Hi, I've been having an annoying problem with Windows 7 and usb wireless N adapters. The USB Wireless card used to work in my desktop, but now this problem means it won't work! Basically whenever I put a wireless N card in my computer it is "Disabled" in the network connections page. The device is said to be working properly under Device Manager. If I right click on the "Disabled" adapter under Network Connections and click on enable, it works along as if its doing something and stays "Disabled". Also, the diagnose option under right click suggests this: "There might be a problem with the driver for the Wireless Network Connection adapter". Using it to try automatic repairs does not fix it. Now at first I thought perhaps it might be the Hardware (USB network adapter), so I tried it in my laptop and it works perfectly. Interestly a friend of mine owns the same card and it works in his Windows XP laptop, and used to work in his main laptop but for a while now he has had the same permanently disabled problem that I have! I am running Windows 7 64-bit and he is running 32-bit. Okay so perhaps it is the drivers. I just went out and bought another (different make) wireless N USB dongle, and guess what, it has the exact same problem even though it will be using different drivers! It doesn't make a difference if you install the drivers off the supplied cd, web download from manufacturer or the ones Windows automatically gives you. I even tried reinstalling Windows 7, and that made no difference either!!! Also, it doesn't make a difference which USB slot the dongle is in, same problem. The first USB Wireless N card that both myself and my friend own is a Tenda W322U, which worked flawlessly with both the generic windows drivers and the CD-supplied ones. The second card that only I own but also has the same problem in my friend's laptop is a brand new Edimax EW7711UTn. Both are nice looking devices, and used to work a few months ago! This is really starting to hack me off, so I definitely appreciate any help you can give! My friend would also appreciate the help as it will seemingly fix his problem too :) Thanks. Me: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, 4GB ram, All the windows updates. Friend: Windows 7 Professional 32-Bit, 4GB ram, All the windows updates.

Ok search for USBFlags here or google..see if that helps.second thing is only the VERY lastest versons of those devices supportwin7 and they need the lastest firmware

I bought the Edimax dongle yesterday and it arrived today, with Windows 7 compatability plastered all over the box so its fairly easy to assume that its compatable! (There were reviews from people supporting this) and besides the Tenda dongle was working perfectly for a long time until I reinstalled Win7 a few months ago. (I reinstalled recently too but no change. Similarly it used to work for my flatmate until a few months ago too) The other thing is that I gave my Tenda dongle to a flatmate of mine also running windows 7 Professional 32-bit about an hour ago. He plugged it in, and it works very fast straight away with none of these problems. I assume the Edimax one will work flawlessly on some other flatmates Win7 setups too... And what is most weird is that the friend I mentioned earlier has the same problem I do with both the Tenda and the Edimax, but others dont (it works on my Win7 laptop ok). I looked up USBFlags, from what I understand I should either make a key for it or delete the one which is there and replug the device. I looked at my USB dongle and worked out the registry key (from vendor, product and rev ID) it falls under, and it is there already. Are there some subkeys I should put under it to fix this? Thanks

have a bit more info that might help: The "software" interfaces that came bundled with both the Tenda and the Edimax USB dongles say that the "Wireless LAN Card is Disconnected" if you hover over their icons in the system tray. They both did this, and an ipconfig /all does not show the USB dongle anywhere in the list. So how do I get the USB device fully recognised, as it shows in Device Manager but can't be used it seems. Additionally I deleted the key for the USB dongle under the USBFlags registry key, and let it get remade automatically. No Fix.

Contact the equipment manufacturers and ask them what is up with their drivers.Vote if answered or helpful, I am running for Office (joke)! IT/Developer, Windows/Linux/Mainframe RaidMax Smilodon, 680W, Asus M2NBP-VM CSM AMD X2 4200+, 2GB DDR2-800, x600, more details on my site

I would get the latest Windows 7 drivers from Edimax for that device here and try that http://www.edimax.com/en/support_detail.php?pl1_idSelect=support.php%3Fpl1_id%3D1%26mwsp%3D1&pl1_id=1&pd_id=292&button=Go#01MCSE, MCSA, MCDST [If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.]

Thank you both, I may have to resort to phoning the manufacturers for both but if there's no way to sort it yourself chances they're able to do nowt about it. :) The latest driver from the Edimax site didn't fix anything at all :-( No difference with it or without it.

Does anyone have any ideas that may fix this? If I install the edimax driver and make sure all the other drivers are uninstalled beforehand, windows does not show it under network adapters and it reports a driver problem (code 39) in device manager. Of course this is a generic code for faulty/corrupted etc. drivers so its no help! Someone who had the same problem, and a fix (for him): I tried the Ralink drivers which apparantly apply to my dongle too but no fix. http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/42703-belkin-f5d8053-n-wireless-usb-adapter-problem.html Cheers

Hi, I know you have tried reinstalling Windows 7, plugging it to your friend's laptop and updating its driver. Since the issue also occurs after these, and another USB wireless card works fine, I also suspect this issue may related to this card itself. Therefore, it is also recommended that you contact Edimax Support to check this: Edimax Support Hope this helps. Thanks.Nicholas Li - MSFT

Hi there I never normally reply to these forums but after experiencing the same painful process above I had to respond for any one else out there. The solution I have found is to uninstall anti-virus & firewall software, then re-install drivers and (once working) re-install the previous mentioned software. I recently read another forum which mentioned the same symptoms (wireless adapter being permanantly disabled / greyed out), and the reader mentioned that it was a Kaspersky problem as it installed a network filter (http://www.sevenforums.com/network-sharing/46887-enable-wireless-adapter.html) on the wireless card. In my circumstance it turns out it was in fact specifically Zone Alarm and not my AV software (I'm not using Kaspersky, I'm using Avast!). Hope this helps - took me ages to figure out!!

Thanks -- I was having exactly the same problem (two different USB adapaters, two different manufactures, latest Win7 drivers for each). My AV-FW software is ZoneAlarm, and I tried turning it off, but that did not solve it. After reading your post, I uninstalled it -- and the USB adapater installed immediately. Thanks. ..bruce..

Try the Microsoft Security Essentials in place of Zone Alarm and see if that helps at all. I have tested MSE on XP, Vista and Windows 7 and its fine with all of them. My MVP is for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 IT, and I am getting increasingly good with Visual Studio. Developer | Windows IT | Chess | Economics | Hardcore Games | Vegan Advocate | PC Reviews

Thanks for the solution!!!! It was my ZoneAlarm that was causing this issue! Once I removed it the installation was smooth. I wish I've saw this post six hours ago, it's the only one that has a solution to what I believe is a widespread issue.

That was it!!! Ridiculous. I had the exact same issue.