In Windows operating system whether it is Windows 10 or Windows server OS, we might see the error while trying to rename Network Connection. The reason is, there is existing & old hidden device present in Device manager, we might need to get rid of it to resolve this issue.
While navigation to Control Panel > Network Connections, we can see list of network connections present. While trying to rename, we see following error:
Error Renaming Connection
Cannot rename this connection. A connection with the name you specified already exists. Specify a different name.
I tried to rename the network connection to “Internal” and got above mentioned error, this is an indication that previously there was another ethernet adapter which was having name “Internal” but that doesn’t exists any more.
Apart from this issue, we might see another issue while trying to apply the ip address to this ethernet adapter.
While trying to provide manual IP address under “Internet Protocol Version 4 Properties”, I got error:
The Ip address you have entered for this network adapter is already assigned to another adapter which is no longer present in the computer.
The reason is same, an existing ghost device is there which is hidden.
How to resolve the issue
The solution for both the issue mentioned above, is to remove the hidden device. Open Device Manager by click on start and typing the name or else open cmd prompt and type devmgmt.msc.
This will launch Device Manager, while expanding Network Adapters, we can see list of adapters. From the top menu, click on View and select Show hidden devices.
Now we can see list of all hidden devices as well, and the list becomes big. I can see approximately 8-10 network adapters showing as hidden device.
Right click each hidden device, and select “Uninstall Device”.
Conclusion
Once all hidden devices are deleted, we are now able to rename the device and also able to set ip address which was previously used for old network adapter.