window.  From here you can easily configure your adapter to do whatever you’d like!  Groovy!