Wireless network not working before login

[Salmoneus]

I have installed a Belkin Wireless Network Access point (54g) in our existing LAN, and fitted a PC with a Belkin Wireless Netword Card (also 54g). Everything works fine afer i have logged in with a LOCAL profile and started the Belkin systray application. THEN and only THEN is the network connedtion ok. It works fine, even excellent, but my question is: What shall I do to establish a network connection BEFORE I login and start the Belkin app??? I need the network to login to a central profile, map network drives etc.....

Thanks for any input...

/Salmoneus

[dfeng]

I'm also wondering how to get the wireless service to connect upon startup and before logging in (so that shares can be accessed, remote control sessions can be established, etc.). Is there any way to do this? Is this normal behavior with wireless cards?

[spiderbite]

This is not a wireless issue. This is your networks issue of not allowing network access with out a login.

As long as you can see that you are associated to the AP, the wireless works.

Wireless association occurs at OSI level 2, but Authentication (access) occurs at level 3. Very handy to remember when troubleshooting.

Somehow you have to defeat the login requirement and you probably have to be the Admin to do that.

[dfeng]

Thanks for the reply.

When you say "authentication", are you referring to network resource athentication, or access point authentication? I am on my home network and simply would like my laptop to create an association and obtain an IP address on startup (before login, as is the case with normal wired connections).

Is there a setting in Windows XP that prevents this? Does Windows XP process the WEP key only after login?

Thanks for your help.

[spiderbite]

Maybe we are describing two different things.

authentication in my understanding means that once the radios have successfully found each other (association) by using the same ssid's ---now the process of authentication can begin. The handshaking and all that. This is accomplished by providing the correct WEP key or having the secret code to the RADIUS server etc...


Your problem - I think- is that you cannot begin the authentication process until you have logged on with a local profile.

other than not having a profile or turning it off I have no idea how this would work.

If this is a home network, presumably you had to set up a profile in order to have one cause you trouble now. Make that stop and see what happens...


let me know...as you can tell by now networking a printer is a skill I have recently acquired.

But the wireless should not be the issue here.