Can Windows 10 change network hardware?

[Geek-9pm]

Dictation.
Recently I saw somebody posts a question about Windows 10 and it seems to me to be something very absurd. Somebody suggested that Windows 10 could somehow change the hardware on their computer and make it work differently. Of course, I dismissed that kind of notion as being sheer nonsense.
However, I just had an experience that made me reflect on that idea. I have a portable computer, a laptop, but I've used for a number of years and it was very predictable about what it would and would not to. I brought it up and I decided to reinstall Windows XP on it using the same drivers I had used before. For some strange reason the drivers had worked before now did not work right when making an Internet connection. Well, suspecting that it might have been just a fluke, I installed Windows XP again on different partition to see if I get the same results. And yes, I did get the same results. I could not bring up the wireless Internet connection. In fact, I couldn't even bring up the Ethernet connection. And the computer was acting as if I had TWO Ethernet devices when in fact there is only supposed to be ONE. In no way could I get a wireless connection to work right.
Now what is frustrating about all this is the Internet connection is working fine on my desktop computers and working fine on my android devices. On one of the android devices that had been off for a long time I had to use the AP pin to get it to work. But on my laptop computer using either the pin  or the password just did not work.
Well, you can guess what I did next. I decided to try putting Windows 10 back on that laptop. I know that work before, so I thought maybe if I bring it up again I'll learn something. Guess what? The wireless connection works fine. The Ethernet connection is nowhere to be found.
At this point I think I am willing to believe that Windows 10 can change hardware. No, I have no clear idea of how my world it could do that. But I do not have any other explanation about what happened.
Just thought I would post this is see if anybody else has ever had anything like this.
The laptop that I was using is a Dell Inspiron 1705 and I have used both Windows XP and Windows 10 on it before. I have even used Windows 7 on it before. What I don't have is another hard disk drive to see the something in the hard disk drive that would sabotage the wireless hardware. But I don't think that is even a possibility. I formatted the hard drive so that they would not be anything left over.
The only plausible explanation would be that Windows 10 somehow had made alterations to the network hardware so that only Windows 10 could control the wireless interface.
Now if you want to tell me that's impossible, that's what I said to.

Any comments? 

[patio]

I seriously doubt this at all...

What likely happened is the original install worked because it had proper drivers...
In the subsequent installs i will bet a dime to a dollar you were just using default Win drivers...instead of the proper ones from the laptop manuf....

[Geek-9pm]

Yeah, that is what really makes it hard to understand. I saved the Dell drivers for the 1705 in a backup directory on another PC. So I copied them to the 1705 and did the install as I remember doing it several months ago. But I could never get it tothe network to work right.

I suspect that some AV tool might have zonked the drivers because they look suspicious. Otherwise, I am ready to think Windows 10 is jealous of anything else and ruins my freedom to use an older OS on that machine.

Here is the catch.  I can go to the Dell site and ask it to scan my laptop, but that requires a network connection. I don't have a network connection because I c an get the network drivers tow pork.

Th is like the government announcement that says: "If you don't know how to read, send for a free booklet to help you."

I will have to look in my tool box for a USB adapter that has XP drivers.

[patio]

You don't need a scan at the Dell site for proper drivers...

All you need is the Service Tag # from the PC...

[Geek-9pm]

Dictation.
After a lot of work and family found something that is a partial explanation of what happened. I went back to the Del site and entered in my service tag number and found that my computer, the laptop computer, is now called a 9400 instead of a 1705 laptop. But that really did not make any difference, the same set of files are listed for the chipset, the ethernet, wireless, sound and video.
After installing the wireless Internet drivers again for the third or fourth time, it still would not work. So I went into my router settings and I decided to lower than router security settings just a trifle. In fact, as I recall, that was how I had it set up in the first place. But for some reason the router was now asking for a P I N code  instead of a password . Anyway, I learned that security level a bit where it would not do that and I was able to log into my router using the wireless adapter on my laptop. Nevertheless, the ethernet connection is still not working. Very strange because the ethernet connection works on my two desktop computers. I think I'm going to leave that as an unsolved mystery.
Now back to topic. My question was about in Windows 10 can change hardware. Well, maybe Windows 10 request of the router to increase the security level. Could it do that without my knowing about it? Anyway, I now have the security level on the router down just a bit and the system works good and I didn't have to change the password so the android tablet  computers are happy with that. At any time I might have to androids accessing my wireless connection. Apparently they don't seem to have any trouble getting into the wireless connection because they have been registered before and the router remembers them.
So then, it is not a case of having the wrong drivers. The drivers are correct. The problem was that this old laptop does not support a higher security level that the router was using lately. I am not sure how the router that boosted up a bit to require more stringent security. Possibly Xfinity, my Internet service provider,  could have done that.
By the way, I'm using the 1607 Windows 10 Pro for 32-bit.
Also, I am dictating this with Dragon naturally speaking on one of my XP installations. So far I'm not able to use the speech recognition in Windows 10 to do any kind of significant dictation. The accuracy of the Dragon is somewhere above 99% for me. That is much, much better than what I could type and it is almost 5 times as fast.
The conclusion is that Windows 10 did not change my hardware. Instead either in my ISP change the router security settings, or possibly Windows 10 may have requested a higher security level for the router.

Thank you for your patience.