Problem with Vista & multiple wireless network ports

I have more than one wireless access point (WP) in our network. Initially,
I set up Vista to use them presuming that like previous OS versions, Vista
would default to the last used connection. Apparently, this is not
happening, and after realizing that we had no control over which WP it
uses on boot-up, I "removed" all but one of the WPs from Vista's list of
network connections. At least, I thought I did. For some reason Vista
reconnects to a "removed" WP whenever it reboots.

* If I disconnect from "removed" WPs after boot-up, Vista will not
re-connect to it, as expected, since it is "removed".

* On boot-up, it reconnects to the "removed" WP. This screws up several
other operations that are specific to one or more of the WPs.

* When an "automatic update" is performed, Vista reconnects the "removed"
WP.

How can I permanently delete WPs from Vista to stop this behavior?

I haven't seen anything like this "background reconfiguration of removed
services or devices" since Windows ME, which I tolerated for a whole week
before permanently scrapping it. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with Vista on
the notebook it came with. Any insights and/or pointers are appreciated.

Neil

On my home network, my Vista PC is able to see and use the XP PC, but the XP
PC cannot see or use the Vista PC.

The Vista PC can access drives and files on the XP PC, and can map virtual
dirves to the XP. Also, I have printer sharing "on" on the XP, and the
Vista PC can print via the XP PC. The XP PC shows up on the full network
map on the Vista PC. The Link Layer Topology Discovery update has been
installed on the XP PC. So far, so good (this took many hours!).

Sharing for "Everyone" is "on" on the Vista PC. In the Network and Sharing
Center: Network Discovery, File Sharing and Public Folder Sharing are all
"on" and Password Protected Sharing is off. The firewalls on each computer
are set to accept traffic from each other.

Nevertheless, the XP PC cannot see or access the Vista computer. The Vista
computer does not show up as a network location on the XP PC. Please send
suggestions on how to fix this problem. I cannot determine the steps to
establish a connection. None of the options such as "set up a home network"
(which is already set up) or "establish a direct connection via serial,
parallel or infrared port" (which I don't want to do) seem to apply.

Thank you.

PS the system is set up as follows;

Cable modem
|
Router - network cable to XP PC
|
Wireless router -- wireless connection to Vista

Slugging my way through this, I managed to fully remove the other WAPs by
editing the registry. (Why weren't the registry entries removed when I
deleted the devices via the "Manage Wireless..." interface?)

Originally, on boot-up the connection would read "Connected to:
WAPnameA(WAPnameB)". Now, what I get on boot-up is a connection to
Network(WPname), and the icon in the Network Connections interface shows
"PC -> NETWORK -> Internet". Under this configuration, some devices such
as a wireless printer associated with that WAP don't work (indicated as
"off-line").

If I disconnect and then reconnect to the WP, it is reads "Connected to:
WPname", all is well.

Any idea of how I get it to boot properly so that the user of this
notebook doesn't have to go through all that?

TIA

Neil


Recently, Neil Gould <neil@terratu.com> posted:

> I have more than one wireless access point (WP) in our network.
> Initially, I set up Vista to use them presuming that like previous OS
> versions, Vista would default to the last used connection.
> Apparently, this is not happening, and after realizing that we had no
> control over which WP it uses on boot-up, I "removed" all but one of
> the WPs from Vista's list of network connections. At least, I thought
> I did. For some reason Vista reconnects to a "removed" WP whenever it
> reboots.
>
> * If I disconnect from "removed" WPs after boot-up, Vista will not
> re-connect to it, as expected, since it is "removed".
>
> * On boot-up, it reconnects to the "removed" WP. This screws up
> several other operations that are specific to one or more of the WPs.
>
> * When an "automatic update" is performed, Vista reconnects the
> "removed" WP.
>
> How can I permanently delete WPs from Vista to stop this behavior?
>
> I haven't seen anything like this "background reconfiguration of
> removed services or devices" since Windows ME, which I tolerated for
> a whole week before permanently scrapping it. Unfortunately, I'm
> stuck with Vista on the notebook it came with. Any insights and/or
> pointers are appreciated.
>
> Neil