“netsh wlan connect” always outputs success, never actually connects

Question

I'm running a portable hotspot on my phone. I wanted to connect to it using batch, so I created a profile file, added it as a profile with netsh and tried to connect. Netsh claims the request was completed successfully, even when the password is incorrect or the hotspot is disabled. It never actually connects.

I tried turning the wifi interface off and on again, disconnecting my Ethernet cable, and re-adding the profile. Nothing changed.

>netsh wlan connect name="null" interface="wi-fi"
Connection request was completed successfully.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<WLANProfile xmlns="http://www.microsoft.com/networking/WLAN/profile/v1">
    <name>null</name>
    <SSIDConfig>
        <SSID>
            <hex>6E756C6C</hex>
            <name>null</name>
        </SSID>
    </SSIDConfig>
    <connectionType>ESS</connectionType>
    <connectionMode>manual</connectionMode>
    <MSM>
        <security>
            <authEncryption>
                <authentication>WPA2PSK</authentication>
                <encryption>AES</encryption>
                <useOneX>false</useOneX>
            </authEncryption>
            <sharedKey>
                <keyType>passPhrase</keyType>
                <protected>false</protected>
                <keyMaterial>12345678</keyMaterial>
            </sharedKey>
        </security>
    </MSM>
    <MacRandomization xmlns="http://www.microsoft.com/networking/WLAN/profile/v3">
        <enableRandomization>false</enableRandomization>
    </MacRandomization>
</WLANProfile>

According to the help section for 'netsh wlan connect', the command should only act like this if the device is already connected to that network. That's not the case here.