MS Virtual Wifi miniport won't enable on Aspire One A0722

Hi,

I had a problem earlier on my Acer Aspire One AO722-C52kk (Win7 Home Prem 64bit) with the wireless, and to try and solve it I uninstalled and reinstalled the Atheros and Broadcom drivers (using the ones both from the eRecovery Management app and also from the Acer UK website). That worked and got me my internet access back, but unfortunately it has left a problem behind on my Microsoft Virtual Wifi Miniport.

In the original installation that was enabled and available, and I could use it to set up a virtual hotspot and mini wifi network using the Aspire One as the router linked into my normal network. However since the reinstallation that miniport is listed as grey and disabled, and when I try to enable it it says "enabling..." then "enabled", but the icon just stays grey and lists up as disabled still.

The four drivers I reinstalled were:

LAN_Atheros_1.0.0.39_W7x86x64
WLAN_Atheros_9.2.0.412_W7x86 x64
WLAN_Broadcom_5.100.235.19_W7x86x64
WLAN_Realtek_2019.5.0223.2011_W7x86x64

I also tried to remove (including delete) them and reinstall fresh under safe mode, but it didn't help re-enable the miniport. And if I try and then update the driver for the miniport on the internet, it does find a new driver but one that is not signed (and even if that is installed, the adapter still won't ungrey and enable under the network centre list).

All I want is things back to how they were originally with all the virtual wifi hotspot capability. If anyone has experience or knowledge of how to solve this and get things back to how they were I'd be most appreciative. Whilst the wifi and LAN network connections are now back and working, having the virtual Wifi hotspot capability is handy when travelling and I want to hook up multiple devices to one hotel wifi connection.

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silizium

This guide might help...

DarrenHill

Thank for the link. Unfortnately it's not quite what I need - I know how to set up the network itself from the windows side, but the issue is with the drivers underneath I think. As I said originally, at the moment the miniport is disabled and won't allow me to enable it, hence when I try to start up the virtual wifi I get an error that it isn't in the correct state (which is true).

I'm beginning to think that the issue is with the drivers, as there are no Acer drivers (on the website or the built-in recovery app) for the miniport and when you try and do an update from within windows itself (to get them from the net) the driver it finds is not signed. I think this lack of signature is possibly what is causing the issue, so tonight I am going to go on a few other manufacturers websites and see if I can find a suitable signed driver for the Broadcom hardware that I can drop into place.

What I'm after is if anyone knows of a suitable signed driver, to save me having to go on a web-trawl to try and find the correct one for the hardware. What I have is close (as the wifi itself is working, as is the LAN) but either it's not quite right or I'm missing that final component to allow me to enable again the virtual miniport adapter.

silizium

Hm, I see you tested several drivers from different vendors:

The four drivers I reinstalled were:

LAN_Atheros_1.0.0.39_W7x86x64
WLAN_Atheros_9.2.0.412_W7x86 x64
WLAN_Broadcom_5.100.235.19_W7x86x64
WLAN_Realtek_2019.5.0223.2011_W7x86x64

Do you know what WLAN adapter model is build-in? It doesn't seems so...

DarrenHill

Yes, it's a Broadcom 4727 (sub-system 051014E4 - full device instance path PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4727&SUBSYS_051014E4&REV_01\4&9EBC17D&0&00AB). The Atheros is the LAN NIC, and I have no idea about if/where the Realtek comes into things.

That list of 4 drivers comes from Acer's own driver website (http://www.acer.co.uk/ac/en/GB/content/drivers) where if I put in my system's SNID from it's base label and select the correct OS I get offered those (for a correctly identified AO722 model).

I've put all 4 in, but if I remember correctly having the Realtek driver there or not makes no difference to the issue. I will try a step-by-step addition later, clearing out all of the network drivers and then adding them one by one and testing what I get.

But I think the underlying issue is that I don't have a MS signed miniport wifi driver available in this lot. If I just do a fresh install of all 4 the miniport adapter has the issue (not being able to be enabled) and if I then try to update it's driver via the web I get offered one, but it's not MS signed and if I understand correctly all the drivers need to be signed for the virtual wifi under Win7 to be available.

My expectation would be that the website would offer drivers specifically suitable for the actual hardware (as it's being done via the SNID of this specific system) but seemingly not. Hence why I'm trying to get some support for the problem....

Drivers.PNG

silizium

Open your PowerShell console as administrator, enter the following command:

netsh wlan show all

Post the output here. Edit critical personal information if you want.

DarrenHill

C:\Windows\system32>netsh wlan show all
Wireless System Information Summary
(Time: 04/07/2014 07:00:55 GMT Daylight Time)


=======================================================================
============================== SHOW DRIVERS ===========================
=======================================================================


Interface name: Wireless Network Connection 2

    Driver                    : Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter
    Vendor                    : Broadcom
    Provider                  : Broadcom
    Date                      : 15/02/2011
    Version                   : 5.100.235.19
    INF file                  : C:\Windows\INF\oem6.inf
    Files                     : 5 total
                                C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\BCMWL664.SYS
                                C:\Windows\system32\bcmihvsrv64.dll
                                C:\Windows\system32\bcmihvui64.dll
                                C:\Windows\system32\drivers\vwifibus.sys
                                C:\Windows\system32\bcmwlcoi.dll
    Type                      : Native Wi-Fi Driver
    Radio types supported     : 802.11n 802.11g 802.11b
    FIPS 140-2 mode supported : Yes
    Hosted network supported  : Yes
    Authentication and cipher supported in infrastructure mode:
                                Open            None
                                Open            WEP
                                Shared          None
                                Shared          WEP
                                WPA2-Enterprise TKIP
                                WPA2-Personal   TKIP
                                WPA2-Enterprise CCMP
                                WPA2-Personal   CCMP
                                WPA2-Enterprise Vendor defined
                                WPA2-Enterprise Vendor defined
                                Vendor defined  Vendor defined
                                Vendor defined  Vendor defined
                                Vendor defined  TKIP
                                Vendor defined  CCMP
                                WPA-Enterprise  TKIP
                                WPA-Personal    TKIP
                                WPA-Enterprise  CCMP
                                WPA-Personal    CCMP
    Authentication and cipher supported in ad-hoc mode:
                                WPA2-Personal   CCMP
                                Open            None
                                Open            WEP
    IHV service present       : Yes
    IHV adapter OUI           : [00 10 18], type: [00]
    IHV extensibility DLL path: C:\Windows\System32\bcmihvsrv64.dll
    IHV UI extensibility ClSID: {aaa6dee9-31b9-4f18-ab39-82ef9b06eb73}
    IHV diagnostics CLSID     : {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}


=======================================================================
============================= SHOW INTERFACES =========================
=======================================================================


There is 1 interface on the system:

    Name                   : Wireless Network Connection 2
    Description            : Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter
    GUID                   : <removed>
    Physical address       : <removed>
    State                  : connected
    SSID                   : bitbuzz
    BSSID                  : <removed>
    Network type           : Infrastructure
    Radio type             : 802.11g
    Authentication         : Open
    Cipher                 : None
    Connection mode        : Auto Connect
    Channel                : 6
    Receive rate (Mbps)    : 54
    Transmit rate (Mbps)   : 54
    Signal                 : 78%
    Profile                : bitbuzz

    Hosted network status  : Not available


=======================================================================
=========================== SHOW HOSTED NETWORK =======================
=======================================================================


Hosted network settings
-----------------------
    Mode                   : Allowed
    SSID name              : "Virtual-Net"
    Max number of clients  : 100
    Authentication         : WPA2-Personal
    Cipher                 : CCMP

Hosted network status
---------------------
    Status                 : Not available


=======================================================================
============================= SHOW SETTINGS ===========================
=======================================================================


Wireless LAN settings
---------------------
    Show blocked networks in visible network list: No

    Only use GP profiles on GP-configured networks: No

    Hosted network mode allowed in WLAN service: Yes

    Allow shared user credentials for network authentication: Yes

    Block period: Not Configured.

    Auto configuration logic is enabled on interface "Wireless Network Connectio
n 2"


=======================================================================
============================== SHOW FILTERS ===========================
=======================================================================


Allow list on the system (group policy)
---------------------------------------
    <None>

Allow list on the system (user)
-------------------------------
    <None>

Block list on the system (group policy)
---------------------------------------
    <None>

Block list on the system (user)
-------------------------------
    <None>


=======================================================================
=========================== SHOW CREATEALLUSER ========================
=======================================================================


Everyone is allowed to create all user profiles.


=======================================================================
============================= SHOW PROFILES ===========================
=======================================================================


Profiles on interface Wireless Network Connection 2:

Group policy profiles (read only)
---------------------------------
    <None>

User profiles
-------------
    All User Profile     : bitbuzz


=======================================================================
========================== SHOW PROFILES NAME=* =======================
=======================================================================


Profile bitbuzz on interface Wireless Network Connection 2:
=======================================================================

Applied: All User Profile

Profile information
-------------------
    Version                : 1
    Type                   : Wireless LAN
    Name                   : bitbuzz
    Control options        :
        Connection mode    : Connect automatically
        Network broadcast  : Connect only if this network is broadcasting
        AutoSwitch         : Do not switch to other networks

Connectivity settings
---------------------
    Number of SSIDs        : 1
    SSID name              : "bitbuzz"
    Network type           : Infrastructure
    Radio type             : [ Any Radio Type ]
    Vendor extension          : Not present

Security settings
-----------------
    Authentication         : Open
    Cipher                 : None
    Security key           : Absent
    Key Index              : 1


=======================================================================
======================= SHOW NETWORKS MODE=BSSID ======================
=======================================================================


Interface name : Wireless Network Connection 2
There are 1 networks currently visible.

SSID 1 : bitbuzz
    Network type            : Infrastructure
    Authentication          : Open
    Encryption              : None

I've removed a few pieces, but it's mostly complete. Bitbuzz is the hotel open wifi network I'm connected to at the moment (the only one currently set up since I removed all the drivers and re-installed), in case you were wondering about it being an open network (it's a portal log-in).

Just for completeness, if I try and start the hosted network (previously set-up and working before all of this started) I get the following:

C:\Windows\system32>netsh wlan start hostednetwork
The hosted network couldn't be started.
The group or resource is not in the correct state to perform the requested operation.

Presumably due to the enable/disable problem. If I look under device manager, the virtual miniport is enabled and reports as working properly, but under the network and sharing center's change adapter settings screen, it shows as grey and disabled (and if I try to enable it, the box says "enabling..." then "enabled", but it just stays grey and disabled. I think I've maybe got an old/wrong driver, but it's the one from the Acer website and also from the Acer eRecovery app that came with the machine itself as detailed previously. And from a search of the net, I can't find a newer driver, at least not without paying for one of those driver update programs/subscriptions, which I don't really want to do.

silizium

First, your adapter is capable to work as hosted network. It's not a driver issue. I think, you have too much configured so that Windows is not knowing what is the valid configuration. There are some things you could do to reach a standard configuration. I can't see your virtual Miniport adapter in your data. So, you can't create a hosted network if this adapter is not existing. Also, this virtual adapters should exist in Device Manager as network adapter.

Delete all WLAN profiles, even they look valid. To do so issue the following command:

netsh wlan delete PROFILNAME

You can see what profiles exist if you issue this command:

netsh wlan show profiles

Restart after that. You will have to enter all connection data again for a connection to an access point. So be sure you have this data. Do not install any new driver, this what is installed looks ok.

DarrenHill

Firstly thanks for your continuing effort to help get this little issue sorted out. Kudos will definitely be forthcoming if we can get this resolved (and probably will even if not for the efforts so far Smiley Happy )

Tried your suggestion (although there were only two profiles anyway, as uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers also removes the profiles), and unfortunately it didn't make any difference. To be clear I know the adapter itself can support a hosted network, as I had one set up and available before I had the problem and removed the drivers, hence my thinking that the drivers I have are not the correct ones, even though they are the ones supplied with the netbook (and the relevant hardware components also haven't been changed at all).

Also to be clear, in the network sharing centre I do have a "disabled" miniport adapter, but as I mentioned originally I cannot enable it. If I either double-click on it, select (single-click) it and click "enable" from the toolbar menu that appears or right-click on it and select "Enable", I get a little pop-up window which says "Enabling...." and then "Enabled", but unfortunately the adapter seems to remain disabled (the appearance of the window reproduced below does not change).

Sharing Centre.png

So basically it does exist, but it won't let me enable it and so whilst I can create a virtual network (with the command below, except with a valid password) it won't let me start it (I get the error I posted in my previous post about the group or resource not being in the correct state, presumably as it is disabled and won't enable).

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid="Virtual-Net" key=<password removed :-) > keyUsage=persistent

Sharing Centre.png

silizium

It's an interesting problem. Are you sure that the setting for the adapter itself allow Ad-Hoc connections? Is this enabled or disabled? You have to look for that setting in the device manager, it's a property of the hadrware driver.

DarrenHill

Presuming you mean the items under the advanced tab of the Broadcom adapter in device manager, I can't see any option that relates to ad-hoc networks at all in there. The settings I have available are the ones in the screenshots below (same window, just with the list scrolled down in the second image).

Is it in one of those, or am I missing any kind of key for ad-hoc's (or am I looking in the wrong place)?

Advanced.png

DarrenHill

Having now run this for a little while with wifi on the drivers from the site, things are still not right (aside from the miniport being grey). On some websites if I view images, or download/view some files they are getting garbled or broken (looking at the source of some of the broken pages they seem to be missing parts at the start or end, or are getting mixed up).

So I'm now wondering quite what the best course of action is going to be here - whether to try and back everything up to date and then nuke and reinstall from scratch (and risk getting the same issue straight back again) or spend some cash on one of these driver update programs/sites and see if more cutting edge drivers may help (as they don't seem to be available from the broadcom website or anywhere else without paying, and windows update says my drivers are up to date).

Any more thoughts or advice from Acer experts welcomed...

silizium

You really don't need to buy a driver. Look at the following site for more recent drivers: http://www.station-drivers.com/index.php/downloads/Drivers/Broadcom/Wlan/BCM-43xx-Wireless-802.11a-b-g-n/

DarrenHill

Thanks. I'm beginning to wonder if it's the Atheros (Qualcomm) side of things that's the issue rather than the Broadcom one. If I try and install the Atheros LAN driver it works, but if I try the Atheros WLAN one then under normal mode it fails with an error that it cannot copy a file, and if I do it under safe mode then it says about the card not being present or removed (and then goes on to do a few more bits before closing (installing FAST/LEAP/PEAP or something like that). But seemingly if I don't do both that and the Realtek drivers then it doesn't work.

If I put the broadcom driver from the link in, I don't get any wifi at all (it's now the one that's disabled and won't enable), although the virtual one seems to be there but trying to link to the LAN adapter (which having no cable wasn't working either).

So I'm still somewhat confused as to which drivers I may need to change/update here to get things working again (or which one isn't working now). I had a look at Qualcomm/Atheros drivers on your site, but they seem to be few and far between and perhaps not the relevant ones.

silizium

Why the heck you are installing an Atheros WLAN driver? You do not have Atheros WLAN. Your LAN device is an Atheros device. You have a Broadcom WLAN adapter. As you can see on your own data provided. I'm pretty sure you've messed something up with all this driver installations.

DarrenHill

That was my thinking too, but it looks like if I don't install the Atheros WLAN and the Realtek then the wifi doesn't work at all (the problem seems to be the network controller driver, which one or both of those two maybe provides?). I've just rebuilt it with the original 4 drivers under safe mode, and now have wifi back on the machine (I'm typing this on it). But now under control panel I only have wireless and LAN, there is no miniport adapter at all.

Tomorrow I'll strip it all out again via control panel/programs and features and try again just the Atheros LAN and the new Broadcom drivers and see where we go from there - it's too late in the night to do now.

DarrenHill

OK, just done the lot again and confirmed what I said earlier.

Uninstalled everything via control panel > programs and features (both Atheros items, plus the broadcom one and the realtek one) then rebooted. System tried automatically to install driver for "Network Controller", but failed as no driver found.
Installed just the newer Broadcom driver (Broadcom_wifi_6.3x.223.1-w7-8-8.1 from your linked site, the latest generic one I could see) and the Atheros LAN driver from my first post (LAN_Atheros_1.0.0.39_W7x86x64, from the eRecover software and the Acer website driver list for my SNID) - result in the red-crossed LAN systray icon, no connection found, none available. Wifi light on at the front of the keyboard, but under adapter settings the Broadcom is greyed out (disabled) and won't enable.
Uninstalled the Broadcom driver and installed original one (WLAN_Broadcom_5.100.235.19_W7x86x64) and rebooted - same results as above, no wifi and adapter won't enable.
Added the original Realtek driver (WLAN_Realtek_2019.5.0223_2011_W7x86x64) and rebooted - same results, no wifi and adapter won't enable.
Added the original Atheros WLAN driver (WLAN_9.2.0.412_W7x86 x64) and rebooted - wifi networks now visible and I can log into them.

So whilst I entirely agree with you that I'm installing drivers for hardware I don't have on the system, it looks like I seem to need this 4-driver lash-up to get wifi availabile that all (to allow the Broadcom adapter to be enabled), but it's not the set-up I should have and nor is it the correct and fully functional one. I'm basically rebuilt back to where I was last night, with available wifi (but quite possibly with the underlying drop-outs etc that I was seeing before) and no miniport adapter at all underthe adapter list.

I'm now not sure where to go from here, except perhaps to replace the mini-card with a new one (ideally an 802.11ac rated one, as I have a capable router) but again there I'm not sure of a compatible one with the motherboard/processor. Also is that card handling just the wifi, or is it the LAN (cable) connector's driver hardware too?

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