Windows 10 - Realtek Rtl8139 Driver 810x Family Pci-e Gigabit

Realtek no longer offers separate downloads for the RTL8139, but their "Win10 Auto Installation Program" for the PCI-E Ethernet family works perfectly.

Go to a trusted source like Station-Drivers or Realtek’s official site (search for "Realtek PCI-E Ethernet Drivers"). Look for version 10.069 or newer.

Direct filename to look for: Install_Win10_10069_08022024.zip (or similar dated version).

When you let Windows Update search automatically, it often returns one of two errors: realtek rtl8139 driver 810x family pci-e gigabit windows 10

This happens because the built-in Windows driver for RTL8139 (from the Windows 8 era) isn’t fully compatible with how Windows 10 handles power management and PCI-E interrupts for this specific family.

If you are into virtualization (VMware, VirtualBox, QEMU), the RTL8139 is historically significant. It was the default virtual network adapter for years. Why? Because almost every operating system (Windows 95 through Windows 10, Linux, BSD) already had a driver for the RTL8139 built-in.

Some Realtek 810x drivers have a known bug with IPv6 neighbor discovery. Go to your Ethernet adapter's properties and uncheck Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6). Realtek no longer offers separate downloads for the

Don’t just run the Setup.exe—it might tell you “No compatible hardware found.” Instead:

Windows 10 includes a built-in (“inbox”) driver for the RTL8139/810x family. When a clean installation detects a PCI-E device with matching hardware IDs (e.g., PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_8139), Windows automatically loads rt640x64.sys or the legacy Rtnic64.sys. For most users, this “plug and play” functionality is sufficient for basic internet access and file sharing.

However, Microsoft’s inbox driver omits several advanced features found in Realtek’s proprietary package: This happens because the built-in Windows driver for

Realtek’s official driver package (e.g., version 10.xx or later for Windows 10) restores these features and includes a control panel for configuring jumbo frames, flow control, and power management options.

While the RTL8139 (original PCI version) is limited to 100 Mbps, it remains fully functional for web browsing and light streaming. However, on a Gigabit network, the older chip becomes a bottleneck. The PCI-E 810x series, by contrast, can achieve 800–940 Mbps in real-world transfers on Windows 10, provided the driver’s checksum offloading is enabled. Disabling “Large Send Offload” (LSO) sometimes improves stability on buggy router firmware.

One important limitation: neither the RTL8139 nor the 810x family supports IPv6 checksum offloading fully in older hardware revisions. Windows 10’s heavy reliance on IPv6 (for Cortana, Store, and updates) can increase CPU usage slightly—by 2–5%, barely noticeable on modern CPUs.

After installation, reboot your PC (a full restart, not just shutdown+power on). Your Ethernet port should now light up, and you’ll get an IP address automatically.