"Wireless Switch Setting Utility" asks admin permission on bootup - FZ

Hello all:

On my VGN-FZ445D, when a Standard user logs in, a User Account Control box appears for "Wireless Switch Setting Utility" requesting the administrator password. Details show that it's c:\Program Files\Sony\Wireless Switch Setting Utility\Switcher.exe.

What should I do? I don't want to have to tell the Standard user the administrator password, because the whole idea was that I would be administrator and configure the system, and he would always use it as a Standard user for safety.

 

You should allow that to be working properly.

 

What? How do I "allow" it to work properly?

A Standard user profile is being prompted for an administrator password which he should not have access to. That's the whole point. I want to know why Wireless Switch Setting Utility is not running for a Standard user, why it is requiring the administrator password, and how to configure so it does not need the user to enter that administrator password.

 

I did not reinstall it - what does it do that Vista does not do?

 

On my VGN-FZ445D there is a hardware switch on the front that turns wireless on or off. I think the Wireless Switch Setting Utility works with that hardware switch, to allow you to decide what wireless service will be enabled when you slide that switch to "on".

 

It turns off/on the bluetooth depending upon your preference.

 

Oh, I see - you could turn wireless networking off but leave BT on I guess - or vice versa. I keep BT off for the most part and use the task tray icon to turn it on when needed. Thanks.

 

Actually, the Wireless Switch Setting Utility allows you to choose what the hardware switch will turn on/off. It could be Bluetooth, or WiFi, or both WiFi and Bluetooth. You may also choose whether you want 2.4GHz or 5GHz for the wireless.

 

OK, I reinstalled it to see. Mine did not allow me to "program" the hard switch. I could check 5GHz or 2.4GHZ and Bluetooth on or off. Not worth the effort IMO because I rarely ever change those settings - and again, if I need to I will do it elsewhere instead of having that program running.

 

Try This,

Control Panel/Administrative Tools
Task Scheduler/Task Scheduler Library/Sony/WSSU
Right click on WSSU in center column and disable


It got rid of the icon and stopped prompting my wife for admin approval. It also accelerated my internet connection at start up. No adverse effects.


Ken

 

It's not just a matter of being able to change the settings, which of course you can do via other means. The point is that it allows you to instantly enable or disable wireless just by sliding the hardware switch. Thus you can save battery power, and be more secure, by leaving wireless off when you don't need it, but turn it on instantly when you want to make a wireless connection.

 

Well, yeah, if it's disabled then clearly it wouldn't need any permissions to run. But then its functionality would be unavailable. I'm not seeking to disable it, I'm seeking to fix it so it runs without asking for admin password.

 

You are talking about the physical switch on the front of the FZ, right? Mine still turns WiFi on and off via that switch and I have the above utility uninstalled.

 

Really? That's interesting. I wonder what the purpose is of Wireless Switch Setting Utility then?

Maybe it's just to provide a convenient interface to select 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and/or Bluetooth via the little icon in the Notification Area (formerly called Systray). I guess you make those selections in the Control Panel instead?

 

Excuse my ignorance,

But what functionality are you talking about. My WLAN switch on the front of my laptop still works. I get instant connection at bootup and have lost no features that I am aware of. I am always on 2.4GHZ, so don't need the WSSU available to go between 2.4 and 5.4.


This procedure has solved the admin problem for my wife and enhanced wireless functionality. I don't see any negatives.



Ken

 

That's what I'm now wondering, what the purpose is of Wireless Switch Setting Utility.

Maybe it's just to provide a convenient interface to select 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and/or Bluetooth via the little icon in the Notification Area (formerly called Systray). I guess you make those selections in the Control Panel instead?

 

And thus my comment earlier - this is just another piece of Sony bloatware, IMO. If I was on an N router, I would enable N on my Intel card via the device manager. Right now I have it set to G only and N is disabled. This utility is only good, IMO, if you are constantly going from N to G on battery power.

 

Is "N" the 5GHz? I believe a/b/g are 2.4GHz.

By saying that this utility would be useful if you frequently change from N to G on battery power, do you mean that it just saves a few steps of going to the Control Panel and thereby saves you a little battery power?

 

toronto,

Try my procedure and see if it helps. You can always re-enable.

I think the the comments by you and bubbatex are accurate, and it serves no real function for most users. Except messing with admin approvals and at least in my case, quick internet connections. Sometimes it would automatically disable 2.4 and I would have to open the icon in the systray and renable. For me, I have had no more problems since I disabled it.


Ken

 

possibly - I guess if you wanted to switch N (5GHz) off quickly, this would be a way to do it. In Device Manager, N and a/b/g are controlled seperately. As I have said, I have N disabled. If it was on, I am sure it would have some effect on battery life.

 

or if you would like bluetooth completely off, when wireless is on, to save battery. but i use VAIO Smart Network instead of WSSU...

 

If the physical switch on the SZ is ON, both WLAN and bluetooth are enabled (and their respective LEDs are lit), but if you had only wanted to use WLAN but not bluetooth or vise versa, you'd need to use the Wireless Switch Setting Utility or SmartWi.

 

I just right click the BT icon in the system tray and turn it on or off. Takes about 2 seconds. Why does one need another program running for that?

Now you WILL need a program if you want BT ON and WiFi OFF.

 

jlccarv: I can't find VAIO Smart Network on my laptop, just Wireless Switch Setting Utility. I can't see how you switch from G to N in Device Manager.

I also can't figure out if this model came with Bluetooth. There are several references to Bluetooth in panels, but I can't see how to turn it on, so maybe it's not included here.

bubbatex: Isn't that tray icon provided by Wireless Switch Setting Utility? When I right-click that icon and click "About" it reports: Wireless Switch Setting Utility, version 3.6

 

No - Go to Control Panel>Bluetooth Devices> Options tab and check the box "Show the Bluetooth icon in the notification area".

Man - 3 pages of posts - just keep the darn utility installed and move on to something else.

 

That didn't do anything on my laptop. The icon never appeared. It may have something to do with dismissing the password prompt for the Wireless Switch Setting Utility.

Did you miss the point of my first post? I want to keep it installed, but it isn't working properly. Whenever a Standard user logs in, the utility demands an Administrator password. That's the whole reason I opened this thread, so see if someone had a solution.

 

You're right - sorry. You have a admin rights issue - can't remember how to fix that. Is your User Account set up with Administrator rights? If it is, it is a bigger issue to get all of this fixed. Google administrator rights in the top search bar.

 

No, the Standard user account does not have Administrator rights. My initial Administrator account has Administrator rights. When the Standard user logs in, a User Account Control box appears for "Wireless Switch Setting Utility" requesting the Administrator password (and showing the picture that is used for my Administrator account.

 

Here's what I learned from Sony phone support:

• This is very new model of VAIO, so he said he'd never seen this problem before. He also said that most users never bother to create a Standard user account, and are always running as Administrator, so they would never see this problem.
• Wireless Switch Setting Utility, or Switcher.exe, is used just to choose frequency for wireless connection
• It loads automatically at system start to place its quick access icon in the Notification Area
• That icon gives you quick access to change the WiFi frequency
• It's really not needed to load automatically, since most WiFi networks are 2.4 GHz so usually you'd just leave it on that setting.
• If you ever do need to change frequency, you can do so from VAIO Control Center which will access Switcher.exe.
• Since it's not needed to load all the time, we decided that we should prevent Switcher.exe from loading automatically on system startup.

Problem: where can I stop Switcher.exe from loading automatically on system startup? It is not in the Startup folder, and when I checked System Information it is not in the list of Startup Programs.

Where is the setting that tells this app to load at startup, so I can prevent it?

.

 

• 
  
  Open "task scheduler" and then go to SONY > WSSU.
  
  Right click the event name and then disable it. This will prevent wireless switching utility from starting up by itself.

 

Great minds think alike.
I was just about to post my conclusion, when I saw your new post. I did indeed find it in Task Scheduler, as you also predicted.

Thanks.

This could become an issue for other VAIO users running Standard user profiles, since on this new model Switcher is set to load on startup but will always prompt for an admin password. However, the Sony tech said that most users don't create Standard user accounts, and just run as Administrator, so they would never see this problem.

Users are preferring to run in a less-secure environment, either because they don't want to bother to create a Standard user account, or because they don't want to see warnings, or because they don't realize that Amin is less secure than Standard user.

 

Isn't this also the little beastie that causes your wireless connection to connect, disconnect and reconnect on startup from cold boot, or resuming from sleep or hibernate?

There was discussion of this months ago, as I remember.

Gary

 

I don't know, I searched here and via Google, but didn't find any mention of that. The Sony support tech said it was only to select the frequency (and Bluetooth, if the computer has it installed).

 

I believe I suggested your final solution in my first post.




Ken

 

ScuderiaConchiglia,

It messed with mine, till I disabled it.


Ken

 

Yes you did, and I wish I had remembered that you found it in the Task Scheduler. But, the advice to disable it was premature, as that was without any explanation of the purpose and function of the utility. There's little point in disabling tools that might actually be needed later. The Sony tech's information explained that there are other ways of obtaining this functionality, so that it's not necessary to let it run always.

He did agree that it made no sense that the utility launches for every user, even Standard users and Guests, even though it can't actually finish loading and be usable unless an administrator password is entered. The point of having Standard users and Guests is so that they don't have administrator rights. Sony made a mistake by setting this tool to launch always but require administrator password.

 

Glad you got it worked out toronto. I just wanted to feel a little better after a tiring day.

I could have explained better that it had little if any use to most users.



Ken

 

No problem, thanks for the help. Too bad Sony's installation makes this a problem for anyone using Standard or Guest profiles. It might cause them to disable User Account Control, which would not be a good idea for such accounts, or to simply always run as Administrator which could be even riskier for such users.

 

No this utility just turns ON/ OFF BT, switches frequency and also disables enables wireless. Without this launched at start up, the wireless connection seems to be much faster.

 

Thanks to all the contributors here that have enabled me to fix this annoying and silly little glitch that turned up after I set up a standard account for my wife. But I've found that you don't really need to disable it, you can alter the trigger so that it only starts on boot up when your administrator account logs in. You just don't believe Sony do you, especially when Microsoft advise against anyone using an Administrator account all the time!

 

SWEET! I was settting up an FZ for my father and ran into this when I created a "Standard user" account for him. Changed the trigger so it only shows up when I login as an admin and Voila! No more issue for him yet I have the functionality as needed.

Rep for you!

Gary

 

Gary, disabling the WSSU saves some time in connecting to the wireless network after start up. I was really annoyed by the "wireless network connect-disconnect-connect" by the switching utility. You can turn off the Bluetooth manually by creating a shorcut to the utitlity.

 

Oh, I know. It prevents the wireless connect, disconnect, re-connect cycle. I already did this on my own FZ. But the one I am setting up for my Father, I left it in place when I login, but NOT when he logs in. The only time I will ever be on the machine will be to perform "admin" functions, so I'd want the tool then. Possibly.

Gary