Cannot Create Host-Only Network on Windows 10

[ggraham412]

VirtualBox 5.2.16 Microsoft 10 Windows Professional Version 10.0.17134 Build 17134

Try to add host only network via GUI or command line results in failure:

  Querying NetCfgInstanceId failed (0x00000002).
  Result Code: 
  E_FAIL (0x80004005)
  Component: HostNetworkInterfaceWrap
  Interface: IHostNetworkInterface {455f8c45-44a0-a470-ba20-27890b96dba9}

Probably because of failed install; setupapi.dev.log has

       [Device Install (UpdateDriverForPlugAndPlayDevices) - sun_VBoxNetAdp]
       Section start 2018/07/24 14:30:48.164
       cmd: C:\Windows\System32\MsiExec.exe -Embedding BA4E62E93D721D463D6D0D2C75E94A47 E Global\MSI0000
       ndv: INF path: C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\drivers\network\netadp6\VBoxNetAdp6.inf
       ndv: Install flags: 0x00000001
  !    ndv: Unable to find any matching devices.
       Section end 2018/07/24 14:30:48.164
       [Exit status: FAILURE(0xe000020b)]

I've danced random dances for hours to about a dozen different tunes called out by various forum posters on the Interwebs; including uninstalling, reinstalling, searching for infcache.1 in vain, deleting *.pnf files, standing on one foot, spinning around, I'm a little teapot, etc.

Please:

-If anyone has another "off the top of my head did you try this" solution, note that very similar errors to this one keep popping up going all the way back to 2011. So whatever you were going to say, I've probably seen it already.

-Maybe someone at VirtualBox could duplicate the issue on their own machine, diagnose and fix it! As I've noted, confirmed by an elementary Google search, this kind of error has an impressively long pedigree. Sometimes errors, especially if they recur for as long as this one has, are REAL and are not due to accidental circumstances fixable by Dr. Reboot and the Installers.

-If there is any other information I can provide that would help someone in a position to fix the issue DUPLICATE the issue, please let me know. I am happy to help contribute to a solution by helping to frame it and gather information. I am done trying to fix the problem through thermodynamics.

[Socratis]

Replying to ggraham412:

I've danced random dances for hours to about a dozen different tunes called out by various forum posters on the Interwebs; including uninstalling, reinstalling, searching for infcache.1 in vain, deleting *.pnf files, standing on one foot, spinning around, I'm a little teapot, etc.

Have you tried the forums? It's usually better and faster, if issues get first addressed in the ​VirtualBox forums. More than 95% of the issues are resolved over there, which keeps the developers focusing on the bug fixes and enhancements, and there is no need for another ticket to keep track of.

The bugtracker is usually reserved for ... bugs, not for discussions. That's what the forums are for ;)