Fixing wireless "hidden network" problem on Windows 7

Anonymous
2009-12-02T05:09:46+00:00

I've read a post by a previous user who seemed to be having a similar problem as me, but the response he received didn't help solve the problem and I suspect this to be a genuine bug in Windows 7, but that remains to be seen.

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7network/thread/0d9e680f-8025-4863-9242-f990c64ea8bd <- a link to the aforementioned thread.

Connecting to  my wireless network (which has been online for years and served dozens of machines no problem), yesterday I attempted to connect running Windows 7 and received the following error message in my troubleshooting dialog: "Windows can't connect to the hidden network."

More specifically: "This network is marked as a "hidden" network and is either not in range of this computer or the wireless settings saved on this computer do not match the settings of the network."

My network is not hidden, SSID broadcasting is on, I am using a valid key and the network has full strength from my wireless connection utility. Does anyone know how to fix this problem or why it seems to be only happening on Windows 7, and only reporting that the problem is that the network is hidden?

Thanks

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

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Anonymous
2009-12-09T11:29:14+00:00

Do you use WEP encryption?

Maybe I will answer to your question using google results. When you get to the last page of results for

Do you see some correlation? Majority of results include information about WEP. Some of topics were never answered. Those one were the solution was found include suggestion about changing WEP encryption. 

Try to set another security type in your router's settings and use it in your network setting under Windows 7. I'm using security type: WPA2, and encryption type: AES and everything works fine.

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-12-13T21:35:10+00:00

    I'm having the same issue, my laptop is connected to the wireless connection and it's working properly, but my desktop  stop working with the internet seems yesterday.....

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-12-09T15:51:56+00:00

    I had the same issue. Turns out the router I was trying to connect to was the exact same make and model as another router I had saved in my wireless networks. So when I attempted to connect to this new router, it attempted to apply all the same security passes and settings as it would to the old router.

    Basically I just had to delete the old router from my "manage wireless networks" section and that allowed me to connect to the new one.

    Thanks Dan,

    After hours of trying this and that - your simple solution worked for me too - Thank you.

    Merry Christmas all!!

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-12-08T23:55:41+00:00

    That is an awesome idea. thank you.

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-08-12T05:19:53+00:00

    Hey man thanks a lot... This info helped to solve the issue quickly. I have Dlink router 

    WI-FI PROTECTED SETUP (ALSO CALLED WCN 2.0 IN WINDOWS VISTA) :

    I also did same and it works

    Thanks a lot

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