Thunderbolt networking in Windows OS

[CKnur]

Intel releases the whitepaper on how to network two PCs or two MACs using Thunderbolt.

It even states the driver: Thunderbolt Software 2.5 one should be using.

I have scoured the internet, even venturing into these historical image websites and found NOTHING.

INTEL, where can I find Thunderbolt Software 2.5?

Thanx.

-Chet

[n_scott_pearson]

Chet,

Support for networking was indeed added in the 2.5 (actually 2.5.7) release of the Thunderbolt Software. The last release of the Thunderbolt software for Intel's Desktop Boards (and specifically for the DZ87KLT-75K board) was 2.0.4.250 (i.e. previous to networking support being added). Validation of subsequent software releases with this board stopped when it was EOL'ed. The just-released NUC product, NUC6i7KYK, also includes a Thunderbolt IC and software release 15.3.39.250 is available to support it (https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25803/Thunderbolt-Bus-Driver-for-Intel-NUC-Kit-NUC6i7KYK Download Thunderbolt™ Bus Driver for Intel® NUC Kit NUC6i7KYK). According to the release notes, this package seems to support the full range of Thunderbolt ICs, so should, in theory, be usable with the DZ87KLT-75K board. I was able to install it successfully on my board but, since I have nothing to plug into its connector, I am unsure whether it is working or not...

Hope this helps,

...S

[idata]

Hi,

Thanks Scott for the information provided; knurek for better assist you, could you please provide more information about the systems you want to connect?Regards,Hellen.

[idata]

Hi Knurek,

Thought I would just check in and find out if you were able to resolve this problem.Regards,Hellen.

[JJoha1]

I wanted to contribute to this topic since I had had trouble getting this feature to work, too. Maybe someone using Google finds this someday...

In my case I tried to connect a Mac with a TB1 controller with a Windows PC that has a TB2 add-on card. I know that a certain paper praises the ethernet bridge feature as a TB2 novelty but this is definitely incorrect.

I've tried all the drivers but no chance - ordinary Thunderbolt devices worked fine but when connecting the Mac to the PC the only thing happening was that Windows signaling sound but the networking feature remained greyed out and the Mac did not appear in the list of connected devices and computers.

The issue was the outdated firmware version (NVM 21) of my ASUS ThunderboltEX II/DUAL with DSL 5520 chipset. By now ASUS has put up a firmware update utility (NVM 28) but I ran into this over a year ago and it was quite frustrating resulting in having to "hunt" online for firmware updates since then they had not been listed yet.

So to anyone who's having issues with Thunderbolt: Check if your controller's firmware version is up-to-date.

Apple didn't care that it didn't work since it affected a PC and ASUS (then) was unable to recreate the scenario since they wouldn't purchase a Mac just for bug fixing.

I'm really dissatisfied with the state of things regarding the supply of Thunderbolt software and drivers.

Please don't mention "Contact the manufacturer of you motherboard/PC/add-on card", they do not alter the controllers' firmwares or the drivers supplied by Intel and mostly list releases months or even years old with bugs that have long been fixed.

Why can't there be a general listing in the Intel download center like there is for example for RST or chipset software that supplies customers with rhe latest releases?

[idata]

Hi JBBG,

Thanks for sharing with us this; to answer your question, each manufacturer gives the support for thunderbolt according to their product utilization, the thunderbolt drivers available on our download center page are for the Intel® NUC6i7KYK. Regards,Hellen.

[littlefooch]

My question (yes continuing this 2016 discussion in 2020) is simple - has anyone in the Intel community been able to get the network bridge per the white paper to work?

A related question: has there been any update to the white paper since 2014?

I think it’s a great topic for architectural guidance to build a small peer to peer tb3 network.

[littlefooch]

I've had no replies to thunderbolt ethernet issues I've posted here or in the windows communities.

So instead I'll make a simple statement (not original):

Thunderbolt Ethernet networking is broken/doesn't work in Windows 10

(I'm on 2004 and from my experience this is true back to at least 1909).

Please give me a counter example.