Comments on: Windows 2003 and USB wifi NIC?

Question: Windows 2003 and USB wifi NIC?

TeamBilly — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 09:33:15 -0800

Is anyone using a USB wireless NIC on a Windows 2003 server?

I am trying to find a USB wifi NIC to use on a Windows 2003 server. The Netgear WG111 I have tried doesn't support Win2K3 server and I am having a hard time finding one that does. Linksys doesn't seem to have one, per their support department.

Is anyone doing this, or have they done it? What brand worked for you?

note: it absolutely HAS to be USB - I'm not able to access the internals of the machine.

By: mendel

mendel — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 10:42:09 -0800

note: it absolutely HAS to be USB - I'm not able to access the internals of the machine.

USB's not the only way to get wireless without going inside the machine. I would use an Ethernet bridge instead. A cable goes from the (wired) Ethernet jack on the server into the bridge, which does the wireless magic, and the server doesn't know anything about it -- it just thinks it's connected with a wire. USB wireless drivers on 2k3 sounds like way too much trouble for what it's worth.

Here's one from Linksys as an example.

By: tracert

tracert — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 10:56:53 -0800

A Linksys WRT54GL with alternate firmware (I like tomato) can act as a wireless bridge as well. I agree with mendel, finding a usb wifi card with driver support will probably be more hassle than it's worth.

By: TeamBilly

TeamBilly — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:51:20 -0800

This is a great idea, and actually I have a WRT54G laying around here....

....but it's a v5 (running Vxworks) and cannot be hacked.

Have to look for an older one. Ebay, here I come.

Thanks for the tips.

By: tracert

tracert — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:09:05 -0800

Actually, if you're not using that V5 for anything important, there is a way to get DD-WRT micro on there without a JTAG cable or any other hardware modification. I've never tried it, but it seems pretty simple to do if you're up for it.

By: TeamBilly

TeamBilly — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 07:20:05 -0800

Damn. You posted that right after I bought one preloaded on Ebay. Oh well. It wasn't much. Now I'll have two.

By: TeamBilly

TeamBilly — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 09:21:31 -0800

The operation listed above worked perfectly. Tracert, you are the MAN.