Thanks Barb--
I found the following solution while reading an amazon.com
review of the linksys WUSB11 (the adapter I am using). I
tried this an it worked perfectly!!!
rejrejrej's review of the WUSB11 from:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/cm/member-reviews/-
/AV5KOCV62PJ9I/1/ref=cm_cr_auth/002-8235375-2223227
"Alright people, I'm not affiliated with Linksys, there
are kids out there that have more answers than the Linksys
technical support. But I did get this WUSB11 to work with
XP automatically, even with my access point's SSID being
disabled. So whoever is saying that it doesn't work with
XP... at least try this out. It works, I've done it, I'm
running WinXP, the WUSB11 sees and connects to my non-SSID-
broadcasing access point automatically at every cold boot
and restart. Who knows, maybe this will make you XP users
wanna buy this product. (It does have better range than
the Netgear MA101.)
First of all, install the WUSB11 like linksys says. Make
sure your WUSB11 works first. Turn on your AP's SSID
broadcasting, turn off WEP, just to see if everything is
working fine. Return the POS if its DOA. If it does work,
turn your AP's security back on, obviously.
I'm sure you know about WinXP's Wireless Zero
Configuration service/utility, and how its the heart of
the WUSB11's compatibility problem. Quite simply, if your
AP is not broadcasting an SSID, WinXP will have a fitz
about not seeing you non-SSID-broadcasting AP, unless you
refresh a couple of times. Refreshing is a pain in the
neck, and isn't inherently obvious to someone like your
non-techie parents.
So why not disable WZC? Click Start > Control Panel >
Administrative Tools > Services > Wireless Zero
Configuration, then change the Startup type to "disabled".
Restart the computer.
"BLAH BLAH BLAH, I've done that, it doesn't work, you're a
nut, BLAH BLAH BLAH." Now take the standpoint of
installing this thing from a Windows 2000
perspective. "Hmm... I guess I have to somehow install the
linksys utility that is included in the setup CD that came
with my WUSB11, that usually lets Windows 2000 users
connect to an AP. But it doesn't work! I click on it, and
the CD doesn't even autorun! What's the deal?"
This is what I did. Pop the WUSB11 CD into your CD drive,
and explore it. For some reason, the setup.exe in the root
folder of the CD won't run under XP, probably to avoid
incompatibilities. Right click on the CD-ROM drive icon,
and click "explore". Then navigate to the "Utilities"
folder, and double-click on Setup.exe. This will install
the Linksys Instant Wireless LAN Monitor. It will not
alert you when the install is complete, but you should see
it in your program files list when it is done.
Next, copy all the files except setup.exe from the
D:\Utilies folder, into your C:\Program Files\WUSB11 WLAN
Monitor folder. Copy the WLAN.in file from the CD's root
folder into your C:\Program Files\WUSB11 WLAN Monitor
folder. The Setup.exe didn't install everything you
needed, so you have to put these files in manually, hence
the copy and paste.
Next, set a shorcut of the Instant Wireless LAN monitor to
your Startup folder in program files, so that the Instant
Wireless LAN monitor starts up automatically when you boot
up.
Restart for good measure.
When your computer boots up again, open the Instant
Wireless LAN monitor, and you should be able to access a
tab labeled "Profiles". That was the whole point of this
mess. That profiles tab allows you to configure which SSID
to connect to, WEP settings, etc. Enter all your AP's
settings. Reboot for good measure?
Your WinXP machine should now use the Instant Wireless LAN
monitor to automatically connect to your WAP at every boot.
If I missed something and it didn't, hopefully you get the
jist of what I'm trying to do. Disable XP's WZC service,
and use a 3rd party utility to connect to your WAP. In my
case, I used the included Linksys utility, and it worked
with some minor tweeking.
All in all, when I got everything working, the WUSB11
works fine. You will most likely lose throughput due to
WEP constraints, thats just the nature of wireless. This
wireless USB adapter is cheap compared to Orinoco's card
($100+), and performs better than Netgear's MA101. You
just gotta know how to configure it. "
