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MICROSOFT REALTEK USB GbE Family Controller Driver (MS NETWORKING STACK??) is limited to under 500mbits connection speed

Anonymous
2024-06-02T10:45:24+00:00

I am unable to get the in-box Microsoft Windows 11 Realtek USB Gbe Family Controller Driver to operate at more than 500mbits. If I install the Realtek OEM driver then it works at just under a megabit until I do a reboot at which point it won't work faster than 500mbits. If I 'repair' the OEM driver using the OEM setup utility then it works at megabit speed again until the next reboot. See details below.

Environment

  • - Windows 11 home 23H2
  • - HP Envy 17.3 inch Laptop PC 17-cr0000
  • - HP Universal USB-C multiport hub connected to high-speed usb c port.
  • - Direct connect via CAT 6 cable to SKY router which provides 1gbit speed direct connect.

Problem

  • Use the default Microsoft Realtek USB Gbe Family Controller driver (confirmed by looking at driver 'manufacturer' in Device manager - 'Microsoft')
  • Maximum connection speed in speedtest by OOKLA is 500mbits (my WiFi 6 is faster - via the Intel driver)!
  • Try changing all driver settings including disabling power saving and forcing connection to 1gbit full duplex (rather than auto-negotiate) and the problem remains. Still only 500mbits speed.  "Auto Disable Gigabit" or "adaptive inter frame spacing"' options do not exist in my driver.

Partial Fix

  • Download the Realtek OEM driver from the Realtek site. v 1153.15.20.327 and install (do not reboot!)
  • Maximum connection speed in speedtest by OOKLA is now 916mbits which is expected.
  • Driver is confirmed as by REALTEK in device manager

Reboot Causes Problem Again

  • If I reboot (soft or hard) after installing the REALTEK OEM driver then the speed drops to 500mbits again. The Realtek OEM driver stills shows as by Realtek in device manager. It's clear anyway as the Microsoft driver has fewer driver config options.
  • Run the REALTEK OEM driver install program and tell it to repair the installation.
  • After repair the connection speed rises to 916mbits again until another reboot.

It appears as if, at reboot, Windows is updating something in the driver infrastructure/network stack which is throttling back the REALTEK OEM driver.

Tried Something Else

Out of interest, I bought an ANKER USBC to ethernet cable connector. This uses the ASIX USB to Gigabit Ethernet Family Adapter driver (rather than the REALTEK).

In this case the connection never goes above 500mbits regardless of whether I use the ASIX OEM driver or the in-built Windows driver so it appears as if ASIX use a Microsoft infrastructure/network stack driver as their default whereas Realtek appear to be replacing this.

Diagnosis

It appears that some portion of the default Windows 11 network stack is only able to work at half a megabit!

I am an experienced systems programmer so I have done a lot of fault diagnosis on this.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-06-06T15:07:10+00:00

    This is not an isolated case, and the issue may be deeper. My client just purchased a Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 2 i5-1335U 16GB 512GB Touch with a ThinkPad Universal USB-C Dock p/n 40AY0090US. Windows 11 Professional 23H2 was installed and all available Microsoft Updates installed. Using the dock RJ45 to connect to the gigabit LAN, both the link light and traffic light would blink constantly, yet no connection would be completed and no DHCP supplied configuration would be received. Manually setting the parameters for the NIC did not work either. Connecting the same cable to the onboard Intel NIC worked immediately. Then the Lenovo management software and Service Bridge were installed. Using this to scan for Lenovo updates found critical updates to the Dock Firmware and the Realtek UBS-C GbE ethernet driver, which were installed. There was no change in the behavior. Using a different network drop had the same result.

    If the same dock was used with a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 22H2 (OS Build 19045.4412) everything worked as it should.

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2024-10-20T09:11:09+00:00

    No. You need to download from the Realtek site. Not a mirror or service site.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2024-06-30T06:52:15+00:00

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2024-06-28T14:18:19+00:00

    As long as you have a Cat 5e cable or better then they will support gigabit. Cat8 will do. You can try this:

    1. Go into control panel (CPANEL)
    2. Open device manager.
    3. Find Network Adaptors
    4. Right click your network adaptor and click uninstall device. If offered, click the checkbox to remove the driver files.
    5. Install the driver again but using the network card/interface manufacturer driver from their website (i.e. not Windows Update).
    6. Don't reboot.
    7. Right click on 'Network Adaptors' in device manager and clock 'scan for hardware changes'
    8. The network adaptor should appear again.
    9. Do a speedtest and see if you have a 1gbit connection.

    After a reboot it will probably go back to half a gigabit because the MS driver(s) will re-install.

    All best

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  5. Anonymous
    2024-06-04T09:09:28+00:00

    Hi

    Welcome to the Microsoft community.

    From your description, it seems that the problem may be due to your network card driver being overwritten by the Windows default driver each time. You can try disabling Windows’ automatic installation through Group Policy to see if that helps. First, press Win+R to run, bring up the run box, enter “gpedit.msc” to open Group Policy.

    Then follow these steps:

    1. Navigate to: Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - System - Device Installation - Device Installation Restrictions.
    2. On the right side, find “Prevent installation of devices that match any of these device setup classes” and double-click to edit or open the settings dialog.
    3. Check “Enabled” and then click “Show” to enter the device’s class GUID (Note: Do not check “Also apply to matching devices that are already installed”).
    4. To find the class GUID, press “Win+X” and click “Device Manager”.
    5. In the opened “Device Manager”, find the device you want to prevent from updating.
    6. Right-click to open the “Properties” dialog box. Go to the Details tab, where you can find the corresponding data in the “Property:” drop-down list. Enter this value directly into Group Policy.
    7. Return to the previously opened Group Policy dialog box, enter the device’s class GUID value, and click OK to confirm.

    As an advanced user, the issue you are encountering might be better addressed by seeking more professional help at Microsoft Learn.

    Tags - Microsoft Q&A(English only)

    Best regards

    Tommy Jin | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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