I installed the Trendnet utility....
Uninstall the utility that came with the driver, but make sure you leave the driver installed. Reboot and test.
If you can't do that, then uninstall everything and only install the driver itself, using the device manager. Test.
Make sure the WLAN service is set to automatic. Services.msc in the start menu to get to it.
There's no utility installed.... All I did was let W7 boot, and install the old driver. Copied the "updated" 64-bit driver from Trendnet and installed it........
NO utility... Everything's being done from Windows 7.....
OK, I've now started down the silly path...... Opened a help ticket at Trendnet... AND very carefully gave them specifics on what it isn't doing, and WHAT'S ALREADY BEEN TRIED..........
The response:
Remove the utility and let Windows do the connecting.....
Oh....
Updated the ticket and was somewhat more "emphatic"...
Maybe it's not the silly path, maybe it's the stupid path...
C'mon folks, this is Windows 7, it can't be that hard..... Either the thing is ABSOLUTELY compatible, in which case their card is garbage or dead, or it's not, in which case their card is GARBAGE....