VirtualWiFi

Software (Version 1.0): Installation Instructions


Installing and Uninstalling VirtualWiFi

Following are the prerequisites for using VirtualWiFi:
  • You should have administrative rights to install drivers and services on your machine.
  • Copy the VirtualWiFi binaries. The directory will have the following files:
  • VirtualWiFi.exe: This is the main installer file
  • vwifi.sys: This is the VirtualWiFi driver
  • vwifi.dll: This is the notify object dll for controlling the bindings of the VirtualWiFi driver
  • vwifip.inf, vwifi_mp.inf: These are setup files for the VirtualWiFi driver
  • VirtualWiFiSvc.exe: This is the file corresponding to the VirtualWiFi Service
  • VirtualWiFihelper.exe: This is a utility file for checking the correctness of VirtualWiFi
  • Set Wireless Zero Configuration Service (WZC) in manual mode, stop it using "net stop wzcsvc" and disable other wireless adapter utilities.
  • Make sure you have only one wireless card in your computer. Note, disabling one of the wireless adapters will not work!
  • Make sure your wireless card is associated to a network.
  • Note that VirtualWiFi will NOT work with WEP and 802.1X.
  • Ensure that the device name of your wireless adapter has at least one of the following keywords: "cisco", "orinoco", "netgear", "wlan" or "wireless". If it does not, then refer to FAQ.
    • To install VirtualWiFi, open the command prompt, go to the directory where you unzipped the VirtualWiFi binaries, and type: "VirtualWiFi install"
    Remember to press "Continue" if prompted for driver signing. If you face problems, refer to the VirtualWiFi installation FAQ.

    To uninstall VirtualWiFi, open the command prompt, go to the directory where you unzipped the VirtualWiFi binaries, and type: "VirtualWiFi uninstall"
    Note that the wireless card over which you installed VirtualWiFi should be plugged in and enabled for uninstall to be successful. If you face problems, refer to the VirtualWiFi uninstallation FAQ.

    Verifying a Correct Installation

    A correct installation of VirtualWiFi should do the following:
  • Have a VirtualWiFi attribute in the Properties of all the adapters in the Network Connection window of XP.
  • This attribute should be checked for only the wireless adapter.
  • There should be exactly one VirtualWiFi Virtual Miniport in the Network Connections Window.
  • The VirtualWiFi Virtual Miniport should have the name "VirtualWiFi MM SSID" depending on the mode and SSID of the underlying adapter.
  • Finally, do the following to check if VirtualWiFi will work with your wireless adapter. See if the VirtualWiFi Virtual Miniport gets a valid DHCP address for the network you are currently connected to. If you are not using DHCP, then you should be able to ping machines on that network with your manual IP address. If this step does not work (see FAQ for reasons), then unfortunately you will have to wait for future releases of VirtualWiFi to use it over your card. In the meantime, do try VirtualWiFi over other supported cards.
    • A screen snapshot after installing VirtualWiFi shows the checked VirtualWiFi attribute for the Orinoco wireless card. It also shows the VirtualWiFi Virtual Miniport named "VirtualWiFi_IS_rover", since the card was in IS mode, and the ssid was "rover". (Note that for better viewing of this figure, you might want to watch it in its original size.)
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