Question

How to remove old Wireless Network Connection 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,......?

Asked by: machine_run

On XP Pro and XP Home PCs, sometimes after repeatedly repairing wireless connections, the number of the current wireless connection on a PC will go up and up. (I've seen Wireless Network Connection 20), when you hover the mouse over the taskbar wireless connection icon.
How can I flush these old connections out? (reset to zero)
I've tried uninstalling Clients/Prototcols etc., uninstalling the adapter etc. looking for hidden devices in Device Manager. Maybe in the registry? Is there some command-line procedure perhaps?

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Asked On
2007-10-15 at 13:14:19ID22894574
Tags

network

,

wireless

,

connection

,

old

,

remove

Topics

Wireless Technologies

,

Windows Networking

Participating Experts
5
Points
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Comments
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Answers

 

by: ctbtechPosted on 2007-10-15 at 13:23:02ID: 20081249

Are you asking how to remove from the software or within my network places (network connections)?
Right click on My Network Places, click properties, and you will see all of the wireless network connections available.  Delete as needed.

 

by: machine_runPosted on 2007-10-15 at 13:33:26ID: 20081311

Not active network connections, old ones. They don't appear in My Network Places - Properties. Only the current one shows there "Wireless Network Connection 20". Old ones are hidden somewhere.

 

by: SysExpertPosted on 2007-10-15 at 13:41:10ID: 20081366

Probably registry entries.

ALso check for hidden devices in the Device manager.


I hope this helps !

 

by: machine_runPosted on 2007-10-15 at 14:11:09ID: 20081549

I looked for them in Device Manager - Hidden Devices. I even did "set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1".

 

by: captainreissPosted on 2007-10-15 at 17:22:07ID: 20082382

Hi

usual caveats about messing with the registry.

You can find the entries in the Registry under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSetxxx\Control\Network (where xxx is any number depending on your amount of changes to the controlset ie 001 or 002 etc.)

Obviously this is also in your current CS
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network

the keys are all hexdec in {..} brackets, these have subkeys with connection names and other info.

You can see this is getting rather complex...

I have not tried deleting these myself as I am not too bothered but if this is the information you needed let me know how it goes, just make sure you backed up system and registry when pursuing this.

Hth


 

by: TreyHPosted on 2007-10-15 at 18:45:02ID: 20082664

I've used this method to remove orphaned cards before. Seems like once you delete the entries it reset the number also.

http://myitforum.com/articles/15/view.asp?id=4948

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2007-10-16 at 14:35:44ID: 20089276

Nice find, trey..  I used this before and lost the link..  thanks!

 

by: machine_runPosted on 2007-10-16 at 19:21:03ID: 20090412

Thanks captainreiss & TreyH! The registry edits work! Goodbye Wireless Network Connection 20 !

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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