How to install WMP54G Drivers on Windows 7 Beta 64 bit (or Vista 64 bit)

My media center machine is my guinea pig. It’s relatively old with it’s nForce 440 based motherboard, Athlon 64 3200+ (Socket 989), and 1 whopping gig of memory. It’s also got a Hauppauge MCE500 dual analog tuner and an ATI 4550 with HDMI out to my Samsumg A550 40″ LCD.

I couldn’t be happier with how Windows 7 performs with minimal hardware. This machine is easily 3.5 years old, and it wasn’t exactly top of the line when I bought it. H.264 at 1080P plays flawlessly (thanks to AVIVO), and the Media Center interface is incredibly responsive, even right after bootup (which, I’m sad to say, wasn’t the case with Vista).

Anyway, last night I reinstalled Windows 7 Beta x64. Every single driver installed out of the box…except this damn WMP54G, which also didn’t work on Vista 64. So, here’s how to make it work.

This card is based on a card by RALink…that, or they use the same chip. Either way, they offer a driver that works.

http://www.ralinktech.com/ralink/Home/Support/Windows.html

I downloaded the RT2500 installer. Then I installed it. *EDIT* Here’s the updated link location, thanks to “Heroin” the commenter (had to clarify): http://driverscollection.com/?file_cid=410099446353e5b327a2d97a64c

So, install then, then head over to Device Manager. You should see this:

Double click that device and go to Update Driver.

Select Browse my computer for driver software

At the bottom, select “Let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer”

In the next window, scroll down to Network Adapters and double click. Then click “Have Disk”

In the box that pops up, navigate to/enter this path: C:\Program Files (x86)\RALINK\RT6x Wireless LAN Card\Driver

Hit OK then scroll down to “Ralink Technology Corp” in the box on the left side. On the right side, select “802.11b/g Wireless Adapter.”

Click YES on the warning.

Success! Now try to connect to your wireless network.