How to Start Windows Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC)

If Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC) is not started on a Windows computer, it cannot detect any available wireless networks. It is an important Microsoft service which normally starts at boot time and this utility manage WiFi connections. If WZC is disabled on a device, it cannot find and join WiFi networks. So if you are facing any WiFi connectivity issues on your computer, the first step is to check whether WZC is enabled. This article tells how to enable WZC on a Windows computer and fix issues related to WiFi connectivity. Here we can see two different methods to activate this service. You can activate it either by executing a Command Prompt command or by following GUI instructions. These two methods are explained in this article.

Steps to Enable Wireless Zero Configuration

1. Click on start
   
   
2. Click on Run
   
   
3. On Run window type services.msc press OK
   
   
   Now the services windows will be opened. The Wireless Zero Configuration is the third service from last.
   
   
   
4. Open the service and click on start button to enable this service.
   
   
   

Start WZC From Command Prompt

Here we use a DOS command to start Wireless Zero Configuration. The procedure is given below.

1. Start Command Prompt
   
   
2. Type the command net start wzcsvc and press enter

Now onwards it is started on your computer and it will work as long as you manually set its status stop. If you are using third-party utilities like Dell DW WLAN Card Utility or Linksys WiFi Network Monitor etc, they may set the status of WZC as stopped. As long as they work properly it is not necessary to enable it back but if these third-party tools show issues, it is better to disable them and start Microsoft Utility. I recommend this because, in my personal experience, this built-in Microsoft Utility works better than third-party utilities. However, you should not use two different network monitoring utilities at the same time.

Where to Find Wireless Zero Configuration on Windows 7 & 8

I am getting comments regarding wireless zero configuration on Windows 8 and 7 computers. They want to know where to find WZC in Windows 7 and 8 as they couldn't find it on the services page. Actually, there is no WZC on Windows 8, Vista and Windows 7. It is an important service on Windows XP and Server 2003 but discontinued on later versions. Instead of using it, they use WLAN Autoconfig to manage the wireless network. To know more about this service to find and manage WiFi, visit the link below.
How to Start WLAN AutoConfig Service

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