I steal this off of netgear forum.
I recently bought the Netgear WN111V2 to connect my PC (Windows 7 RC 64-bit) to a cable wireless network (Netgear FM114P router). I popped the CD in the tray and went through the setup process only to find that when I plugged the usb dongle in the computer wouldn't recognise it. I could also double-click on the smart wizard and it would show up for a few seconds but then disappear.
Not to be defeated, I hit the web in search of an answer (using my old laptop). It seemed there were many other people with the same or similar problems and they managed to fix it but failed to clearly outline how they had managed it. Pretty bloody frustrating I have to say.
I kept at it and thankfully the stupid thing is now working, and this is where I share my solution.
I’m assuming at this stage that you have run the setup.exe found on your product CD and the dongle is plugged in.
Step 1:
Go to the Microsoft Update catalog (http://catalog.upd2ate.microsoft.com/...e/Support.aspx) and type WN111V2 in the search box in the top right corner. This will generate a list of updates (currently 6). I downloaded the first 2 on the list to my desktop. I probably only needed the x86 version but I put downloaded both to be sure.
Step 2:
Extract each of the downloaded files (they are cabinet files which contain 3 other files when extracted) and place the 3 generated files into the “Netgear driver folder”.
NB. On my computer the Netgear driver folder is located on C drive, program files (x86), Netgear, WN111v2, driver. In other words, click the start button (windows logo bottom left corner), then click on Computer, then double click C drive, then program files (x86), then netgear, then WN111v2, then driver.
Step 2a:
You may face an error message at this point (Error = Access is denied). If this happens, navigate to your netgear driver folder, right-click and go to properties, then click on the security tab and change the permissions for the current user profile. You’ll probably need administrator privileges for this.
Your netgear driver folder should now have the 6 files (plus others) extracted from the cabinet files you downloaded from the Microsoft Update catalog. If you’ve only downloaded 1 of the Update catalog cabinet files obviously you’ll only have 3 newly extracted files.
Step 3:
You now need to make the computer recognise the updated driver. I’m writing this guide a few hours after I fixed my problem and I’m not 100% sure what I did at this stage, but there are 2 possibilities…
a. In Windows, go to Control Panel, then under Hardware and Sound click on View devices and printers, right click on your USB dongle (on my PC this shows up as USB2.0 WLAN but it might be different on yours) and click on Troubleshoot, then follow the prompts and direct windows to the Netgear driver folder when asked if you have drivers in a specific location. If this works, you should hear a positive notification sound and you’re in business. If this doesn’t work, try option b.
b. In Windows, go to Control Panel, then under Hardware and Sound click on View devices and printers, right click on your USB dongle (on my PC this shows up as USB2.0 WLAN but it might be different on yours) and click on Properties, then click on the Hardware tab, then click on Properties (bottom right), then click on Change settings, then click on the Driver tab, then click on the Update Driver button, then click on the “Browse my computer for driver software” and navigate to the Netgear driver folder, then click next.
I’m 99% sure this will solve the 64-bit Windows 7 compatibility issue for the Netgear WN111v2 for anyone concerned. If it doesn’t, I wish you the best of luck in working out a solution. It has definitely worked for me.
Good luck!