Is there a way for Windows 7 to connect to a wireless network before a user has logged in?
I have found no good answers to this question elsewhere. Some say it should already be happening if I am using Windows' connection management (WLAN AutoConnect, formerly WirelessZero), but I am using that, and it is not. I can sit at the login screen for as long as you please and it will not connect (watching the router from a separate PC), moments after I login it will connect.
Others have said that you need to use the manufacturer's connection management (not Windows'), and they can sometimes have the option for prelogin/prelogon connections, but I am using generic drivers. The device is a Netgear/Cisco WMP300N, with a Broadcom chipset. Netgear/Cisco and Broadcom all claim to not have drivers for Win7, but Win7 apparently comes with a functional driver.
Best Answer
Try adding an entry in the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run registry key.
In a command prompt, get the name of your profile by running netsh wlan show profile
Then in registry editor, add a string value to the above mentioned key. Call it anything, but its value should be something like
If there are no profiles available, make sure the automatically connect option is on (although from your question, it appears to be on).