How to programmatically enable/disable network interfaces? (Windows XP)

Question

I need to enable/disable completely network interfaces from a script in Windows XP. I'm looking for a python solution, but any general way (eg WMI, some command-line à la netsh, some windows call) is welcome and will be adjusted. Thanks.

Answer 1

Using the netsh interface Usage set interface [name = ] IfName [ [admin = ] ENABLED|DISABLED [connect = ] CONNECTED|DISCONNECTED [newname = ] NewName ]

Try including everything inside the outer brackets: netsh interface set interface name="thename" admin=disabled connect=DISCONNECTED newname="thename"

See also this MS KB page: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/262265/ You could follow either of their suggestions. For disabling the adapter, you will need to determine a way to reference the hardware device. If there will not be multiple adapters with the same name on the computer, you could possibly go off of the Description for the interface (or PCI ID works well). After that, using devcon (disable|enable). Devcon is an add-on console interface for the Device Manager.

Answer 2

So far I've found the following Python solution:

>>> import wmi; c=wmi.WMI()
>>> o=c.query("select * from Win32_NetworkAdapter where NetConnectionID='wifi'")[0]
>>> o.EnableDevice(1)
(-2147217407,)

which is translated, AFAIU, to the generic WMI error 0x80041001. Could be permissions.