Windows 2000 and wireless networking

Does W2K Pro SP4 ship with wireless networking facilities or do I need to
install an optional component from the W2K CD or download anything?

I've installed a Netgear WG311T card and the connection object in Control
Panel | Networking is showing as LAN Connection rather that Wireless
Connection. Is this normal for W2K? Certainly for XP there are two different
types of object: one for LAN and another for Wireless.

The Netgear "Wireless Assistant" / "Wireless Smart Wizard" app fails to
start (brief hour glass cursor but no window appears and no event in Event
Log) and I'm wondering if this could be a consequence of the connection
object being wrongly identified.

If anyone's got wireless working on W2K Pro, how is the connection
identified? Did you have to install any wireless networking package in
conjunction with the relevant card drivers?






Martin Underwood

Martin Underwood said:

> Does W2K Pro SP4 ship with wireless networking facilities or do I need
> to install an optional component from the W2K CD or download anything?
>
> I've installed a Netgear WG311T card and the connection object in
> Control Panel | Networking is showing as LAN Connection rather that
> Wireless Connection. Is this normal for W2K? Certainly for XP there are
> two different types of object: one for LAN and another for Wireless.
>
> The Netgear "Wireless Assistant" / "Wireless Smart Wizard" app fails to
> start (brief hour glass cursor but no window appears and no event in
> Event Log) and I'm wondering if this could be a consequence of the
> connection object being wrongly identified.
>
> If anyone's got wireless working on W2K Pro, how is the connection
> identified? Did you have to install any wireless networking package in
> conjunction with the relevant card drivers?

I have a DLink Ethernet modem and a Kcorp wireless running wireless and
wired systems, running on some 2k boxes, I did not have to install
anything (other than the PCI card drivers) for the wireless to work. It
connect thru the LAN icon in the tray, IIRC it does look a bit different
to XP's icons, as that has some extra flashy bits, but IMHO that is all
that is different with XP I am not a fan and as such dont use it.

L.

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Martin Underwood got up from the bar and shouted: :
> Does W2K Pro SP4 ship with wireless networking facilities or do I need to
> install an optional component from the W2K CD or download anything?
>
> I've installed a Netgear WG311T card and the connection object in Control
> Panel | Networking is showing as LAN Connection rather that Wireless
> Connection. Is this normal for W2K? Certainly for XP there are two different
> types of object: one for LAN and another for Wireless.
>
> The Netgear "Wireless Assistant" / "Wireless Smart Wizard" app fails to
> start (brief hour glass cursor but no window appears and no event in Event
> Log) and I'm wondering if this could be a consequence of the connection
> object being wrongly identified.
>
> If anyone's got wireless working on W2K Pro, how is the connection
> identified? Did you have to install any wireless networking package in
> conjunction with the relevant card drivers?
>
>
>
>

Win2k does not have the "View Available Wireless Networks" applet,
meaning there is no way to scan for available networks without
installing vendor supplied software. If you are connecting to a
existing network, and know it's SSID and WEP/WPA keys, you can enter
them manually into the driver properties page in Device Manager, it
should then connect OK....

Personally I avoid installing any of the vendor supplied utilities,
especially on XP machines, as the XPSP2 WZC stuff works really well,
until vendor stuff gets installed, they normally fuck things right up...


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"Black Shuck" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:42cafdf2$0$2894$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Martin Underwood got up from the bar and shouted: :
>> Does W2K Pro SP4 ship with wireless networking facilities or do I need to
>> install an optional component from the W2K CD or download anything?
>>
>> I've installed a Netgear WG311T card and the connection object in Control
>> Panel | Networking is showing as LAN Connection rather that Wireless
>> Connection. Is this normal for W2K? Certainly for XP there are two
>> different types of object: one for LAN and another for Wireless.
>>
>> The Netgear "Wireless Assistant" / "Wireless Smart Wizard" app fails to
>> start (brief hour glass cursor but no window appears and no event in
>> Event
>> Log) and I'm wondering if this could be a consequence of the connection
>> object being wrongly identified.
>>
>> If anyone's got wireless working on W2K Pro, how is the connection
>> identified? Did you have to install any wireless networking package in
>> conjunction with the relevant card drivers?
>
> Win2k does not have the "View Available Wireless Networks" applet, meaning
> there is no way to scan for available networks without installing vendor
> supplied software. If you are connecting to a existing network, and know
> it's SSID and WEP/WPA keys, you can enter them manually into the driver
> properties page in Device Manager, it should then connect OK....
>
> Personally I avoid installing any of the vendor supplied utilities,
> especially on XP machines, as the XPSP2 WZC stuff works really well, until
> vendor stuff gets installed, they normally fuck things right up...


Thanks for that information. I'll remember it for the future. It's strange
that the SSID and WPA key are entered in Device Manager and not into the
connection object in Control Panel | Networking. Not the most obvious place
to look for it!

Unfortunately for my customer whose PC I was trying install the wireless
card in, I've been overtaken by events: having upgraded the PC from SP1 to
SP4, it started occasionally rebooting with a 0x0000007F STOP error and when
I installed the hotfix that MS recommended, the PC began generating some
sort of blue screen error every time it was booted (not sure what because
the screen was corrupted). So I've had to uninstall the wireless card, the
hotfix and SP4. The PC is pretty shagged and would probably benefit from a
total reinstallation: it takes about 5 minutes to boot up and about a minute
to start any new application or even to switch between one open app and
another :-( I've advised the customer that he may as well put the money
that I'd charge him to do the reinstallation into a new XP PC.

By the way, on XP, I've never had any problem with vendor wireless apps: the
various Netgear ones seem to work totally reliably, as do the ones in
various laptops with built-in wireless. I'm never sure what the advantage of
the vendor app is over WZC: both seem to work equally well. MS seem to have
done a good job: it's possible to switch WZC on and off (disabling or
enabling the vendor app in its place) without any ill effects.

Martin Underwood got up from the bar and shouted: :
> "Black Shuck" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:42cafdf2$0$2894$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Martin Underwood got up from the bar and shouted: :
>>> Does W2K Pro SP4 ship with wireless networking facilities or do I need to
>>> install an optional component from the W2K CD or download anything?
>>>
>>> I've installed a Netgear WG311T card and the connection object in Control
>>> Panel | Networking is showing as LAN Connection rather that Wireless
>>> Connection. Is this normal for W2K? Certainly for XP there are two
>>> different types of object: one for LAN and another for Wireless.
>>>
>>> The Netgear "Wireless Assistant" / "Wireless Smart Wizard" app fails to
>>> start (brief hour glass cursor but no window appears and no event in
>>> Event
>>> Log) and I'm wondering if this could be a consequence of the connection
>>> object being wrongly identified.
>>>
>>> If anyone's got wireless working on W2K Pro, how is the connection
>>> identified? Did you have to install any wireless networking package in
>>> conjunction with the relevant card drivers?
>> Win2k does not have the "View Available Wireless Networks" applet, meaning
>> there is no way to scan for available networks without installing vendor
>> supplied software. If you are connecting to a existing network, and know
>> it's SSID and WEP/WPA keys, you can enter them manually into the driver
>> properties page in Device Manager, it should then connect OK....
>>
>> Personally I avoid installing any of the vendor supplied utilities,
>> especially on XP machines, as the XPSP2 WZC stuff works really well, until
>> vendor stuff gets installed, they normally fuck things right up...
>
>
> Thanks for that information. I'll remember it for the future. It's strange
> that the SSID and WPA key are entered in Device Manager and not into the
> connection object in Control Panel | Networking. Not the most obvious place
> to look for it!
>
> Unfortunately for my customer whose PC I was trying install the wireless
> card in, I've been overtaken by events: having upgraded the PC from SP1 to
> SP4, it started occasionally rebooting with a 0x0000007F STOP error and when
> I installed the hotfix that MS recommended, the PC began generating some
> sort of blue screen error every time it was booted (not sure what because
> the screen was corrupted). So I've had to uninstall the wireless card, the
> hotfix and SP4. The PC is pretty shagged and would probably benefit from a
> total reinstallation: it takes about 5 minutes to boot up and about a minute
> to start any new application or even to switch between one open app and
> another :-( I've advised the customer that he may as well put the money
> that I'd charge him to do the reinstallation into a new XP PC.
>
> By the way, on XP, I've never had any problem with vendor wireless apps: the
> various Netgear ones seem to work totally reliably, as do the ones in
> various laptops with built-in wireless. I'm never sure what the advantage of
> the vendor app is over WZC: both seem to work equally well. MS seem to have
> done a good job: it's possible to switch WZC on and off (disabling or
> enabling the vendor app in its place) without any ill effects.
>
>

The vendor supplied apps purely exsit to cater for pre-XP machines, in a
XP enviroment, they serve no usefull purpose, and as a rule should not
be imstalled..

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