Disallow a wireless network

Is there a way to disallow a wireless network connection? We've got a case
where we have two wireless networks on campus - one is using WPA2 and we and
the notebooks are setup to automatically connect - we aren't broadcasting the
SSID. However - there is also an unsecured public wireless and the notebooks
are connecting to that first and they never authenticate then against the
other. If you reboot, and login again, then you can see the private network,
disconnect the public and connect to the private, but needless to say this
isn't a good option for the students. I'd like to set the notebooks to NEVER
connect to the public wireless. is this possible? The notebooks are running
XP w/sp2.

VickyS wrote:
> Is there a way to disallow a wireless network connection? We've got a case
> where we have two wireless networks on campus - one is using WPA2 and we and
> the notebooks are setup to automatically connect - we aren't broadcasting the
> SSID. However - there is also an unsecured public wireless and the notebooks
> are connecting to that first and they never authenticate then against the
> other. If you reboot, and login again, then you can see the private network,
> disconnect the public and connect to the private, but needless to say this
> isn't a good option for the students. I'd like to set the notebooks to NEVER
> connect to the public wireless. is this possible? The notebooks are running
> XP w/sp2.

Make sure that the "Automatically connect to non-preferred networks" box
is not checked (from the "advanced" button -- not "advanced" tab -- of
the "wireless network" tab of wireless network connection properties
dialog). This is the default setting, and you are probably running into
the problem that if a user EVER connects to this public network, Windows
automatically adds it to the top of the list of preferred networks.

Alternatively (I think this will work), configure the SSID of the public
network with an encryption key. Because the network itself is
unsecured, the configuration will not match and the users will therefore
not connect to the public network. WZC should then find the
non-broadcast secured network and connect to that.

--
Lem MS MVP -- Networking

To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer

Automatically connect to non-preferred is not checked and it is set to
connect to access point (infrastructure) networks only, but I'll give your
idea w/the SSIS a try.

"Lem" wrote:

> VickyS wrote:
> > Is there a way to disallow a wireless network connection? We've got a case
> > where we have two wireless networks on campus - one is using WPA2 and we and
> > the notebooks are setup to automatically connect - we aren't broadcasting the
> > SSID. However - there is also an unsecured public wireless and the notebooks
> > are connecting to that first and they never authenticate then against the
> > other. If you reboot, and login again, then you can see the private network,
> > disconnect the public and connect to the private, but needless to say this
> > isn't a good option for the students. I'd like to set the notebooks to NEVER
> > connect to the public wireless. is this possible? The notebooks are running
> > XP w/sp2.
>
> Make sure that the "Automatically connect to non-preferred networks" box
> is not checked (from the "advanced" button -- not "advanced" tab -- of
> the "wireless network" tab of wireless network connection properties
> dialog). This is the default setting, and you are probably running into
> the problem that if a user EVER connects to this public network, Windows
> automatically adds it to the top of the list of preferred networks.
>
> Alternatively (I think this will work), configure the SSID of the public
> network with an encryption key. Because the network itself is
> unsecured, the configuration will not match and the users will therefore
> not connect to the public network. WZC should then find the
> non-broadcast secured network and connect to that.
>
> --
> Lem MS MVP -- Networking
>
> To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
>

I'd encourage you to re-enable SSID broadcast of the WPA2 network. SSIDs
aren't passwords, they're network names--so don't try to keep them secret.
The XP client doesn't really like hidden SSIDs.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tec...h/default.aspx
describes why hiding an SSID does not make that network any more secure.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../bb726942.aspx describes the
general behavior of the XP and Vista clients.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907405/ describes a hotfix you can get to
work around a specific situation regarding reconnecting after manually
disconnecting. But you're better off re-enabling SSID broadcast.

--
Steve Riley
(E-Mail Removed)
http://blogs.technet.com/steriley
http://www.protectyourwindowsnetwork.com


"VickyS" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:F919FDFC-7CC2-4785-AD1E-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Automatically connect to non-preferred is not checked and it is set to
> connect to access point (infrastructure) networks only, but I'll give your
> idea w/the SSIS a try.
>
> "Lem" wrote:
>
>> VickyS wrote:
>> > Is there a way to disallow a wireless network connection? We've got a
>> > case
>> > where we have two wireless networks on campus - one is using WPA2 and
>> > we and
>> > the notebooks are setup to automatically connect - we aren't
>> > broadcasting the
>> > SSID. However - there is also an unsecured public wireless and the
>> > notebooks
>> > are connecting to that first and they never authenticate then against
>> > the
>> > other. If you reboot, and login again, then you can see the private
>> > network,
>> > disconnect the public and connect to the private, but needless to say
>> > this
>> > isn't a good option for the students. I'd like to set the notebooks to
>> > NEVER
>> > connect to the public wireless. is this possible? The notebooks are
>> > running
>> > XP w/sp2.
>>
>> Make sure that the "Automatically connect to non-preferred networks" box
>> is not checked (from the "advanced" button -- not "advanced" tab -- of
>> the "wireless network" tab of wireless network connection properties
>> dialog). This is the default setting, and you are probably running into
>> the problem that if a user EVER connects to this public network, Windows
>> automatically adds it to the top of the list of preferred networks.
>>
>> Alternatively (I think this will work), configure the SSID of the public
>> network with an encryption key. Because the network itself is
>> unsecured, the configuration will not match and the users will therefore
>> not connect to the public network. WZC should then find the
>> non-broadcast secured network and connect to that.
>>
>> --
>> Lem MS MVP -- Networking
>>
>> To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM.
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
>>

Hi
By Not broadcasting the SSID you actually create a preference to the Network
that does broadcast the SSID.
Jack (MVP-Networking).

"VickyS" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:F919FDFC-7CC2-4785-AD1E-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Automatically connect to non-preferred is not checked and it is set to
> connect to access point (infrastructure) networks only, but I'll give your
> idea w/the SSIS a try.
>
> "Lem" wrote:
>
>> VickyS wrote:
>> > Is there a way to disallow a wireless network connection? We've got a
>> > case
>> > where we have two wireless networks on campus - one is using WPA2 and
>> > we and
>> > the notebooks are setup to automatically connect - we aren't
>> > broadcasting the
>> > SSID. However - there is also an unsecured public wireless and the
>> > notebooks
>> > are connecting to that first and they never authenticate then against
>> > the
>> > other. If you reboot, and login again, then you can see the private
>> > network,
>> > disconnect the public and connect to the private, but needless to say
>> > this
>> > isn't a good option for the students. I'd like to set the notebooks to
>> > NEVER
>> > connect to the public wireless. is this possible? The notebooks are
>> > running
>> > XP w/sp2.
>>
>> Make sure that the "Automatically connect to non-preferred networks" box
>> is not checked (from the "advanced" button -- not "advanced" tab -- of
>> the "wireless network" tab of wireless network connection properties
>> dialog). This is the default setting, and you are probably running into
>> the problem that if a user EVER connects to this public network, Windows
>> automatically adds it to the top of the list of preferred networks.
>>
>> Alternatively (I think this will work), configure the SSID of the public
>> network with an encryption key. Because the network itself is
>> unsecured, the configuration will not match and the users will therefore
>> not connect to the public network. WZC should then find the
>> non-broadcast secured network and connect to that.
>>
>> --
>> Lem MS MVP -- Networking
>>
>> To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM.
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
>>