AC 7260 Driver Possibly missing from ProSet IT 18.12.0.3 Driver

[DAust1]

Operating System: Windows 10 Pro (Build 10240), 64 Bit

Wireless Card: Intel AC 7260

Current Driver: 17.15.0.5

It looks like the inf/cat files for the AC-7620 may be missing from the Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software and Drivers for IT Admins 18.12.0.3:

I Downloaded https://downloadcenter.intel.com/downloads/eula/25181/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-and-Drivers-for-IT-Admins?httpDown=http://downloadmirror.intel.com/25181/eng/Wireless_18.12.0_Dt64.zip Wireless_18.12.0_Dt64.zip (Also tried the https://downloadcenter.intel.com/downloads/eula/25181/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-and-Drivers-for-IT-Admins?httpDown=http://downloadmirror.intel.com/25181/eng/Wireless_18.12.0_All.zip Wireless_18.12.0_All.zip version) from here: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25181 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25181

Note on the documentation on the page it says the 7260 is in the package:

Windows 10, 8.1, and 7 (32/64) - 18.12.0.3 (note: no Windows 8 support)

• Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260

If you unzip the package, and update driver using Device manager by browsing to the folder, you get a "Windows has determined that the driver software for your device is up to date" message, and the driver version stays on 17.15.0.5.

If you try to Update driver from Device manager and select the "Let me pick From a list of devices on my computer" option, then give it the path, you end up viewing all the driver versions in the package, which does not include the AC 7260, but does include all the other supported cards (See screenshot below - Model list scrolls, but AC-7260 is nowhere on it)

I'd expect to see the AC 7260 in the list in order for the updated driver to work, so it looks like some of the files or config for it is missing from this driver pack.

[BB4]

He's right.

The Admin set file 18.12.0 won't install a driver for the AC-7260 under Win 10. The Win 8.1 version will install as 18.12.0.3 on Windows 10.

[John_S_Intel]

Are you saying that for installing drivers for the AC-7260 adapter and Windows 10, neither the Wireless_18.12.0_Dt64.zip package nor the Wireless_18.12.0_All.zip package will work, but that the Wireless_18.12.0_De164.zip package will or does work?

[BB4]

Yep. The Dt driver set passes over by saying that the best driver is already installed. The De driver updated.

Edit: and as David wrote, if you look in the list of supported hardware using "Have Disk", the 7260 isn't there.

[DAust1]

Hello, John S.

You are correct: the Wireless_18.12.0_Dt64.zip package (and the Wireless_18.12.0_Dt64.zip package in the Wireless_18.12.0_All.zip) do not work with the AC 7260, and give the behaviour explained above.

As GattoNero said, it does look like the Windows 8.1 package (Wireless_18.12.0_De164.zip) does have an AC 7260 driver - see screenshot below.

[BB4]

What do you know, there's at least one other person besides me who uses the Admin set drivers.

[DAust1]

I think it may be the same in the consumer drivers (Wireless_18.12.0_Dt64.exe at https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25170/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-for-Windows-10 Intel® Download Center), but you can't unzip them to troubleshoot: Double clicking ran the program, but it left the Driver on 17.15.0.5 instead of upgrading it to 18.12.0.3.

However, as you can't unzip them in a sensible way (To check the actual included drivers), and have limited troubleshooting options, I focused my troubleshooting on the ProSet IT Driver, is for no other reason than I may end up putting them on a Windows Deployment Server.

[John_S_Intel]

Thanks for bringing this issue to our attention. I will have to look into what's going on with the 18.12.0.3 Windows 10 drivers that we have posted for the AC-7260 wireless adapter. For the time being, use the 18.12.0.3 Windows 8.1 driver for AC-7260 if that one is working for you. There is one CAT file for both Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 (dual signing).

[John_S_Intel]

Hello David.Austin and GattoNero, you are correct that the Windows 10 directory in our 18.12.0.3 driver package is missing support for the 3160 and 7260 adapters. There is support, however, for the 7260-AC adapter in the Windows 8.1 directory, so the 18.12.0.3 package for Windows 8.1 should work for you on Windows 10 for these adapters until we post our next software/driver update (18.x.x.x). This suggestion applies to the following adapters: Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160, Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260, Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 for Desktop, Intel® Dual Band Wireless-N 7260, and Intel® Wireless-N 7260.

[BB4]

Hey John,

I hope you'll go direct to 18.13 so that there will be a corresponding Admin set of zip files. I know that you don't do them for lesser releases.

I'm sure David will look to the link as will I, next time you roll one out.

[DAust1]

Thanks for the update John.

I've installed the Windows 8.1 64-Bit Driver (https://downloadcenter.intel.com/downloads/eula/25181/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-and-Drivers-for-IT-Admins?httpDown=http://downloadmirror.intel.com/25181/eng/Wireless_18.12.0_De164.zip Wireless_18.12.0_De164.zip) as advised, which successfully updated the driver version to 18.12.0.3.

Were you able to confirm if those drivers were missing from the consumer version (Wireless_18.12.0_Dt64.exe) as well?

While I agree Updating the 18.12.0.3 is not worth it (Wait for the next release sounds like a good idea), it may be worth updating the download page documentation to reduce questions and confusion.

[John_S_Intel]

The issue is the same for the .exe (self-extracting) file for Windows 10 as it is for the .zip package. You can use the 18.12.03 Windows 8.1 package instead for Windows 10 if you have a 7260 or 3160. Agreed, I'll need to update the documentation on the 18.12.0 downloads pages for the consumer (.exe) and IT Admins (.zip) downloads. The 18.12.0/18.12.0.3 software & driver packages will not be updated, so any fix will have to come from our next software/driver release.