Ghost Wi-Fi Networks Show after Wipe and Reinstall Win 10

Geekomatic on 07/05/2022 - 21:22

So, I was asked to troubleshoot the wifi connection on this laptop. It was very flaky at the owner's place, so took it with me to see how it behaved at mine. I'd already run sfc, DISM, chkdsk (no errors), "forget networks", uninstall/reinstall wifi/driver (tried many, including manufacturer). Got back home, backed up data, ran "refresh PC". Completed successfully. Yet, even after I'd chosen to "forget known networks"/delete managed known, they were still there.

Never mind, I thought— I'll just wipe & reinstall with the newest Win 10 ISO. After install was complete, the d@mned networks are back!!! They do not appear if I look at the profiles list? I'm about 10kms from the owner/these networks. Does anyone here know how to purge these "ghost" networks? I want them gone as I'm wondering if the wifi card is trying to drop the current connection in favour of one of them.

So friggin weird!

Photo here:

https://imgur.com/a/v4PVsZ5

Computing

Comments

  • mafroew on 07/05/2022 - 21:37
    +3

    Are they saved somehow to the Microsoft account you are using to login with?

    • whatwasherproblem on 07/05/2022 - 22:06
      +2

      They are indeed. It's one of those features that Microsoft has where it tries to 'sync' up the Wifi networks across all of your devices by storing the known SSIDs in the Microsoft account somewhere and then syncing up after the OS reinstall.

      OP try looking in the Sync Settings (Windows Settings -> Accounts -> Sync). Is there anything there that might shed light on the issue?

  • Geekomatic on 07/05/2022 - 22:32
    +1

    The owner did use a MS acct but, when I reinstalled, I skipped internet connection, created a local acct until I could get back to them so they could enter their MS email/PW and shift back to that. OneDrive is not even set up. There are no "sync settings" because all that's there is the offer to "use a MS acct instead". This is BIZARRE!

  • avoidfullprice on 08/05/2022 - 08:31

    I would be spooked if you load up a live Linux distro and that network still appears.

  • BOGOF on 08/05/2022 - 09:17

    Search through the registry for one of those network names in HKLM….and see what it returns?

  • 7ekn00 on 08/05/2022 - 09:58

    Win10+ stores network details in the reserved partition, online account and registry :/

    How did you re-install W10?

    To explain it re-appearing, I am guessing you just deleted the windows partition, then used the installer to re-install W10?

    The correct way is to use the installer to remove all partitions on the boot drive, then install W10!

    If the device has dual drives, the hidden partition may even be on a different drive!

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