And best of all, you only have to do it once, regardless of how many wireless computers you have! The first thing that you should do is uninstall the wireless network card drivers from the system. Of course, before you do so, you need to make sure that you have the necessary software to reinstall the drivers.
In fact, I recommend that you visit the manufacture's Web site and check for updated drivers--especially if you want to use WPA. Once you have the drivers accessible, launch Device Manager, open the Network Adapters tree, right click the wireless adapter, and select the Uninstall command. When you see the Confirm Removal dialog box, click OK.
Then, restart Windows XP as you normally would. Once Windows XP has booted up normally, follow the manufacture's instructions for installing the wireless network card driver. Use the most current version available. Usually, this will consist of connecting the card and working through the Found New Hardware Wizard. Don't install any additional software that may have come with the wireless network card.
Once the driver is installed and the operating system recognizes it, you'll see the new Wireless Network Setup Wizard's welcome screen and should click Next after perusing the information it presents. The next screen begins with a prompt that asks you what you want to do and presents you with two options, as shown in Figure A. As you can see, the Wireless Network Setup Wizard will recognize your existing wireless network configuration and select it as the default. The next screen in the wizard, shown in Figure B, will prompt you to create a name, or as it's more technically called a Service Set Identifier SSID , for your wireless network.
Again, unless you have an overwhelming need to use the same SSID, I recommend that you stick with my Blow It All Away technique and give your wireless network a new name. In addition, you can specify whether you want to have the Wireless Network Setup Wizard automatically generate and assign a network key, as well as whether you want to use WPA or WEP encryption. Regardless of whether you want to have the wizard create the network key or do it yourself, I strongly recommend that, if your wireless network devices support WPA, you select the Use WPA Encryption check box.
WPA is by far the superior of the two encryption schemes. Once you establish your network key, you'll be prompted to choose your wireless network settings propagation scheme, as shown in Figure C.
As you can see, the recommended option is to use a USB flash drive on which to save the settings in an automated installation format.
More on this automation feature in a moment. However, if you've been looking for a reason to get a USB flash drive, this is definitely it! If you're a glutton for punishment, you can choose the manual option which will eventually directs you to print a hard copy of the settings that you can later use to manually enter the information when you configure other wireless computers as well as your WAP.
As I mentioned, saving your wireless network settings to a USB flash drive is definitely the way to go as it is allows you to create your wireless network settings once, store them on the flash drive, and then use the flash drive transport the settings to other wireless computers and configure them in an instant. When it comes to setting up multiple wireless computers with new configuration options, the Wireless Network Setup Wizard's USB flash drive transport system is definitely the key to my Blow It All Away technique.
This is really easy! Of course, you'll want to update the wireless network adapter drivers on all your systems. When you do, the AutoRun program installed on the flash drive will launch a scaled down version of the Wireless Network Setup Wizard, which will display the dialog box shown in Figure D. All you have to do is click OK. As soon as you do, the Wireless Network Setup Wizard will instantly configure the wireless settings and display a confirmation.
You can then remove the flash drive and successively take it to other computers. However, if that's not your situation, you can find the wireless settings on the flash drive in a file called Wsetting.
You can open the file in Notepad and manually enter the necessary settings. Once you've configured all your other wireless computers as well as your WAP, you then return to the original wireless computer.
If you want to manually assign a WEP key, you can choose either a five- or character key, or a or character hexadecimal key. If you manually assign a WPA key, you can create a key with up to 63 characters minimum of eight characters or a character hexadecimal key.
By default, the characters are hidden as you type them, although you can display them by deselecting the Hide Characters As I Type check box, shown in Figure C. The Wireless Network Setup Wizard allows you to save your network settings on a USB flash memory device, which makes it easy to configure additional computers to use your wireless network.
Once you've saved the settings to the flash drive, you can just attach it to each computer and transfer them instead of entering them manually. Figure D shows this option. Figure E shows the new dialog box. An icon indicates the strength of the signal, which is handy if you want to be sure to connect to the network with the strongest signal. A star icon in the upper-right corner means the network is a preferred network. The icon on the left side indicates whether the network is infrastructure WAP-based or ad hoc computer-to-computer.
You can invoke the Wireless Network Setup Wizard from the left pane of this dialog box. You can also refresh the list of wireless networks, change the order of preferred networks, change advanced settings, or learn more about wireless networking. Slight changes have been made to the Wireless Network Properties dialog box, but these are minor. Another change to wireless functionality added by SP2 is support for wireless provisioning services WPS. This automatically configures the network settings for connecting to public wireless hotspots, such as those available in hotels, coffee shops, and airports.
WPS makes it easier to use these services by automating not only the configuration process but also the identification and payment process when connecting to a hotspot that is run by a commercial wireless Internet service provider WISP.
This means there must be an IAS server on the provider network. A provisioning server maintains configuration information in an XML file and provides it to the wireless clients. The provider network must also have a user accounts database. Most of these problems could be worked around by configuring an IP address manually.
On the other hand, many users report better wireless reliability with SP2. Windows XP Service Pack 2 makes changes to many aspects of the operating system.
When it comes to wireless networking, SP2 has managed to improve ease of use and enhance security—no small feat. Setting up a wireless network is easier than ever with the Wireless Network Setup Wizard, and WPA encryption is a welcome improvement for security-minded wireless users. WPS support makes it easier to connect to wireless hotspots, wherever you may find them.
0コメント