Windows 7: How to enable wifi automatically at startup ?

Hi

I'm new to 7 (all my desktops are XP Home).

With XP, the OS just connects automatically to my home wireless network.

However with this netbook, I have to do it manually everytime I reboot - it's a real pain.

Not sure if this OS, hardware or both.

Can anyone advise ?

I've looked at services.msc WiFi service and it's set to automatic already ....

thanks

PS Also, is there a way to get 7 to boot straight to desktop, without having to click on user icon or enter password ?



The reason these 2 are important to me is that this netbook is basically a music server, so when I come in from work etc., I'd like to just power up the netbook then walk off and play stuff via my network (Squeezebox) players

Hi Swayzak,

Here's a quick guide for you.

Good luck

Tim

Thanks

That box was already checked - but I also checked the one about SSID & now it connects at startup.

In addition I've enabled hibernation on powerdown, so now it just boots straight to desktop, without log in.

If that is the case then the problem may be that you didn't have your SSID set to broadcast in your routers set up page.

Either way it will work and it may be a bit more secure to not have the SSID being broadcast but if you have a friend or another machine that needs to connect wirelessly it might be easier to enable SSID in your routers set up page.

Awesome! and thanks for posting back the solution.

Note to chev65's advice: -Agreed, it's much better to hide the broadcasting.

Please ask a moderator to add this response to your post located @
http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer...less-boot.html
Read and you will see why...
SOLUTION! (at least for me on my Windows 7 laptop)
I just had this problem when I reinstalled the OS from the OEM disc (not the factory install disc) I figured the OEM disc had a driver conflict. And I even tried updating the latest Wireless driver. But I incorrectly pointed the finger at the wireless lan driver.
The HOT KEY strip (the one with the buttons that turn white when you touch them just above the keyboard) on my laptop also controls the Wi-Fi Radio on/off button. This was the problem. You need the original driver for that strip, even if your volume on the strip is working.
Background. Think of your wireless lan as two seperate devices... the radio is compared to the cord of an ethernet connection. The wireless lan card is the ethernet card. When you think about it as one device it is easy to see why so many people assume the problem is with the wireless lan card. But the important part is that a laptop usually divides the two up to save power. Controlling the radio from a button on the keyboard (or a function key) (mine is FN +F2) is another reason to think of the two as seperate items.
Before reaching this conclusion I tried using "allow the computer to turn this device off to save power" I also had tried High performance power option modes and other wireless radio from the control pannel in both plug-in and battery modes. I tried the turn wireless netork on and off as well. There were plenty of reasons to think this was going to fix the problem.
I alos tried going with the above script but found that "WisWBSet.exe" was missing from windows 7. I also tried a Java script but could not find the key code for the FN button, nor the combination of the FN button (hold) and the F2 key combo.

So update your HOTkey strip driver... see if that doesnt fix your problem.