Users Guide

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Connecting to a Basic Network or Creating an Ad Hoc Network
Using Microsoft® Windows® WZC: Dell™ Wireless WLAN Card
User's Guide
Overview
Connecting to a Basic Network
Creating an Ad Hoc Network
Choosing Which Types of Networks to Access
Overview
Windows Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC) Service is the native Windows XP tool for connecting to a basic network or
creating an ad hoc network.
For the purposes of this user guide, a basic wireless network is defined as follows:
1. An
infrastructure network that has any of the following security settings:
WPA-Personal (PSK) authentication
WEP (open or shared authentication)
None (no authentication)
2. An
ad hoc network that has either WEP security settings or no security settings.
An advanced network is an infrastructure network that uses some form of
EAP authentication. To connect to an advanced
infrastructure network, see
Connecting to an Advanced Network Using Windows WZC.
To connect to a network or to create an ad hoc network, you must first create a network connection profile. The profile
includes the network name and the network security settings required (if any) by the network.
When you create a connection profile for an infrastructure network, your computer adds the profile to the top of the
Preferred
networks list and automatically attempts to connect to the network using that profile. If the network is in range, the
connection is made. If the network is out of range, the profile is still added to the top of the list, but your computer uses the
next profile in the list to attempt a connection till it finds a listed network that is in range. Later, you can control which type of
profiles are listed by changing the network access settings (see
Choosing Which Types of Networks to Access).
You can arrange the profiles in the order you prefer by moving any connection profile up or down in the list. By default,
infrastructure networks are preferred over ad hoc networks. Therefore, if you have created connection profiles for one or
more infrastructure networks, the connection profile for an ad hoc network is listed below the connection profiles for the
infrastructure networks. A connection profile for an ad hoc network cannot be moved above a profile for an infrastructure
network in the list. Therefore, to access the ad hoc network, you must change the access setting.
Connecting to a Basic Network
Before you proceed, review the information in the Before You Begin section.
Connecting to a Network That Has No Security Settings
1. In the Control Panel, double-click Network Connections.
2. In the Network Connections window, right-click Wireless Network Connection, and then click Properties.
3. On the Wireless Networks tab, verify that the Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings check
box is selected. If it is not, click to select the check box.
4. Click Add.