title: powercli set-networkadapter object reference not set to an instance of an object
body: <p>I copied this example (example 5) from <a href="https://www.vmware.com/support/developer/PowerCLI/PowerCLI51/html/Set-NetworkAdapter.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.vmware.com/support/developer/PowerCLI/PowerCLI51/html/Set-NetworkAdapter.html</a> and modified slightly for my own use but it's throwing an error:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Get-VM SDBNAPPQA03 | Get-NetworkAdapter | Set-NetworkAdapter -NetworkName "10.30.88.0/21(VL712)" -Confirm:$false
  
  Set-NetworkAdapter : 7/2/2013 8:07:05 AM    Set-NetworkAdapter        Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
  At line:1 char:43
  + Get-VM SDBNAPPQA03 | Get-NetworkAdapter | Set-NetworkAdapter -NetworkName "10.30 ...
  +                                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Set-NetworkAdapter], VimException
  + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_BaseCmdlet_UnknownError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.VirtualDevice.SetNetworkAdapter
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'm getting an Adapter object back from Get-NetworkAdapter:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Get-VM SDBNAPPQA03 | Get-NetworkAdapter  | Get-Member
  
  
     TypeName: VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VirtualDevice.NetworkAdapterImpl
  
  Name             MemberType Definition
  ----             ---------- ----------
  ConvertToVersion Method     T VersionedObjectInterop.ConvertToVersion[T]()
  Equals           Method     bool Equals(System.Object obj)
  GetHashCode      Method     int GetHashCode()
  GetType          Method     type GetType()
  IsConvertableTo  Method     bool VersionedObjectInterop.IsConvertableTo(type type)
  LockUpdates      Method     void ExtensionData.LockUpdates()
  ToString         Method     string ToString()
  UnlockUpdates    Method     void ExtensionData.UnlockUpdates()
  Client           Property   VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Interop.V1.VIAutomation Client {get;}
  ConnectionState  Property    VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Types.V1.VirtualDevice.ConnectInfo ConnectionState {get;}
  ExtensionData    Property   System.Object ExtensionData {get;}
  Id               Property   string Id {get;}
  MacAddress       Property   string MacAddress {get;}
  Name             Property   string Name {get;}
  NetworkName      Property   string NetworkName {get;}
  Parent           Property   VMware.VimAutomation.Sdk.Types.V1.VIObject Parent {get;}
  ParentId         Property   string ParentId {get;}
  Type             Property   VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Types.V1.VirtualDevice.VirtualNetworkAdapterType Type {get;}
  Uid              Property   string Uid {get;}
  WakeOnLanEnabled Property   bool WakeOnLanEnabled {get;}
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I can set the network name in the vCenter console without any problem.</p>
  
  <p>I also tried the following command with the same result:</p>
  
  <pre><code>(Get-VM SDBNAPPQA03).Guest.Nics.Device | Set-NetworkAdapter -NetworkName "10.30.88.0/21(VL712)" -Confirm:$False
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have confirmed the network name is correct from the vCenter dropdown list for this VM. And I have tried other choices from the list.</p>
  
  <p>Any ideas on how to set the NetworkAdapter?</p>