The Authentication Tab Is Unavailable in the Network Adapter Properties Dialog Box After You Install a New Driver

When you view the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box of a network adapter (where Local Area Connection is the name of the connection), you may experience both of the following symptoms:

• The Authentication tab is unavailable (appears dimmed).
• When you click OK to close the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box, you receive the following error message:
  An unexpected condition occurred. Not all of your requested changes in settings could be made.

This issue may occur under the following scenario:

1. You are running Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4) on a multiprocessor computer.
2. The Wireless Zero Configuration (WZCSVC) service is started.
3. You restart the computer.
4. You remove the network adapter driver.
5. You reinstall the network adapter driver.

This problem is caused by a race condition that occurs between the time when the Wireless Zero Configuration service is notified about the installation of the new device and the time when Windows completes the device installation.

To work around this problem, restart the Windows Zero Configuration service.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.