tech pit

Windows weird behaviors

I recently bought a new notebook (ASUS ROG GL703GM), and one of the issues I solved is the 5ghz wireless.

It can connect without any problem on network 2ghz but not to 5ghz because the system WLAN Autoconfig service quit itself.

While looking for a solution, I discovered that if switching off and on the wireless interface, it was likely connected to 5ghz.

During my investigations, I reinstalled intel wireless drivers, antivirus, and system scans… reset or restore many other things, but I wasn’t able to find an effective solution.

The turning point occurred when I fell into the system environment variables and I saw how PATH variable was set up.

It had invalid or duplicate folders, and bad folder priorities, …

By fixing it, the oddities disappeared.

The Fix

updated 29/10/2019
To verify and fix environmental variables you have to:

  • start ‘sysdm.cpl‘
    or right-click on ‘This PC’, select ‘Properties’ and then click on ‘Advanced System Settings’
  • then click on ‘Advanced’ tab, and then ‘Environmental Variables…’

From here we can access all users and system local variables.

From the system list, select and open the ‘PATH’ variable, and:

  • remove any invalid folder,
  • remove any duplicated or equivalent item,
  • resolve any redundant item (like ‘c:\windows\..\users’ to ‘c:\users‘ for example),
  • sort items by your convenience and in a way that keeps the following system items nearest to the top (in this very order):
%systemroot%\system32
%systemroot%
%systemroot%\system32\wbem
%systemroot%\system32\windowspowershell\v1.0
%systemroot%\system32\openssh

This is because anything above these system entries may poison programs needing some system files (with an outdated file for example).  Put non-essential items after the system entries above.

  • save changes
  • reboot

In cases like mine, this should, at least, mitigate the oddities.

 

NOTE: It is a good idea to give a look at the user ‘PATH’ variable too.

NOTE2: In old OSs, it is possible to have the value of this variable in a single edit field. Copy it, and paste it into a Notepad-like editor, to edit it comfortably. It is important to avoid any errors while fixing it.

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