No good reason I can think of. Short-sighted to the =MAX= on the part
of certain NIC card makers with their management utilities (various
Belkin and Netgear models produce these maddening limitations, from
what I've seen). Doesn't matter btw if it is Notebook or Desktop --
same thing! Currently I have the Netgear WG311v2 coupled with a NG
WGR614 [v6] router producing this idiotic behavior on my Desktop PC.
How much the Windows Wireless Zero Configuration has to do with this
sorry affair is anyone's guess!

The NIC makers have taken to pointing the finger at Microsoft or even
"user configuration" (lack of assigning proper permissions or rights)
as likely culprits, yet I have never read anything from MS that claims
there is this kind of inherent limitation in XP, or that an Admin is
required to assign such rights. Moreover I see where Netgear has gone
to addressing this very issue on some of their wireless NIC software
updates, but not for all models! If you talk to the NG 'tech' folks
(and I'm being kind here), they insist it must be some sort of
Microsoft bug (if you can get them to put down their silly,
pre-arranged "troubleshooting" scripts for a minute). They refuse to
acknowledge any of their NIC cards or NIC utilities produce such
limitations, or require ADMIN rights to function correctly.

Allowing internet access based solely on user profile type, where no
type of accounts are allowed except those with FULL ADMINISTRATIVE
PRIVILEGES, is flat out insane. Even Power User profiles are clustered
together with the most basic Limited profiles as NO-GO's on these
wireless NIC models!

Where the heck are all the MSVP's on this issue? I've seen this
limitation - this quirk - brought up on a number of occasions, yet
never see them chiming in to offer advice or an official word. Is this
an XP wireless config hang-up or not? Are the NIC makers simply blowing
smoke here? What gives??

Cam

Mathias Koerber wrote:
> I juat got an XP Home notebook which I am configuring with several
> user accounts.
>
> WHile the wireless network runs fine when I log as as the Admin
> user, often Windows does not 'find' the wireless when logging on as a
> 'limited' user (in the same room as the access point)
>
> As limited user, I also have no 'repair' option :-(
>
> What could be the reason for this?

I'm posting this as a follow up to my own query, for the benefit of
anyone who comes across this thread and is stuck on this maddening
issue. The likely answer is that it's the NIC maker's proprietary
connection software (management utility) that is getting in the way and
restricting limited accounts. By using just the NIC driver alone, and
Windows XP Wireless Zero Connection utility, these same
non-Administrative accounts (Limited, Standard, Power User, etc.) can
suddenly access the Internet as they should.

Why certain NIC maker connection utilities are plagued by this
limitation is beyond me. WAKE UP YOU MINDLESS NICWITS. THE WHOLE
NETWORKED COMPUTING WORLD DOESN'T RUN ON ADMINISTRATIVE ACCOUNTS
EXCLUSIVELY!

That felt better . For a more detailed explanation, just type the
following into a Google Groups search pane:

>> Limited users and Internet access

All of your answers most likely lay there. Cheers.

Cam