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The Windows XP Mini-Setup wizard appears to stop responding for up to three minutes

Article ID: 835362 - View products that this article applies to.

SYMPTOMS

When you start a computer for the first time after a new operating system is installed, the Mini-Setup wizard gathers any information that is required for the new operating system. When the wizard begins to configure network settings for a wireless LAN based computer, the computer may appear to stop responding for one to three minutes.

Note This behavior only occurs during the network configuration phase of the Mini-Setup wizard on some computers. The behavior does not occur again and does not affect typical operation of the computer after the Mini-Setup wizard has completed.

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CAUSE

This behavior occurs because during the network configuration phase of the Mini-Setup wizard, the system initializes network components and tries to associate the network adapter driver with the Client for Microsoft Networks. If the network adapter driver does not respond promptly, the Client for Microsoft Networks will wait for the synchronization with the network adapter driver to complete. Windows may appear to stop responding during this process.

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WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, wait for the network configuration to complete. This process may take as long as three minutes.

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MORE INFORMATION

The Mini-Setup wizard is the segment of the Windows Setup Wizard that occurs when you first start the computer after you install the operating system. When the Mini-Setup wizard starts, you receive the following message:

Welcome to Microsoft Windows
Let's spend a few minutes setting up your computer.

The wizard collects information that is required for the new operating system, including information in the following dialog boxes:

How should dates and currency appear?
What time zone are you in?
The End User License Agreement
What's your computer's name?
Checking your Internet connectivity
Will this computer connect to the Internet directly, or through a network?
Ready to register with Microsoft?
Who will use this computer?

The behavior that is described in this article causes the failures in starting up the workstation service and joining the default workgroup during the Mini-Setup wizard. Therefore the following error message is generated:

An unexpected error has occurred while changing your computer's network identification.

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