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Vista WLAN Autoconfig service solution!!!

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ToiletDuck

Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2002
I have encountered a problem which seemed to have no solution. I was using my laptop earlier online then turned it off. After returning a few hours later I then restarted my system to find that there were no wireless networks to be detected. I found this odd considering I was in a hotel where each floor has it's own wireless network. Normally I would find anywhere between 5-10 networks.

I started to go through everything. I tried the trouble shooter. It told me "Windows Wireless service is not enabled would you like to enable it" or something along those lines. Of course I'd click yes however it would return an error saying it couldn't.

So next I went to the search bar in vista and typed in services.msc and found that the WLAN service was set to "automatic" but wouldn't start. I tried multiple times and kept getting a windows error. To google, and here, I went.

After several hours of searching and reading through some 15+ forums I had tried tons of solutions. Apparently this is something that happens quite often with vista. I wanted to make this post so anyone experiencing this could easily find the solution instead of trying a half dozen other "solutions" that did nothing.

My research led to two solutions.

1. You have a computer virus. Use multiple online programs to find which one you have. After you have found it, cleaned, and removed it use your windows disk to repair windows.

IF YOU DON'T HAVE A VIRUS HAVE NO FEAR. THERE IS NO NEED TO INSTALL ANY PATCHES, RUN ANY "UNAUTHENTIC FIXES" OR GO HUNTING FOR THAT WINDOWS REPAIR DISK!!!!

2. Click on the "start" button then in the search line type 'CMD' minus the quotes. Do not hit enter. With CMD in the search box hold down Ctrl-Shift and press the Enter key. This will bring up a command prompt elevated to Administrative level. Next type the command 'sfc /scannow'. Your system will start doing a self diagnosis. The diagnosis can take up to 10min. At the end you will get a message of everything it has found. Once it is completed go back to the search bar and type 'services.msc'. Once the services window opens scroll down to WLAN Autoconfig, select it, and manually start the service. YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO MANUALLY DO THIS AGAIN UNLESS VISTA CAUSES THIS ERROR IN THE FUTURE!!!

I tried several fixes from download .rar patches off websites to doing regedit. This has fixed it and I have restarted my system multiple times to check. I only hope I can save someone the trouble I went through.

Duck
 
Ok, I've run into a similar problem to yours, except that I can see wireless connections (including my own) but windows refuses to connect to them.
It's a Dell Inspiron E1705 laptop running Vista 32, with a Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN mini-card.
The wireless connection is enabled (there's no physical switch on the outside, but func-F2 turns it on and off).
I've tried new drivers for the network card (twice), I've tried manually starting/stopping the (already started) WLAN autoconfig two ways, from the GUI and from command line w/ administrator access. It's set to automatic and it is started when I look at it.
I know my network works because I can connect with my PSP.
I've tried WEP, WPA and open, all with very simple keys (or no key as appropriate).
I can see my network but when it tries to connect it times out right away, and the only advice windows gives is to get close to the router, but it's right by the router.
And networking -does- work on the laptop because I can plug a cat5 cable in the back and zoom around the web all I want. The longest it has taken has been about 2 seconds, maybe less.

I've been searching about a week for a solution to this problem... and I found this post and was very hopeful. But the system file checker found files that were corrupt, but couldn't fix all of them. It posted a log file, but even as an administrator when I try to open the file it says 'Access Denied'.

I'm || <--- that close to trying a whole new wireless card, but it's not my computer so I'm hesitant to spend money on it, and I don't think it would work anyway. I think at this point I just want to try reinstalling windows. Has anyone else had a similar experience and found a magic way to fix it? Please?
 
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