Realtek USB 3.0 Ethernet Adapter is Enumerated as a CD-ROM Device After Installing Windows When Using MDT or SCCM

Adapter Enumerated as CD-ROM Device

If the Realtek 8153 USB 3.0 driver is initialized without receiving a "call back" from the proper Realtek driver (7.5.x.x, 7.12.x.x, or 7.14.x.x). The device switches to a "USB Storage Device" to install the driver.

This is how the adapter may be enumerated in Device Manager without the proper driver installation:

This issue is seen in Windows installations using System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2012 or Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2013 that lacks the proper Realtek driver in the Task Sequence.

A missing driver is the cause of this issue.

Do not attempt to manually update the driver as it fails. Unplug the device and plug it back in to switch it over to "Ethernet" mode. You may also run the Realtek USB Ethernet Family Controller Software and then hot plug the USB adapter.

This is how the adapter is enumerated in Device Manager after the driver installation:

If you are using an automated imaging process such as SCCM 2012 or MDT 2013, the Realtek 8153 needs the following driver combinations to prevent the CD-ROM functionality from activating.

SCCM 2007 x86 can be scripted to run the RTK driver installer silent to switch from CD-ROM to Network mode if scripted in the PE environment.

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