Latest driver for intel dual band wireless-n 7260 Win 10 64bit

[ckrause]

Hello,

I´m looking for the latest driver for the Intel dual band wireless-n 7260 for Windows 10 64bit. The official support pages are not available (404). It would be very nice if anyone could tell me a download link. (f.e. url )

Thanks and best regards,

Christian

[gracehur]

You are a life saver. Thank you. The problem has been solved and now I can use wifi!

Saved me from buying a whole new laptop just cause I couldn't figure out how to solve this issue. 

[Daniel27]

Hey mate could I get the driver. Thanks in advance.

[n_scott_pearson]

@Hamstah,

Answering your questions,

1. No, these adapters (Wireless-AC/N 7260 or Wireless-AC 3160) only support WiFi 5. More on this in a moment.
2. The latest (last) Windows 10 driver version is 18.33.17.1, so yes, you do need an upgrade.
3. No, you do not need any 'catch up'; you can install the latest release directly.

If you definitely want to get support for Wireless-AX and WiFi 6 (or 6e), you need an upgrade. There are some issues to address:

1. Some laptops vendors (the slimeball ones) implement Inclusion/Exclusion list(s) in their BIOS and typically will not allow you to upgrade to anything that you didn't purchase from them. Whether this is the case is something that you will want to discuss with your laptop vendor's support folks - if they can even provide this information for laptops old enough to have 7260/3160 modules. If you cannot get an answer from them, you can always take a chance and try.
2. Your choices for upgrade modules/cards are: AX200 (WiFi 6) or AX210 (WiFi 6e). These are similarly priced and the AX210 will operate as an AX200 if your router only has support for WiFi 6, so I recommend future-proofing with an AX210.
3. What version of the module you currently have will determine what your path is for upgrading. There are two possibilities, HMW and NGW (i.e., 7260HMW, 7260NGW, 3160HMW or 3160NGW).

• If you have an NGW module, good, you can purchase a replacement manufactured by Intel for ~US$20. Here are examples: AX200NGW: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V9N9XVJ and AX210NGW: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B4T696W5.
• If you have an HMW module, on the other hand, there is a problem: Intel does not manufacture modules for this older formfactor any longer. All is not lost, however, there are 3rd-parties that take the Intel silicon and put it into older formfactor modules. They are slightly more expensive, however (~US$30, due to smaller sales volumes, I think). Here are examples: MPE-AX3000H (AX200): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091FJXQHH and MPE-AXE3000H (AX210): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09F3CLKLH. Now, these are examples only; the ones I purchased and tested successfully are from a company called Fenvi, which doesn't seem to offer these products through Amazon (I purchased via NewEgg).

Hope this helps,

...S

P.S. Check your Private Message inbox. Click on your avatar picture in the top right corner of the page (in the Communities blue banner) and select Messages from the resulting menu.

P.S. You are the 115th requester since Jan. 6th.

[N-Bark]

Hi Scott, could you make me the 116th proud recipient of the "dual band wireless-n 7260 for Windows 10 64bit" driver.

Thanks in advance / Niklas

[N-Bark]

Hi Scott and all,

just an update, so you know what to expect, if you had the same problem as me when upgrading your WiFi router(s).

My router hardware setups

1. Before upgrade: 1 pcs  Asus RT-AX58U and 1 pcs Asus RT-AC68U (using AiMesh with separate SSID for 2.4 and 5 Ghz)
2. After upgrade: 2 pcs  Asus RT-AX58U  (using AiMesh with the same SSID for 2.4 and 5 Ghz)
3. Intermediate setup: 2 pcs  Asus RT-AX58U and 1 pcs Asus RT-AC68U (using AiMesh with the same SSID for 2.4 and 5 Ghz)

Before my problem began I had setup 1 above, and all my devices could connect, but I wanted to improve speed and coverage of my WiFi network.

So, I bought a second Asus RT-AX58U and did setup 2 above, however now I got a problem.
1 of my 23 WiFi devices could not connect (not even find) my SSID (network) and that was a Vaio laptop, which have a built-in "Intel Dual band Wireless-N 7260". 

So, now I had to add reintroduce my Asus RT-AC68U to my Mesh (setup 3 above), so the Vaio could connect yet again and it would only connect to the Asus RT-AC68U.

After updating the driver(s) on the Vaio´s Dual band Wireless-N 7260 from 18.33.6.2 to 18.33.17.1 for WiFi (and from 20.100.0.4 to 20.100.5.1 for BT), I tried to use setup 2 again and now the SSID was found by the Vaio laptop and could connect without any problem!

Conclusion it solved my problem

Kudos to Scott for providing the drivers

[n_scott_pearson]

@N-Bark,

Check your Private Message inbox. Click on your avatar picture in the top right corner of the page (in the Communities blue banner) and select Messages from the resulting menu.

...S

P.S. You are actually the 118th requester since Jan. 6th.

[sarnoldmck]

Scott,

Thanks for all you do for the user community! Can you provide the link for the AC-7260 for Win 10 Pro 64-bit?

[gsanborn]

Hi Scott, I would love to be the 117th proud recipient of the "dual band wireless-n 7260 for Windows 10 64bit" driver?

Thank you!

Georgiann

[n_scott_pearson]

@gsanborn,

Check your Private Message inbox. Click on your avatar picture in the top right corner of the page (in the Communities blue banner) and select Messages from the resulting menu.

...S

P.S. You are actually the 119th requester since Jan. 6th.

[n_scott_pearson]

Oh sure, try to butter me up. As vaudevillian Joe Frisco used to say, "No Applause - Just Throw Money!"   ;^)

I relent. Check your Private Message inbox. Click on your avatar picture in the top right corner of the page (in the Communities blue banner) and select Messages from the resulting menu.

...S

P.S. You are the 123rd requester since Jan. 6th.

[Gaz]

Hello Scott,

I also would like the latest Windows 10 64-bit driver for Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 please,

(The driver installer that was offered to me from Dell contains Netwbw02.sys version 18.33.9.3 ... dated October 2017...)

[devb1]

Hi @n_scott_pearson 

Could you send me a copy of the latest Windows 10 64-bit drivers for Intel Wireless AC 7260 too?

Thanks in advance.

[n_scott_pearson]

@Gaz, @devb1,

Check your Private Message inbox. Click on your avatar picture in the top right corner of the page (in the Communities blue banner) and select Messages from the resulting menu.

...S

P.S. You are the 125th and 126th requesters since Jan. 6th.

[BradW]

Is it possible to become the 127th requestor?

I'm looking for this driver for a 64-bit, Dell Windows 7 machine. As usual, it's the invisible WiFi 6 problem.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

[n_scott_pearson]

@BradW,

Yes, yes it is. 

Check your Private Message inbox. Click on your avatar picture in the top right corner of the page (in the Communities blue banner) and select Messages from the resulting menu.

...S

[n_scott_pearson]

I have sent you link for downloading the drivers. Check your Private Message inbox. Click on your avatar picture in the top right corner of the page (in the Communities blue banner) and select Messages from the resulting menu.

Now, you may need to do a clean install to overcome what the upgrade has done to you. The process is documented earlier in this conversation (see my post ‎03-04-2023 at 12:13 PM).

...S

P.S. You are the 131st requester since Jan. 6th.

[VadK]

Scott,

Thank's a lot!!!

I downloaded packages. I will do update tonight.

In addition.

I have the same problem with USB to Ethernet adapter. (I tested this adapter in other computer (desktop ASUS with intel i7-10700) with the same Windows version - it works without problem). 

In soni vaio svp132190x this USB-Ethernet driver has the same exclamation mark with the same message - windows is still setting up the class configuration for this device (code 56).

I am not the expert. For me, it looks like windows network system problem, not just wifi.

Do you have experience with driver for this wireless-n 7260 in linux (debian)?

I have older soni vaio vgn z890 and installed on it debian 11-6. 

I just had to to provide iwlwifi-500-1-5.ucode driver during installation. It just works.

If I fail to make windows 10 work on soni vaio svp132190x, i will consider to install debian or fedora on it.

I do not care much about OS, but more about software installed in it (licences, cost, functionality, productivity, time to make work etc.).

Linux software does not come close to windows software.

I will update you wit results.

Best regards,

Vadim

[VadK]

Scott,

Thank you, again.

First attempt to upgrade from windows 8.1 to windows 10 22H2 on Soni VAIO svp132190x fails.

Network does not work at all, not just WiFi. It is nothing to do with drivers. It is windows upgrade process itself.

Some background.

Windows pro 8.1 is updated to the latest updates. A lot of software are installed during 10 yeas of operation. Some are with paid licenses (MS Office, for example), some free, but require configuration efforts (with USB network interfaces - ti Code Composer Studio, gcc Linaro, Eclipse, Garmin Express).

ISO file with Windows 10 22H2 is downloaded from Microsoft and is mounted from system hard drive. Setup.exe is executed with administrative privilege and with options to keep installed software and settings.

After upgrade, everything works, except network, but Bluetooth is functional.

Second attempt is success.

I have to restore windows 8.1 from image backup, dated 2015. System has few installed software - MS Office, Garmin maps, Garmin Express etc. Than, I updated system to the latest updates from Microsoft. It installed latest available Intel drivers for Bluetooth some version 17.x.x, and for WiFi wireless-N 7260 version 18.33.17.1

ISO file with Windows 10 22H2 is installed on separate USB drive. Setup.exe is executed with administrative privilege and with options to keep installed software and settings.

After upgrade, everything works, except Bluetooth, but network and WiFi are functional.

In device manager the Bluetooth is as unknown hardware.

I uninstalled Bluetooth software and driver and executed BT_21.10.1_64_Win10.exe provided by n_scott_pearson. Installed divers are Bluetooth v.20.100.5.1 and WiFi 18.33.17.1

After soft system reboot, the Bluetooth becomes as nonfunctional USB in device manager. I shutdown system completely (power is off) and started it again after 30 seconds or so.

In device manager, all drivers are without errors.

Licenses for Windows 10 22H2 and Office 2010 are activated. I do not check the Garmin soft yet.

Best regards,

Vadim

[n_scott_pearson]

You may have to do a clean install. Process is defined in post above dated 03-04-2023 12:13 PM.

Let me know...

...S

[MH14]

Can you send the updated driver for the N7260 so I can connect to my upgraded wireless network?  Thank you in advance.

[Gaz]

@n_scott_pearson ,

Thanks for your support!

The issues I had: the "no connection" icon appearing randomly; and having to click Connect even though Automatically Connect was ticked, especially when resuming from sleep;

Event IDs in Event Viewer relating to power failure/reset with vague error messages in Event Viewer whether or not  "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" was ticked (a commonly mentioned 'fix' found on Google?)

My ISP had recently upgraded my router but my other (newer) devices behaved ok.

It seemed the Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 half-height mini-PCIE card in the Dell Latitude E7440

would not play nicely with a

BT Smart Hub 2 (made by Arcadyan Corporation? - BT Hub 6DX - GRV9517uac)

So, I followed your instructions provided on an earlier post, here to install the supplied latest driver (which Intel had REMOVED from their website as 'support discontinued'!)

Bluetooth driver uninstalled fine;

The currently used wifi driver uninstalled and deleted, but Windows would always immediately install an even older (version 15?!) Microsoft-provided version when viewing Device Manager window.

I suppose I could have rebooted into safe mode and retried but I figured it was intentional protection (I remember the days before inbuilt Winsock/USB/CDROM drivers!... and losing connectivity with no quick way to restore it!)

So I just ran the wireless driver installer to overwrite the 'Microsoft' copy.

Am now running the system with the latest drivers you supplied installed:

     Bluetooth driver: ibtusb.sys file version 20.100.5.1

     Wireless driver: Netwbw02.sys file version 18.33.17.1

And all is behaving as expected so far.