How to remove Linksys Wireless Driver in registry

[GeraldF]

My original network configuration for Vista Premium
included 2 network cards, one an Nvidia and one a
Wireless G linksys. I removed the Wireless card, as I no
longer need the Wireless network.

Unfortunately, when Vista boots, if I do not finish
logging onto the OS withing 5 minutes the OS unloads the
nvidia network driver and the OS seeks the Wireless
network instead. If I log in at that time it shows no
network is available as the wireless network is
unavailable.

I have tried removing all references to the Linksys
Card, but the registry contains a reference to the PCI
location for the card, Vista does not allow me to remove
it in the registry even if I boot in safe mode.

1-How do I get rid of the hardware reference to the
removed Linksys wireless?

2-Is it possible to force Vista to reevaluate the
hardware profile?

 

[John Barnes]

You should be able to right click on the registry key and change ownership
so you can delete it. If it isn't too hard, you could also insert the card,
uninstall it in device manager, then remove the card.

 

[John Barnes]

You may want to uninstall the driver while you are there.

 

[GeraldF]

You should be able to right click on the registry key and change ownership
so you can delete it. If it isn't too hard, you could also insert the card,
uninstall it in device manager, then remove the card.

Keeps telling me that I cannot change the ownership of
the PCI/Ven.. key. I may have to open the box and place
the card in as you suggested. Should be able to do this
from the OS I would think, but then again this is Vista.

Thanks

 

[John Barnes]

Always make sure you go into regedit logged on as administrator or at least
use run as administrator to get maximum capabilities

 

[noaim]

This might be something stupid to say but. Have you removed the hardware
from the system? If the hardware is still on the system it will keep
reinstalling it wont it?

 

[GeraldF]

This might be something stupid to say but. Have you removed the hardware
from the system? If the hardware is still on the system it will keep
reinstalling it wont it?

The hardware was removed. The reference remains in the
Registry if you look under networks and under the
hardware profile hklm/system/currentcontrolset/PCI

 

[Joe Morris]

(e-mail address removed) says...

The hardware was removed. The reference remains in the
Registry if you look under networks and under the
hardware profile hklm/system/currentcontrolset/PCI

Try the following procedure to uninstall the drivers for the
no-longer-connected device:

1) Open a command window with elevated privileges (start -> programs ->
accessories; right-click "Command Prompt", select "Run as Administrator" and
approve the selection.

2) In the command window, execute the following commands:

SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1

START DEVMGMT.MSC

(above shown in caps for clarity. Lowercase is fine.)

The second command starts the Device Manager. It MUST be started from the
elevated-privilege command window for this procedure to work. Also, be
careful not to mix up where you need to type "DEVMGR" and where you need
"DEVMGMT"; every time I use this I have to stop and recall which spelling
goes where.

3) In Device Manager, click the VIEW menu item and select "Show hidden
devices".


Hopefully this will result in the Linksys card becoming visible (but dimmed,
indication a nonpresent device) in the Network Adapters section.
Right-click the entry and select UNINSTALL.


4) Go get a beer. Use it either to celebrate success, or to drown the
sorrow of failure.


Joe Morris

 

[GeraldF]

You may want to uninstall the driver while you are there.

Well one way to force a hardware reevaluation is to do a
reinstall update. Took about 30 minutes, but all is now
working well and all references to the removed wireless
are now gone. Fortunatly all the software still works,
although some programs require re-regestering including
Vista.