Vista Wireless Problems

Not that I’m advocating anyone use Vista when Windows 7 is so superior in almost every way, but I did just come across a little problem and it’s slightly concealed solution!

It seems that Vista “intelligently” disables the “WLAN AutoConfig” service if it detects your system is not a laptop. This probably seemed like a great idea at the time, and does slightly reduce the attack surface of your system, but also makes it impossible to use wireless until it is re-enabled!

A common symptom of this problem is the message “Windows wireless service is not running on this computer” when trying to use wireless for the first time.

So, if you ever find yourself in this, increasingly rare, situation, just;

1. Click on “Start”, right click “Computer” and then select “Manage”.
(If prompted to “allow” the operation, do so).

2. In Computer Management, under “Services and Applications”, select “Services”.

3. Scroll down to the “WLAN AutoConfig” Service, double-click it and, in the window that opens, set it’s “Startup Type” to “Automatic”, then click “Start” and “OK”.

You should be back up and running!

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