Latest driver for Realtek 8821CE Wireless LAN 802.11ac PCI-E NIC

[ksr_dhilip]

I have a mini-PC runs on Windows 11 and I installed windows server 2022 trial version for some POCs, I ran into a problem with the wifi network adapters. I'm not able to find the right drivers. I have a similar PC with the same setup where I used the version "sp149656" installer which works fine but the same not working on another machine.

Here is the Hardware IDs for reference:

PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_C821&SUBSYS_C82110EC&REV_00
PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_C821&SUBSYS_C82110EC
PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_C821&CC_028000
PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_C821&CC_0280

Help me find the right version of driver for the above Hardware.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

There are no Realtek Wi-Fi drivers for Windows Server 2022.

The only suggestion I can offer would be to try the latest W11 driver HP currently has for the RTL8821CE:

2024.10.230.1

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp155501-156000/sp155768.exe

I explored the contents of the above driver's setup information file, and it does have driver support for the hardware ID you posted.  Try manually installing the driver if the auto install method doesn't work.

;;----------------------------------------------------------------------------
;; For 8821C RTK common
;;----------------------------------------------------------------------------
%HP8821ce.DeviceDesc% = HP8821ce.ndi, PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_B821&SUBSYS_B82110EC
%RTL8821ce.DeviceDesc% = RTL8821ce.ndi, PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_C821&SUBSYS_C81110EC ;;NGFF1216 module
%RTL8821ce.DeviceDesc% = RTL8821ce.ndi, PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_C821&SUBSYS_C82110EC
%RTL8821ce.DeviceDesc% = HP8821ce.ndi, PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_C821&SUBSYS_C82310EC ;;single ant(connect to right one S1)
%RTL8821ce.DeviceDesc% = RTL8821ce.ndi, PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_C82B&SUBSYS_C82B10EC

[ksr_dhilip]

I tried installing them manually and I'm getting the below error for almost all the *.inf files.

Steps I followed to manually install are:

1. Device Manager -> Network Controller

2. Right Click -> Update Driver -> Browse My computer for drivers -> Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer -> Network Adapters -> Have Disk -> Browse the *.inf file -> Click Next to install them.

I got the below-mentioned error.

[ksr_dhilip]

I got it working. Since by default, Windows Server 2022 does not enable Wi-Fi functionality because it is designed for server environments where wired connections are typically preferred. To use Wi-Fi, I need to install the Wireless LAN Service feature, which I was missed during the installation. I have enabled the feture by running the below powershell command and restarted the machine and installed the driver and it started working.

Install-WindowsFeature -Name Wireless-Networking

Also, I have started the  "WLAN AutoConfig" service as well and it started showing my wifi networks :). Tada...

Thanks a lot for the latest driver as well.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Glad you found a way to get the Wi-Fi card to work.

I've never used Windows Server before, so I am not familiar with its features.

I only know drivers.

If you let me know the full model # of the notebook you have, I will post the links to the other W11 drivers you can try on Windows Server.

I will also need the hardware ID for the Unknown device.

The SMBus controller needs the Intel Chipset driver.

The PCI Simple Comms controller needs the Intel Management Engine Interface driver installed.

The PCI device probably needs the SD card reader driver installed.