NetSetMan Support

jetskiz

New Member

Registered: 2022-11-01

Posts: 1

Different WiFi profiles for different adapters

Im running Win 11 with NETSETMAN 5.1.1 using multiple WiFi adapters. The goal is to use the main adapter in the machine to connect to the majority of WiFi networks while adapter 2 is there to connect only to a specific device only when it is in range. When I add the WiFi profiles under the WiFi management tab to the appropriate adapters this works as intended. However after some time Windows will add all the profiles added to both adapters. It will also do the same with any deleted profile. The amount of time varies sometimes from minutes to days. This problem has been plaguing me for some time and stems back to before I used NETSETMAN however after using it it seemed to be much less frequent of an issue. However after a recent Windows update it is as bad as ever usually only allowing the profiles to remain independent to the adapter for minuets. I realize this is more of a Windows problem but I would like to know if there are any settings that could be adjusted to stop this. The only solution to this problem I have ever found is to change the ownership of the WLAN profile folder in Windows and deny the system access to edit it. However this prevents me from adding or deleting networks without first changing ownership back to system. The NETSETMAN interface is great and the tools it has are fantastic so if it could solve this issue it would be the perfect piece of software in my book. Thank you.

NetSetMan Support

Administrator

Registered: 2005-08-06

Posts: 1,841

Re: Different WiFi profiles for different adapters

We are not sure how to respond to this as this doesn't really seem to fit in this forum. You might have more luck posting this in a Windows related forum.

First, we are unaware of such a problem. None of our wifi profiles has ever been moved between wifi adapters automatically. We can't think of a setting that would be responsible for this. Maybe in your situation Windows is trying to prevent losing the profiles of a detachable adapter that is removed or uninstalled.
We don't think this should be a scenario that could be covered in our software.

As a thought for a workaround: It is possible to delete wifi profiles by command line. You might want to do some research on this topic and then write a script that deletes all unwanted profiles from a wifi adapter. You can then run it either manually or automatically after every reboot.

Brigade1506

New Member

Registered: 2024-03-05

Posts: 1

Re: Different WiFi profiles for different adapters

I have this same issue and found NetSetMan in my search for a solution.

I have used two WiFi adapters exactly as jetskiz described for many years. The integrated adapter for connecting to whatever WiFi is needed for internet access, and a USB WiFi adapter for connecting exclusively to a specific access point with a Static IP for communication with air gapped networks I have to service and maintain.

I am still using Windows 10 but noticed the same issue a few years ago. Windows no longer maintains separate profile lists for individual adapters. This means that my laptop randomly disconnects networks when it has decided I don't need them, and also connects to the right network with the wrong adapter sometimes, meaning communication does not work anyway because one is set to DHCP and the other is static.

It has gotten steadily worse. It can take as long as 10 minutes of my sitting at my laptop forcing the correct connections over and over on the two adapters before Microsoft will stabilize and stop screwing everything up in the background.

If this behavior, which Microsoft considers a feature but is actually a bug, could be addressed with the NetSetMan software that would be awesome! If not, I guess I'll go back to using the default tools that come with Windows. They work well enough for me other than this absurd behavior.

NetSetMan Support

Administrator

Registered: 2005-08-06

Posts: 1,841

Re: Different WiFi profiles for different adapters

We haven't seen this behavior ourselves, yet. It might not even be caused by Windows, but by the driver of the wifi adapter(s). Could you please tell us what wireless adapters exactly you are using?

NetSetMan cannot prevent something like this, because if Windows or a driver does that, there is no way to interfere. But you can use our software to inspect and clean up their individual profiles.