Step 2. Click Manually Connect to a Wireless Network, and then click Next.
Step 3. The wizard displays the Manually Connect to a Wireless Network page shown in Figure 6-17. Enter the following information and then click Next.
Figure 6-17. Manually Connect to a Wireless Network Page Enabling You to Enter Information Required for Connecting to a Wireless Network
• Network Name: The name (SSID) of the wireless network you are connecting to.
• Security Type: Authentication method to be used in connecting to the wireless network. Table 6-7 lists the available security types.
• Encryption Type: The encryption type will be selected for you depending on the Security type. The options are None (for No authentication), WEP (for WEP connections or 802.1x), or AES for WPA2-Personal or WPA2-
Enterprise (see Table 6-7).
• Security Key: Enter the security key required by the security type selected (the WEP key for the WEP security type), or the WPA2 preshared key (for the WPA2-Personal security type). Clear the Hide Characters check box to view the information typed here.
• Start This Connection Automatically: When selected, Windows 10 automatically connects to the network when you log on. When cleared, you must use the Connect to a Network option from the Network and Sharing Center to connect to the network.
• Connect Even if the Network Is Not Broadcasting: Specifies whether Windows will attempt to connect even if the network is not broadcasting its name. This can be a security risk because Windows 10 sends Probe Request frames to locate the network, which unauthorized users can use to determine the network name. Consequently, this check box is not selected by default.
Step 4. The wizard informs you that it has successfully added the network you specified. Click the link specified to connect to the network, or click the Close button to finish the wizard without connecting.
Table 6-7. Available Wireless Security Types
Security Type Description
Available Encryption Types
No
authentication (open)
Open system authentication with no
encryption None
WEP Open system authentication using WEP WEP
WPA2- Personal
Version 2 of WPA using a preshared
passphrase or key AES (default)
WPA2- Enterprise
Version 2 of WPA using IEEE 802.1x
authentication AES (default)
802.1x IEEE 802.1x authentication using WEP
(also known as dynamic WEP) WEP
Note
WPA2-Enterprise security provides the highest level of wireless networking authentication security. It requires authentication in two phases: first, an open system authentication; second, authentication using EAP. It is suitable for domain-based authentication and on networks using a Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) authentication server. In environments
without the RADIUS server, you should use WPA2-Personal security.
The wireless network you configured is visible in the Network and Sharing Center, from which you can connect later if you have not chosen the Start This Connection Automatically option. You can also connect by selecting the Network icon from the Action Center.
Tip
On the 70-697 or 70-698 exams, you may be asked if you are required to type a security key or passphrase; you should select the WPA2-Personal option.
If you are not required to type a security key or passphrase, you should select the WPA2-Enterprise option.
Managing Wireless Network Connections
After you have configured one or more wireless network connections, you can manage them from Settings. From the main Settings screen, select Network & Internet, select Wi-Fi from the menu, and then click the
Manage Known Networks link. This displays the Settings screen as shown in Figure 6-18, with the networks you have configured in the list.
Figure 6-18. Connecting to Wireless Networks and Context Menu Options for Connected Network
To access the properties of a network connection, you can use the Network icon from Action Center. From there, click the wireless network icon and name. Left-click a network to connect to it, and to select or deselect the Connect Automatically option, as shown in Figure 6-19. This dialog is also displayed if you click the Show Available Networks link from the Wi-Fi settings page.
Figure 6-19. Wireless Networks and Connection Options
Several options are available for any network in range that you have
connected to from the Manage Known Networks Settings page. If you select one of the networks from the Manage Known Networks page, Windows will display Properties and Forget buttons. Selecting Forget will clear out your settings for that Wi-Fi connection and automatically disconnect. By selecting the Properties button of any wireless network, the following selections are available:
• Connect Automatically When in Range: This toggle tells Windows you want to connect to this Wi-Fi access point whenever it is available.
• Make This PC Discoverable: For private or work networks, this option will turn sharing and discoverability on for the network. You should not use this option when connecting to open or public Wi-Fi access points.
• Metered Connection: Turning this toggle on tells Windows that you have to pay for all the bandwidth you use on this connection. Windows will
attempt to limit data usage on metered connections.
• Copy: A list of detailed properties of the network connection is displayed on this screen, as shown in Figure 6-20. Clicking the Copy button places those details as text into the Clipboard, in case you need to save the Wi-Fi Properties to a file or email.
Figure 6-20. Detailed Properties of the Wi-Fi Connection Are Displayed and Can Be Copied to the Clipboard
Managing Preferred Wireless Networks
For Windows 10, Microsoft has simplified the user experience for working with wireless connections. Normally, Windows detects the type of wireless network, sets security option, and manages profiles behind the scenes.
Untrusted networks are set as public, and sharing is disabled. Private networks with security available are preferred, and Windows uses these networks before unsecured networks when available.
When viewing available network connections, a small shield icon will appear on some network connections. This indicates to the user that the network is not secured, and Windows will treat the network as public. As described earlier, users can override the automated sharing selected and turn sharing on or off when connected to the network.
Whenever you connect to a new network and enable the Connect
Automatically option, Windows places that network at the top of the priority list of preferred wireless networks.
Windows adjusts the priority of your list of preferred wireless networks based on the following criteria:
1. On connection to a new (undefined) wireless network, with Connect Automatically enabled, that network is added to the list, and Windows will connect to that network while it’s in range.
2. If you connect to another wireless network while in range of the first
network, also setting the Connect Automatically option, Windows will prefer the second network over the first one.
3. For mobile broadband networks, manually connecting to a mobile broadband network when there is a Wi-Fi network in range will set the mobile broadband network as preferred only for that session. The next time the computer is in range of both networks, the wireless network will be preferred. Mobile broadband networks are typically metered, but this behavior persists even if the mobile broadband network is not specifically marked as metered.
4. To force Windows to prefer a mobile broadband network over Wi-Fi, click the Wi-Fi network in the list of networks, and then click Disconnect.
Windows will not automatically connect to that Wi-Fi network.
Wireless Network Profiles
When you need to delete or make changes to the settings, you can usually do so from the Wi-Fi settings page of the connection as described in the previous section. However, some tasks require the use of the command prompt. For instance, managing the automatically created wireless profiles Windows 10 maintains for your wireless connections requires the use of the netsh
command-line utility.
A wireless network profile is a set of wireless networks available to a given user on a Windows 10 computer. The profile contains information such as the SSID, the security settings as configured earlier in this chapter, and whether the network is an infrastructure or ad hoc network. There are two types of wireless network profiles:
• Per-User Profiles: These profiles apply to specific users of the computer and are connected when that user logs on to the computer. Note that these profiles can cause a loss of network connectivity when logging off or switching between users.
• All-User Profiles: These profiles apply to all users of the computer and are connected regardless of which user is logged on to the computer.
To view the list of wireless profiles for the current user, open a command prompt, and type netsh wlan show profiles. To view the All User profiles, run the same command from an administrative command prompt. The result will be similar to Figure 6-21.
Figure 6-21. netsh wlan Commands Used to Manage Wireless Profiles
The netsh command lists all wireless network profiles, even if not in range, while the network list, as shown previously in Figure 6-19, includes only networks that are currently in range. You can delete a network profile using netsh commands, which is the same function as the Forget This Network option accessible from the Options menu.
Other important netsh commands for managing wireless networks and profiles are listed in Table 6-8. You should be aware that these commands will return profiles based on the user context. To manage all user profiles, use an administrative command prompt.
Table 6-8. Important netsh Wireless Networking Commands
Command Description
netsh wlan show profiles Displays all wireless profiles on the computer
netsh wlan show profile name="
<profilename>" key=clear
Displays security key
information for a profile named
< profilename> that's out of range
netsh wlan delete profile name="
<profilename>"
Deletes a profile that's out of range
netsh wlan set profileparametername="
<profilename>"
connectionmode=manual
Stops automatically connecting to a network that's out of range
Note
Many other netsh commands are available for managing networks. For more information, download the Network Shell (Netsh) Technical Reference from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj129394.aspx.
In addition to using the netsh command to manage wireless network profiles, you can also use Group Policy to deploy or maintain wireless network
profiles. Whenever you connect to a wireless network, Windows creates a wireless profile entry in the Group Policies for the local computer. You will find the profiles under Computer Configuration\Policies\Windows
Settings\Security Settings\Network List Manager Policies. You can set various policies for each network, as shown in Figure 6-22. Note that both wired and wireless networks are included.
Figure 6-22. Local Group Policy Settings for Configured Networks
Deploying wireless network profiles can also be performed from Windows Server using domain-based group policies.
Configuring Network Adapters
In Chapter 3, "Post-Installation Configuration," you learned how to use Device Manager to install, configure, and troubleshoot various types of hardware devices. In this section, we take a further look at the use of Device Manager and the network adapter dialogs and the options that can be used for configuring wired and wireless network adapters.
The majority of the work involving device implementation, management, and troubleshooting for many types of hardware devices is found in the Device Manager utility. From the utility, you can access many of the hardware properties of network adapters. We covered the network properties of the adapter earlier in the section “Configuring IP Settings,” but there are more NIC-level properties you can set for the device. The available properties will depend on the specific device, the type of network it enables, and the
capabilities of the hardware and device driver.
When you open a network device’s Properties dialog box from the Device Manager, you have access to a variety of configuration options from the Advanced tab, as shown in Figure 6-23. As you select an item in the
Properties list, the current value is displayed in the section on the right, which may be a drop-down, a spinner, a text box, or other control type based on the type of value required for the property.
Figure 6-23. Advanced Tab of a Network Adapter Device with Several Configuration Options
The configuration settings available for the network adapter can vary widely.
Wireless adapters will have different options than wired connections, and different devices from manufacturers expose different options through the driver interface. Typically you would not need to adjust any of these settings, but there are a few you should be aware of, and that may need to be changed for specific environments or application and network requirements.
Table 6-9 lists many of the more common options you may encounter and need to adjust.
Table 6-9. Important Network Adapter Advanced Properties
Property Adapter
Type Description
Preferred Band Wireless
Some wireless networks can use 2.4 GHz or 5.2 GHz to communicate with the AP. You can adjust the preferred band to use.
Wireless Mode Wireless Specify whether to use 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g or some combination.
802.11n Mode Wireless Specify whether to enable the ability to use 802.11n mode.
Jumbo
Packet/Jumbo Frames
Wired
For fast networks (gigabit or faster), enabling Jumbo Frames (also known as Jumbo Packet) can improve performance when all devices on a
network path can transmit larger packets.
Speed and
Duplex Wired
Typically the network adapter will negotiate with the switch to determine the speed and full- or half- duplex operation. If the autonegotiation is not working correctly, you can manually tell the adapter the speed and duplex mode to use.
Transmit
Buffers/Receive Buffers
Wired
These properties allow you to set the number of buffers used when moving data between memory and the network. Increasing the number of buffers consumes more system memory.
Troubleshooting Network Issues
If there is an issue at the computer’s hardware layer, it can often be resolved by resetting the network adapter. You can perform this task from the device’s Properties dialog box. You can also do this from the Network and Sharing Center, by selecting the Change Adapter Settings link and right-clicking the connection, as shown in Figure 6-24. The adapter is reset by selecting
Disable from the pop-up box, waiting for the adapter to shut down, and then selecting Enable from the right-click menu.
Figure 6-24. Enabling and Disabling a Network Adapter from the Network Connections Dialog Box
You can troubleshoot problems specific to the network adapter using the Windows 10 troubleshooting tool. To troubleshoot problems with the network adapter, follow these steps:
Step 1. Open the Control Panel by right-clicking the Start button and selecting the Control Panel.
Step 2. In the Search box, type troubleshooting, and then click the Troubleshooting link.