Advantages of Microsoft Loopback Adapter

You may know that loopback is used for testing, or debugging system problems by sending the data out and then delivering back to the source without actually sending it across a network. For example, you ping IP address 127.0.0.1 to test the loopback. Loopback adapter has several advantages. For example, you can configure protocol software and test device drivers even if your computer is not connected to a physical network. Microsoft provides a loopback adapter that can be useful under several situations.

One advantage of Microsoft Loopback Adapter is that you can install Active Directory (A.D.) on a Domain Controller (D.C.) that doesn’t have a network adapter. Normally, this is not a possibility as A.D. requires that a network adapter be installed first. If you have a need to install A.D. on a computer without a network card, such as a test or a lab environment, you can install Microsoft Loopback Adapter instead of physically installing a network adapter.

Another situation where Microsoft Loopback Adapter can be advantageous is Microsoft’s Virtual PC 2004. With Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 you can create a more complex network environment on a single physical computer, without installing multiple physical network cards, by using multiple instances of Microsoft Loopback Adapter on the host operating system, such as Windows XP. Here’s a step-by-step procedure on how you can add Microsoft Loopback Adapter on your Windows XP computer.

1. Click Start, Control Panel, Add Hardware.

2. In the Welcome to the Add Hardware Wizard, click Next.

3. On Is the hardware connected? screen, select Yes, I have already connected the hardware.

4. The next screen shows you a list of installed hardware. Select the last option to Add a new hardware device, as shown below, and click Next.

5. When asked What do you want the wizard to do?, select Install the hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced) and click Next.

6. In the Common hardware types screen, select Network Adapters and click Next.

7. On the Select Network Adapter screen, select Microsoft under Manufacturer and Microsoft Loopback Adapter, under Network Adapter, then click Next.

8. Click Next one more time to install the hardware, then click Finish.

9. If you are running Microsoft AntiSpyware, you may see the following alert message. Click Ignore.