StrataFrame Forum » StrataFrame Application Framework - V1 » Issues » Activation under Vista with Wireless card

Activation under Vista with Wireless card

Cyrus Welch — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 21:12:13 GMT

Ok, I've looked through the forums and can't find any reference to this. I've noticed multiple references to binding to a wireless network adapter as well as references to using a USB network adapter to allow keeping activated on both a desktop and laptop. However, when I activate, my wireless adapter doesn't show in the list (interestingly my bluetooth PAN adapter shows on my laptop and my VMWare adapters show on my desktop). This is true of both the built in wireless on the laptop and a netgear WG111v2 on either one. This means I HAVE to remember to deactivate from the desktop before I leave for the day (I carry the laptop with me so if I forget to deactivate it that's not a big deal) or I have problems.

Is this a known issue with Vista and not seeing the wireless adapters? BTW, I run Vistal Ultimate on both x64 on the desktop and x86 on the laptop. Unfortunately I can't move the bluetooth dongle back and forth because I use a bluetooth mouse on the laptop and I use it off and on through the day in the office.

I'm not sure why it can see the belkin bluetooth dongle but not the netgear wireless dongle. Is there something I need to do or am I just out of luck?

Thanks in advance for any help, while I can work with things currently, it's rather a pain especially if I could just be able to plug in the netgear wireless dongle on the machine I'm going to be working on at any given time.

RE: Activation under Vista with Wireless card

Cyrus Welch — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 21:12:13 GMT

[quote][b]Ben Chase (10/30/2007)[/b][hr]Here's the posted fix:

http://forum.strataframe.net/FindPost12266.aspx

Let me know if it doesn't get you activated on the wireless card :)[/quote]

So far it seems to work fine. I'll test it on my desktop (already tested on the laptop) in a few minutes, if I don't say it didn't work that means it did (which I fully expect it to). Many thanks.

RE: Activation under Vista with Wireless card

StrataFrame Team — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:08:10 GMT

Here's the posted fix:

http://forum.strataframe.net/FindPost12266.aspx

Let me know if it doesn't get you activated on the wireless card :)

RE: Activation under Vista with Wireless card

StrataFrame Team — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 08:58:26 GMT

No, I think we were trying to just reduce the number of adapters that whould show up in most users combo boxes to reduce confusion (most people don't need to see their 1394 fire wire connection listed). However, looks like the Wireless80211 type is valid and has just been left off. I'll post and update that will allow you to active on that network card type.

RE: Activation under Vista with Wireless card

Cyrus Welch — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 12:27:32 GMT

[quote][b]Trent L. Taylor (10/26/2007)[/b][hr]What are the types that your card shows? In the sample I gave you, put a break point on the nicInfo within the For Loop and see what the NetworkInterfaceType is set to for you wireless card. This is what is causing the IsValidInterfaceType to fail.[/quote]

Wireless Network Connection 2 (Dell 1350 NIC) shows as Wireless80211 and comes back as false.

Bluetooth Network Connection 5 shows as Ethernet and comes back as true.

Local Area Connection (build in eithernet) shows as Ethernet and comes back as true

Local Area Connection 2 (the netgear USB Wireless adapter) shows as Wireless80211 and comes back as false.

So it looks like only interfaces that come back as "Ethernet" are being seen as valid. This doesn't seem all that great to me. If needed I guess I can go out and buy a USB ethernet adapter just for this, but that seems a bit silly given that I have a couple of these netgear things laying around doing nothing else.

I remember having a problem like this with VMWare versions prior to 5.5 IIRC not seeing wireless adapters as being able to be bridged. 5.5 and higher don't have that problem, but then I'm not doing virtual machines on my laptop at the moment anyways.

RE: Activation under Vista with Wireless card

Trent L. Taylor — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 09:55:04 GMT

What are the types that your card shows? In the sample I gave you, put a break point on the nicInfo within the For Loop and see what the NetworkInterfaceType is set to for you wireless card. This is what is causing the IsValidInterfaceType to fail.

RE: Activation under Vista with Wireless card

Cyrus Welch — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:44:16 GMT

Ok, when running the code, that the wireless adapter shows (it better, it's actively in use). However it shows false for valid interface, and the netgear does the same (it's not in use but it is enabled).

The built in adapter is a dell wireless 1350 mini-pci card and is actually actively in use with a valid IP address. If all I had was the wireless I would be in trouble since I would not be able to activate. What would cause an active in use adapter to show as not being a valid interface?

RE: Activation under Vista with Wireless card

Trent L. Taylor — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 21:50:37 GMT

Cyrus,

[quote]Is this a known issue with Vista and not seeing the wireless adapters?[/quote]

No, this is not necessarily a function of StrataFrame that is causing your problem as this is a very common setup...including me and I have activated in this very scenario in the past few days.

First of all, we enumerate all of the network adapters on the machine using the NetworkInterface class within .NET:

[codesnippet]For each adapter as NetworkInterface in NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces()
'--
Next[/codesnippet]

We then determine if it is an IP enabled interface using an SF class:

[codesnippet]If Not MicroFour.StrataFrame.Tools.Common.IsValidInterfaceType(adapter) Then
Continue For
End If[/codesnippet]

So one of two things is happening on your network adapter. First, it is either not enabled or visible. Second, the OS or .NET interface is not returning a valid IP enabled state for adapter. You can write a very simple program with this logic to see what is going on with your network adapter. Past that there is not much else I can suggest. The interfaces and IP information for the NIC is coming straight from the OS.

Sample Test:

[codesnippet]Imports System.Net.NetworkInformation

Private Sub CheckNetworkAdapters()
Dim nicInfo as String

    For each adapter as NetworkInterface In NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces()
        nicInfo = adapter.Name & adapter.NetworkInterfaceType.ToString()
        MsgBox(nicInfo)

MsgBox(MicroFour.StrataFrame.Tools.Common.IsValidInterfaceType(adapter).ToString())
Next
End Sub[/codesnippet]

Try that and see if you can determine what is going on with your NIC. Hope that helps :)