Nintendo WiFi USB Dongle installation solution!

For the past two days I’ve been wracking my brain trying to get my Nintendo WiFi USB connector software to install on my Windows XP system but keep running into the same issue. I’ve tried all sorts of solutions from forums but every time the installation got to “Setting up Internet Connection Sharing” it choked and died with the infamous “Internet Connection Sharing Error” problem message without ever installing the USB Connector Registration Tool. Waaaaah!

I have now tracked my problem down to something probably caused an old Norton AntiVirus installation that didn’t completely remove a dependency from the DHCP client (the Windows service that manages network configuration) when I uninstalled it. This prevented the DHCP client from starting when the Nintendo installation requested it. Evil thing!

WinSock XP Fix sounds like a program that might fix it – I only found it after I fixed mine manually. Try that program first but if you don’t like running unknown programs that don’t let you know exactly what they’re doing then follow my manual instructions below.

Even if you haven’t used Norton AntiVirus, you may still have the same DHCP client problem.

To check if your issue is caused by the same thing as mine was, do the following:

1. Right click on My Computer.
2. Click on Manage.
3. Expand Services and Applications in the left sidebar.
4. Click on Services.
5. Find DHCP Client in the right window. Under Status does it say Started? If not, keep going. If it does then this is not your solution, sorry. Try here.
6. Right click on DHCP client.
7. Click Start. Do you get “Error: Could not start the DHCP Client Service on local computer. Error 1068: The dependency service or group failed to start.”? If so, this is your solution. Well, part of it anyway. I can’t help you if you have additional problems.

Warning: This involves messing about with the Windows Registry, so create a Windows System Restore point NOW. Or backup the registry manually if you know how to do that.

Creating a System Restore Point:

1. Click Start
2. Go to All Programs
3. Go to Accessories
4. Go to System Tools
5. Click on System Restore
6. Click Create a Restore Point
7. Type in a description (Trying scary Nintendo WiFi dongle solution)
8. Click on Create

The actual solution is from Ramesh’s Site: Windows Troubleshooting. He has kindly given me permission to reproduce the solution in full here:

The DHCP Client Service in Windows XP, depends on these three components:

• AFD
• NetBios over Tcpip
• TCP/IP Protocol Driver

If one of the above drivers fail to start, then the DHCP Client Service may not start.

Step I – Make sure that the three driver files are present

1. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to Windows directory’s \System32\Drivers folder (usually C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers) .
2. Make sure that the following files are present in the folder:
• afd.sys
• tcpip.sys
• netbt.sys
3. If one or more of the above driver files are missing, extract them from the Windows XP CD-ROM or from the ServicePackFiles\i386 folder, whichever is the latest version.

[I believe running Install Optional Windows Components when you put in your WinXP CD and checking Networking Services should replace these for you automatically]

Step II – Verify the number of Dependencies

From other sources in the Web, I’ve found that some versions of Norton Antivirus (NAV) adds an entry to the DHCP Service Dependencies, and removing NAV does not remove the appropriate value from the DHCP Dependencies.

1. To quickly determine the Dependency services for DHCP Client Service, type the following command in Start, Run dialog:

CMD /K SC QC DHCP

2. Verify the output. It should be exactly as below:

[SC] GetServiceConfig SUCCESS

SERVICE_NAME: dhcp
TYPE : 20 WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
START_TYPE : 2 AUTO_START
ERROR_CONTROL : 1 NORMAL
BINARY_PATH_NAME : C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs
LOAD_ORDER_GROUP : TDI
TAG : 0
DISPLAY_NAME : DHCP Client
DEPENDENCIES : Tcpip
: Afd
: NetBT
SERVICE_START_NAME : LocalSystem

If additional entries are listed under DEPENDENCIES…

If any other additional drivers or Services are mentioned in the DEPENDENCIES section, you need to remove them via the registry. Follow these steps:

1. Click Start, Run and type Regedit.exe
2. Navigate to the following branch: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ Dhcp
3. If you set up a system restore point when I said to then you can skip this setp. Otherwise backup the registry branch to a REG file or create a system restore point.
4. Double-click DependOnService MULTI_SZ value and set its data as follows:

Tcpip
Afd
NetBT

5. Close Regedit.exe

Step III – Verify that the Dependency Service / components are running

Next step is to verify that the three dependency components are running. As the three components are actually the Kernel Drivers (Driver Service), you need to manage then via the Device Manager. Follow these steps:

1. Click Start, Run and type DEVMGMT.MSC
2. In the View menu, click Show hidden devices
3. Double-click Non-Plug and Play drivers section
4. Double-click the entry AFD, and click the Driver tab
5. Set the Startup type to System.
6. Start the service. Note down the error message if any.

Repeat steps 4-6 for the two other drivers, TCP/IP Protocol Driver and NetBios over Tcpip.

Close Device Manager and restart Windows.

This is the end of Ramesh’s solution.

Once you’ve done that, follow Nintendo’s instructions for removing the USB software from previous attempts.
This post is getting quite long and you’ve probably done it a few times already so I’ll just point you towards the instructions on Nintendo.com. Start from “Check Local Area Connections to determine what the ICS options are set to.”

Now run the USB connector’s installation program. Hopefully it will install like it did for me! Hope this helps someone.

If only my copy of Animal Crossing: Wild World would arrive from Lik Sang and I could actually test the thing…

[Note: If you want to restore your settings then instructions on restoring to the System Restore Point can be found here.]

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