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How to Get Network Adapter Hardware Details in Batch Script

For network troubleshooting, system inventory, or configuration scripting, you often need to get detailed hardware information about the network interface cards (NICs) installed in a computer. This includes essential details like the MAC Address, the product name, and the manufacturer. This information is available through the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) framework.

This guide will teach you how to use the built-in WMIC (Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line) utility to query the system for detailed properties of all network adapters. You will learn the correct WMI alias to use and how to create a useful inventory report from your batch script.

The Core Command: WMIC NIC GET​

The WMIC utility is the standard tool for querying system hardware. The NIC (Network Interface Controller) alias provides a direct interface to the Win32_NetworkAdapter WMI class.

Syntax: WMIC NIC GET <Property1,Property2,...>

  • WMIC: The command-line utility.
  • NIC: The alias for network adapters.
  • GET ...: The specific properties we want to retrieve.

Key Network Adapter Properties Explained​

  • Name: The user-friendly name of the adapter (e.g., "Intel(R) Ethernet Connection I219-LM").
  • Description: Often the same as Name.
  • Manufacturer: The name of the hardware manufacturer (e.g., "Intel").
  • MACAddress: The unique, physical hardware address of the adapter.
  • NetConnectionID: The name of the connection as seen in the "Network Connections" control panel (e.g., "Ethernet", "Wi-Fi").
  • AdapterType: The type of adapter (e.g., "Ethernet 802.3").
  • Speed: The link speed of the connection in bits per second (e.g., 1000000000 for 1 Gbps).

Basic Example: Displaying All Adapter Details​

You can run this command directly to see a list of all network adapters and their key properties.

@ECHO OFF
ECHO --- Querying Network Adapter Details ---
ECHO.
WMIC NIC GET Name, Manufacturer, MACAddress, NetConnectionID

The output from WMIC is a table listing each detected network adapter.

--- Querying Network Adapter Details ---

MACAddress         Manufacturer     Name                                       NetConnectionID
...
00:1A:2B:3C:4D:5E   Intel            Intel(R) Ethernet Connection I219-LM       Ethernet
A1:B2:C3:D4:E5:F6   Intel            Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265        Wi-Fi
...

How to Capture the Information in a Script​

To use this data, you should have WMIC format the output as CSV and then parse it with a FOR /F loop. This is the most reliable way to handle adapter names that contain spaces.

@ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL
ECHO --- Capturing a List of All Network Adapters ---
ECHO.

REM 'skip=1' ignores the header. 'tokens=2-5' grabs the four data columns.
FOR /F "skip=1 tokens=2,3,4,5 delims=," %%A IN (
    'WMIC NIC GET MACAddress,Manufacturer,Name,NetConnectionID /FORMAT:CSV'
) DO (
    ECHO Found Adapter:
    ECHO   Connection Name: "%%~D"
    ECHO   Model:           "%%~C"
    ECHO   Manufacturer:    "%%~B"
    ECHO   MAC Address:     "%%~A"
    ECHO.
)

ENDLOCAL
note

The ~ modifier (%%~A) is used to remove the quotes that the CSV format adds.

How the WMIC NIC Method Works​

The WMIC NIC command is an interface to the WMI service. It queries the Win32_NetworkAdapter class, which represents a physical or logical network adapter. WMI reads this information directly from the Windows Plug and Play manager and the network device drivers, making it an authoritative source for hardware details.

Common Pitfalls and How to Solve Them​

Problem: The List Includes Virtual Adapters​

The WMIC NIC query returns every network interface known to Windows, not just the physical ones. This includes:

  • Virtual adapters for VPNs (e.g., WAN Miniport).
  • Adapters for virtual machine software (e.g., Hyper-V, VMware).
  • Bluetooth adapters.
  • Loopback adapters.

Solution: For most inventory tasks, you only care about physical Ethernet or Wi-Fi adapters. You can filter the WMI query with a WHERE clause.

REM This query returns only physical adapters that are currently enabled.
WMIC NIC WHERE "AdapterTypeID='0' AND NetConnectionStatus='2'" GET Name, MACAddress
  • AdapterTypeID='0' corresponds to Ethernet 802.3.
  • NetConnectionStatus='2' corresponds to a "Connected" state.

Problem: Parsing the WMIC Output​

The default table format of WMIC is difficult to parse reliably.

Solution: Always use the /FORMAT:CSV switch when you intend to capture WMIC output in a script. It makes parsing with FOR /F simple and robust.

Practical Example: A Network Hardware Report​

This script uses the robust CSV format and a WHERE clause to create a clean report of only the primary physical network adapters.

@ECHO OFF
SETLOCAL
SET "ReportFile=%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\Network_Hardware_Report.csv"

ECHO --- Network Hardware Inventory Script ---
ECHO Creating report at: "%ReportFile%"

REM --- Create the CSV Header ---
(ECHO "NetConnectionID","Name","Manufacturer","MACAddress","Speed_Mbps") > "%ReportFile%"

REM --- Get the data from WMIC, filtering for physical adapters ---
FOR /F "skip=1 tokens=2,3,4,5,6 delims=," %%A IN (
    'WMIC NIC WHERE "PhysicalAdapter=True" GET MACAddress,Manufacturer,Name,NetConnectionID,Speed /FORMAT:CSV'
) DO (
    SET "SpeedBps=%%E"
    
    REM Convert speed from bps to Mbps if it's defined
    SET "SpeedMbps=N/A"
    IF DEFINED SpeedBps (
        FOR /F %%S IN ('powershell -Command "!SpeedBps! / 1000000"') DO SET "SpeedMbps=%%S"
    )
    
    ECHO "%%~D","%%~C","%%~B","%%~A","!SpeedMbps!" >> "%ReportFile%"
)

ECHO.
ECHO [SUCCESS] Report created.
START "" "%ReportFile%"
ENDLOCAL
note

Note the powerful WHERE "PhysicalAdapter=True" clause, which is the easiest way to filter out virtual adapters.

Conclusion​

The WMIC NIC command is the standard, built-in method for retrieving detailed hardware information about network adapters from a batch script.

Key takeaways:

  • Use WMIC NIC GET <Properties> to query adapter details.
  • For scripting, always use /FORMAT:CSV to make parsing easy and reliable.
  • Use a WHERE clause (e.g., WHERE "PhysicalAdapter=True") to filter the list and exclude virtual or unwanted adapters.
  • Use a FOR /F loop to capture and process the information for each adapter found.

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