Surface Book 2/Win 10 Pro Transmitting Wifi Hotspot when settings are off.

Question

My surface book 2, running Windows 10 Pro Version 1909, is transmitting a mobile hotspot when I don't want it to.  Whenever I open my laptop, my mobile devices see a locked network "DIRECT-JjJERRYS-SURFACEms3X."  When I close my surface book, the network disappears from the available networks.  My mobile hotspot settings in Windows 10 are off.  Even when off, the network name is different.  And the default password in the hotspot settings does not work on locked signal "DIRECT-JjJERRYS-SURFACEms3X."  I have Kapersky Total Security and have run several complete scans with no viruses or malware.  Why is my laptop transmitting a hotspot signal and should I be concerned about my security?

Answer 1

Hi JerryCHSF,

Thank you for reaching out Microsoft Community. We apologize for the trouble this may have caused you.

What I'd like you to do to initially troubleshoot this issue is to run the system file checker to check if there are corrupted system files that are just looping around causing this kind of issue to exist.  To run the system file checker, kindly type Command Promp****t on the search box next to the Windows icon and run it as administrator. Once done, type and enter sfc /scannow. Let it load, detect and repair those corrupted files. Whether it detects a corrupted file or whatnot, kindly restart your Surface device and please run the Surface Diagnostic Toolki****t.

After running the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit, kindly uninstall/reinstall the Network Adapter driver in Device Manager.

Open Device Manager

Expand Network Adapter

Right-click on the driver available and select "uninstall device". Please leave the box unchecked if a pop up shows up before you can uninstall the driver successfully. Once done, kindly restart your Surface device to reinstall the driver and go to Settings > Network and Internet and check if Mobile Hotspot is being enabled. Kindly turn it off and see if the issue still exists.

If this helps, feel free to mark this post as an answer. Otherwise, don't hesitate to respond to this thread if you need further assistance.

Kind Regards,

Crest_Z

Answer 2

Thanks for the response and sorry for my delay in responding.  Unfortunately, I tried your troubleshooting steps and it hasn't worked but I wasn't 100% sure that I did things correctly.  The system file checker found some corrupted files and repaired it.  The Surface Diagnostic Toolkit showed nothing wrong.  Then I went to the Network Adapters and found multiple drivers.  They are:

Kaspersky Security Data Escort Adapter

Kaspersky Security Data Escort Adapter #2

Marvell AVASTAR Wireless-AC Network Controller

Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2

Norlynx Tunnel

TAP-NordVPN Windows Adapter V9

WAN Miniport (IKEv2)

WAN Miniport (IP)

WAN Miniport (IPv6)

WAN Miniport (L2TP)

WAN Miniport (Network Monitor)

WAN Miniport (PPPOE)

WAN Miniport (PPTP)

WAN Miniport (SSTP)

So I uninstalled and rebooted to reinstall some drivers individually and some in groups.  I started first with the Microsoft Virtual Adapter and that didn't work.  I did Marvell and that didn't work.  I uninstalled the WAN Miniport adapters in a group before rebooting.  I uninstalled the Kaspersky adapters as a group before rebooting.  Those did automatically reinstall upon reboot.  I have not tried Norlynx Tunnel and TAP-NordVPN yet as I didn't want to uninstall them if they would not reinstall automatically like the Kaspersky adapters.  None of the uninstalls and reboots re-enabled the Hot-Spot and my mobile devices still see DIRECT-JjJERRYS-SURFACEms3X as a locked network when my surface book is on.  Did I do this correctly?  Should I try my VPN adapters?  How do I reinstall those if rebooting doesn't do that automatically.  Are there other troubleshooting steps that I can try?

Thanks.

Answer 3

The Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter is a hotspot. Try disabling it rather than uninstalling.