SUMMARY
Under Windows NT and Windows NT Advanced Server, if there is no
network adapter in the computer, the network services will not start.
This behavior is by design, because many of these services would be
useless without a network connection through the network adapter.
If you want to "fool" Windows NT into thinking a network is present,
for example, when you want to demonstrate the network capabilities of
Windows NT without being connected to a network, you can install the
MS Loopback Adapter driver in the Network application in Control
Panel. This driver allows the computer to connect to "network
resources" that are actually local. This feature is particularly
useful for demonstrating applications such as SQL Server for Windows NT
at events and trade shows.
The MS Loopback Adapter can also be used to enable a standalone
computer to generate UPS Shutdown messages. The Windows NT "System
Guide" states that the Alerter and Messenger services must be started
for a computer to generate a UPS alert. These services will not start
without a network adapter present. Installing the MS Loopback Adapter
allows the Alerter and Messenger services to start on a standalone
system.
The MS Loopback Adapter driver supports the following frame types:
802.3 (Ethernet)
802.5 (Token Ring)
FDDI
When you install the MS Loopback Adapter driver, the following key and
subkeys are added to the Registry under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\:
Loop
Linkage
Disabled
Parameters
TCPIP
The only user-configurable parameter is the frame type, as described
above.