Windows 2008: disabled by default

I’ve spent most of the evening battling with this, so this is a bit of an aide-memoir. After spending several hours searching for a 64-bit driver for my wireless network card and installing it, I couldn’t manage to get the operating system (Windows 2008 R2) to see, let alone connect to, any networks.

It turns out that, out of the box, loads of stuff is disabled when you install 2008. This is totally understandable and a very good idea, but it isn’t immediately obvious when it happens. Sometimes the OS will notice when you’re trying to do something and prompt you to enable a feature (the sound is a good example of this) but sometimes it doesn’t.

Wireless connectivity is a good example of this. You have to add this as a feature format via the Server Management console and then, hey presto, it works straightaway.