Wireless Zero Configuration

{{Short description|Wireless connection management utility}}

Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC), also known as Wireless Auto Configuration, or WLAN AutoConfig, is a wireless connection management utility included with Microsoft Windows XP and later operating systems as a service that dynamically selects a wireless network to connect to based on a user's preferences and various default settings.{{cite web

|url=http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/cableguy/cg1102.mspx

|title=Windows XP Wireless Auto Configuration: The Cable Guy, dx|date=November 2002|work=TechNet|publisher=Microsoft

}}

{{cite web

|url=http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/webmaster/article.php/3577111

|title=Windows Wireless Zero Configuration: Five Steps to Sanity

|date=January 12, 2006

|first=Aaron

|last=Weiss

|access-date=June 3, 2007

|archive-date=August 30, 2011

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830020530/http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/webmaster/article.php/3577111

|url-status=dead

}} Article on problems with WZC connecting to unwanted APs, etc., and workarounds This can be used instead of, or in the absence of, a wireless network utility from the manufacturer of a computer's wireless networking device. The drivers for the wireless adapter query the NDIS Object IDs and pass the available network names (SSIDs) to the service. The service then lists them in the user interface on the Wireless Networks tab in the connection's Properties or in the Wireless Network Connection dialog box accessible from the notification area. A checked (debug){{cite web|title=Checked Build of Windows|url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff543457.aspx|work=MSDN|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=29 July 2013}} build version of the WZC service can be used by developers to obtain additional diagnostic and tracing information logged by the service.