How Do You Manually Add a Network to XP Home Edition Windows for Wireless Internet?

Connecting to a wireless network enables you to take advantage of the convenience of Wi-Fi.

Wireless networking, or Wi-Fi, brings immense amounts of convenience to our everyday lives. It almost seems foreign and primitive nowadays to imagine needing to deal with a tangle of network cables to connect a computer to the Internet. In order to use Wi-Fi you must be able to connect to a wireless network. Most of the time this happens automatically, but occasionally a computer may require that you manually connect to a network. Fortunately, Windows makes this a straightforward process.

Things You'll Need

• Wireless-enabled computer

Instructions

1. Open the network and sharing center from your control panel. To do this, select "Control Panel" in the Start menu and click on the "Network and Sharing Center" icon. This is the area where you manage all of your computers advanced internet settings such as its IP address and other technical details.

2. Open the wireless networks management window. This is where you can set things such as the priority a network should get, or whether your computer should automatically connect to a network. To do this, click on "Manage Wireless Networks" in the left-hand side of the network and sharing center. In this window, click "Add" and then click "Manually Create Network Profile."

3. Enter the network information. The SSID is the name of the network you want to connect to. If it is encrypted, select the appropriate encryption type and enter the network key. If you want to connect automatically any time your computer sees this network, check "Connect Automatically when this network is in range." Click "Apply" and close the windows that you opened to get to the network settings. Your computer should now be connected to the wireless network.

References

• Windows Reference: How to Manually Connect to a Wireless Network