Windows Vista WiFi Connection - Not a No Brainer
The other day I wrote about a problem connecting a new Gateway laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium (the sticker on the laptop said “Vista Basic”) to wireless networks - WiFi and Vista Problems.
With or without WiFi security, the Vista laptop would connect, but not obtain a DHCP address. Interestingly, setting an address manually would not work either. Yesterday, after getting the same results on a new Netgear router and an hour googling and trying anything I can think of, I got it to work.
I have no idea if it is coincidence or not, but after I set an address in the “alternative” tab on the IPv4 properties and disabled IPv6 (which alone did not work), the laptop picked up an address and started working!
I rebooted; it still worked. I removed the alternative address, rebooted, and it still worked. Rebooted again - just for good measure - and the WiFi again connected and picked up a DHCP address.
Vista is definitely not quite as straightforward in connecting to WiFi networks as XP is; however, at least it does not automatically connect to unprotected networks. Vista treats unsecured WiFi as it should - suspiciously.
