I just had the issue that Virtualbox showed me two network adapters if I choose to create a bridged network. However, both network adapters were no longer existing and with none of the normal Windows commands you were able to see and delete these adapters.
Even searching the registry for the adapter names did not get a result back.
I then found this solution here.
The registry key, where the adapter entries are stored, are hidden even from a user running with administrative permissions
You need to run the “regedit” command with “TrustedInstaller” privileges in order to see and delete them.
You can use this tool here to do this.
You then find the orphaned entries under this registry key and can just delete from:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkSetup2\Interfaces
As always: Export the deleted entries first before you delete them. Just in case …