Attempting to use Wi-Fi in Safe Mode with Networking

Compumind said:

@EdTittel -
If you can connect via wired Ethernet, why not WiFi in Safe Mode with Networking?

Because MS are treating Safe Mode with Networking as Safe Mode with LAN.

And your Wi-Fi card not working in safe mode problem is actually a hardware/driver problem. Some cards require other drivers or services to load in order for them to load properly. This is just poor hardware/driver design, because networking devices should be almost completely independent of any other (not networking related) drivers and services, but, apparently, that's not always the case.

But, for the Wi-Fi drivers that do load as expected in Safe Mode with Networking, this is my automated solution to connect to a desired Wi-Fi network while in Safe Mode with Networking (meaning, no more Log out, connect, blah blah blah).

GitHub - MechDR/automatically-connect-to-a-wi-fi-network-when-in-safe-mode-with-networking: Automatically Log-In On A Wi-Fi Network In Safe Mode With Networking

I do a lot of IT support remotely, so this was really a problem for me. I regularly have to disinfect infected computers (and other stuff) in safe mode, so automatically connecting to a Wi-Fi network while the PC/laptop is booting in Safe Mode with Networking was a must for me... and also the fact that I don't have to harass anyone at the other end to "just click that and do that and do this and...". Just leave me be, your problem will be solved in the morning when you come back to work .

In any case, the script works like... 95% of the time. The other 5% are cases like @Compumind has, the driver depends on something else to load in Safe Mode, so it doesn't load.

The script has one other drawback. It requires autologon in order for it to work. Doesn't work with accounts that require you to type in your password because the script that auto-connects you to the AC loads with explorer.exe and that doesn't load until you logon, so... yeah, kind of a bummer if you need to do this in a domain environment :-\. Working on a fix for this. I'll probably add an autologon part in the script and add the required reg entries, prompting for credentials while in the script, but that's all on my "to do" list. For now, it does the job... well, at least for me :).

Compumind said:

Welcome to Windows Ten Forums.
However, it is important that the script still work before or after entering a password.
If you can provide an updated script that can do this, I would give it a go.

If I do make changes and use Task Scheduler to run the script (the Winlogon key hack was the simplest solution at the time), I'll make sure and post an update here as well .

Compumind said:

Maybe create a low-level service to run?

Hm... that may be a better approach... maybe an AutoIt exe configured to run as a service and boot the script during start up in Safe Mode... could work . Would have to "pack" the exe in the batch and "unpack" it when you run the script, but beats messing with Task Manager to run in Safe Mode... not to mention Home editions, those would most likely not respect LGPO reg entries for running Task Manager in Safe Mode.

Thanks for the idea .

Oh, and thanks for the input . This is the only place I actually got any input from , even though I posted the script on several different forums, including the official MS ones.

The problem I have is that the driver will not start no matter what I try.

Compumind said:

Hi.

Just wanted to revisit this.
Anyone have a proven solution to this vexing issue?

I wish someone would post a solution. I went as far as buying a USB wireless card that is known to work and for me it didn't. I still think it's something to do with the motherboard and/or Bios.