Solved VM will not start - Synthetic Ethernet Port Error on duplicated VM

Hello,

I have done a ton of research on this already and been going around in circles with ChatGPT for troubleshooting. Here's the current situation I cannot fix.

I have several VMs. I used one of them as a "donor" or "template" that I copied (while turned off) into a folder for use. I copied the entire VM folder including the VHD and VM files and folders. I have created a new VM using Hyper-V Management and during that process used (all per ChatGPT) the option to attach VHD later. I have successfully and correctly identified the VMID for the new VM and after copying the donor files into an isolated folder I created for perfect organization and processing of the duplication process I properly renamed the files to the new VMID and then copied them over (replacing) the already created VM files and folder. I did the same method for the "donor" or "template" VHD. There was only one piece of HW that did not for some reason get copied over with the donor files/drive and that was the network adapter. I went into the settings on the new VM after all of the copying/replacing was completed and added a network adapter. In my Hyper-v manager the network adapter options are minimal. The only option for the switch are "not connected" or "default switch" that is the same for all of the VMs I have already created and all are working perfectly. All VMs that I am using are based on Win11 Pro with the option for Gen2 with TPM enabled but not enabling secure boot because of the error it causes at start up when trying to boot from a DVD (which since I am copying from an existing VM & VHD it is not an issue) because it is required.

I do not know what to do to fix this error. This is a personal project on a home desktop based on Win11 Pro. I will be needing to create several duplicate VMs for my personal project and as part of the project my goal is knowledge to improve my skills.

Here are screen shots of my WinVer and the error mesasge.







All assistance is appreciated.

UPDATE:

Issue has been resolved. The solution was to simplify the duplication process by simply creating a new copy of the VHD with the name to be assigned to the new VM then putting that new VHD (Virtual Hard Disk/Virtual Hard Drive) into the same folder as all of the other VHD then during the creation of the new VM use the option to attach an existing VHD and attach the copied appropriately named VHD. That 100% solves the issue and simplifies the process.

A few notes to look out for:

Even if the "Template/Donor/Sample" VHD is set to not use Snapshots you still need to go into the settings of the new VM and disable them because they are not controlled by the VHD they are controlled by the VM files.

You need to go into the settings before starting the new VM and disable "Secure Boot" (only if you want to - this is personal preference) and you need to ENABLE TPM (Trusted Platform Module)

Hope my struggle and learning helps someone.....

Marking this RESOLVED

And FYI - don't rely upon AI for everything. I figured out the solution myself and ChatGPT never suggested any of this and took me through a few days of troubleshooting.