As all owners of this Wi-Fi dongle must have gone through this issue, probably the most of them have not found a solution or workaround yet, and stick to using Windows XP or a virtual XP machine on Vista/7 to use the dongle for connection to DS.  By default, the dongle installs as an Atheros adapter in Vista/7, which can be used as an ‘Ad-hoc’ connection for setting up Wi-Fi, but it only works for laptops and other network devices. Nintendo DS does not seem to be assigned an IP automatically.

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After a year of annoyance trying to use Virtual XP for DS, I’ve finally found a working solution. Let me share the same with you in simple steps.

  1. Get zydas_vista_compat.zip (Mirror link)
  2. Install the ZDWlan driver. Vista/7 might have already installed your Wifi dongle with the Atheros device. Force it to install the ZDWlan driver from Device Manager as ‘Update driver’ ‘Let me choose on my own’ ‘Have Disk’ and navigating to C:\Program Files\ZyDAS Technology Corporation\ZyDAS_802.11g_Utility\InsDrvTemp_USB and choose ZD1211BU.INF.

    zdwlan8

  3. Now run the ZDWlan utility. As you’ll notice it will simply appear for a second on the taskbar and vanish, while it is still running in the background (taskmgr). End the process. Right-click ZDWlan application and give it Windows 2000 compatibility with Administrator privileges (or Windows 2003 if that doesn’t work). Now the main application interface will open once you click on the ZD icon in tray.
  4. Choose Mode: Access Point. And in the Bridge Adaptor settings, choose your Internet adaptor.

    zdwlan2

  5. Ensure that ICS is turned off on your Internet adaptor settings.

    zdwlan3

  6. Get NAT32 and winpkflt_rtl.zip
  7. Install both. Now open NAT32. Select Internet adaptor as ‘Internet’ and Wifi dongle adaptor as ‘Private’

    zdwlan4 

    zdwlan5

  8. Hit Apply twice until you get this window.

    net32

  9. Now select the Access point from your Nintendo DS WFC menu, do not set any IPs, test connection.. and voila! =D

    connectionSuccessful