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I use a wireless network to connect to the internet. Is there a way I can
have windows automatically connect to this network prior to logon? I have
various programs which automatically authenticate with an integrated windows
password, but they run in the startup window. I want them to run after the
network connection is established. I know these programs work correctly if I
am plugged in to the wired network, but because the wireless connection
doesn't occur until after login, it is messing things up. Thanks in advance.
Jason

Hi Jason,

The Windows Wireless client program (Windows Zero Config or WZC) does indeed
automatically connect prior to the user logging on in most cases.
Basically, there are 2 cases in which the behavior changes most
significantly:

1) The wireless connection has not been configured to use 802.1x
authentication. This is the usual home scenario/setup.
2) The wireless connection has been configured to use 802.1x
authentication. This is the usual enterprise scenario/setup.

In the first case, assuming the connection has been configured correctly at
some point (e.g. the authentication and encryption settings correctly match
the settings of the network in question), then with regards to initiating,
maintaining, or terminating the connection, WZC does not differentiate
between whether the user is logged on or logged off.

In the second case, it gets more complicated. WZC does take note of whether
the user is logged on or logged off. In the most typical deployment cases,
when the user logs off, WZC tries to connect using machine credentials, and
when the user logs on, WZC tries to connect using user credentials. So, it
is possible that a given machine may not have valid credentials to
successfully pass 802.1x authentication, and only the user on that machine
has valid credentials once he/she logs on. In such a case, WZC will fail to
connect in the logged off state and no further attempts to connect will be
made until the user logs on.

So I am supposing that your environment is a typical enterprise setup with a
RADIUS servers and 802.1x authentication being used. The next step I would
take is making sure your machine(s) have valid credentials for the domain.


"Jason Ryon" <> wrote in message
news:35F24801-21E7-4BA2-BA46-...
>I use a wireless network to connect to the internet. Is there a way I can
> have windows automatically connect to this network prior to logon? I have
> various programs which automatically authenticate with an integrated
> windows
> password, but they run in the startup window. I want them to run after
> the
> network connection is established. I know these programs work correctly
> if I
> am plugged in to the wired network, but because the wireless connection
> doesn't occur until after login, it is messing things up. Thanks in
> advance.
> Jason