Non-broadcasting wifi

Dist

Dist

Dist

Soldato
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How do i set my laptop (Running XP) to connect to a wifi network that is not broadcasting its SSID? Currently i have my router set to broadcast, but that is only because i havnt figured out how to connect without broadcasting, which is what i hope to do to increase security as others wont be able to see my network.

When not broadcasting, i cant see the wifi network in the list of nearby wifi networks (obviously) but i cant see a way to get it to attempt to connect to a network in can not see.
 
Control Panel/network connections
Right click the wirelss card/properties
select the "wirless network" tab
Click Add
and enter the details of the connection.

That is what I use.
 
Not broadcasting your SSID is a false economy in terms of security - it's easy enough to see wireless networks that aren't broadcasting it (using netstumbler, for instance, you can see all SSID-'hidden' networks without any extra configuration) so all you're doing is giving yourself a false sense of security as anyone who wanted to hack your network wouldn't find it any impediment at all.

Beyond WPA and changing your wireless key frequently there's not much you can do.

edit: apologies for the rambleyness of that one
 
Aekeron said:
Not broadcasting your SSID is a false economy in terms of security - it's easy enough to see wireless networks that aren't broadcasting it (using netstumbler, for instance, you can see all SSID-'hidden' networks without any extra configuration) so all you're doing is giving yourself a false sense of security as anyone who wanted to hack your network wouldn't find it any impediment at all.

Beyond WPA and changing your wireless key frequently there's not much you can do.

edit: apologies for the rambleyness of that one
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It may not provide any real security, but it will stop anyone nearby seeing my network on their computers unless they are specificaly set out to try and tap into my wifi connection. Better then nothing IMO.
 
But if you've got a WPA key set then they won't be able to access it anyhow - all you're doing is making life harder for yourself in terms of connecting for no real gain. It's not like people are suddenly going to decide to hack your connection just because they can see it. They'll either be wanting to from the start (and hence will likely be scanning around with stuff that isn't bothered by your SSID being hidden) or they'll not be the evil haxx0r type and not be able to connect to your secured wireless connection.

I guess if you're leaving it unsecured but with SSID hidden then you have a vague point. It's better than nothing and would keep out the most casual of users but I'd personally say that's so much worse than just using WPA and not hiding your SSID that it's almost not worth bothering.
 
MAC address filtering is another one that does nothing against someone actually trying to hack into your connection. It's incredibly easy to find out the MACs of connected devices when scanning and then you can just hop on with one of those.

The only actual security measure that's worth it is WPA. Don't bother with anything else.
 
Aekeron said:
MAC address filtering is another one that does nothing against someone actually trying to hack into your connection. It's incredibly easy to find out the MACs of connected devices when scanning and then you can just hop on with one of those.

The only actual security measure that's worth it is WPA. Don't bother with anything else.
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i thought MAC address filtering would actually have a good defense against hackers... ah well.
 
I currently use WPA2 with AES, and have it set to only allow the specific MAC addresses of my laptop and my Wii. If not broadcasting the SSID will not provide any more security against hackers or not doesnt matter, since im going to try set up my network to not broadcast. If you cant provide any help on how to get my laptop to connect when the network is not broadcasting (I already have the network listed in the place that superplay mentioned and its still not working) then please dont post.
 
It's another one that will stop random people just hopping onto your network without effort but does very little against anyone that's serious about getting into it. It's probably 'better than nothing' but that's about it.

Don't think WEP is a good substitute either - I cracked my own WEP-protected network (16 character WEP key) in about 12 minutes, and that included the time it took for me to read the commands from a tutorial on the internet.

I don't actually need the wireless much for myself so I tend to just have it disabled for the most part. If you need it though, WPA is definitely something you should go for.
 
Dist said:
I currently use WPA2 with AES, and have it set to only allow the specific MAC addresses of my laptop and my Wii. If not broadcasting the SSID will not provide any more security against hackers or not doesnt matter, since im going to try set up my network to not broadcast. If you cant provide any help on how to get my laptop to connect when the network is not broadcasting (I already have the network listed in the place that superplay mentioned and its still not working) then please dont post.
Click to expand...

If you can't handle people posting informed advice that doesn't quite agree with your views then please don't post on a forum.
 
Aekeron said:
If you can't handle people posting informed advice that doesn't quite agree with your views then please don't post on a forum.
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feel free to post your opinion on this forum, just dont post it in this thread. I asked for advice on how to connect my laptop to a non broadcasting network, not for peoples opinions on the pros/cons of non-broadcasting networks. So please keep your replys on topic.
 
Dist said:
I currently use WPA2 with AES, and have it set to only allow the specific MAC addresses of my laptop and my Wii. If not broadcasting the SSID will not provide any more security against hackers or not doesnt matter, since im going to try set up my network to not broadcast. If you cant provide any help on how to get my laptop to connect when the network is not broadcasting (I already have the network listed in the place that superplay mentioned and its still not working) then please dont post.
Click to expand...

The way I explain it to people is to compare it to physical security.

Having WPA2 is like a 20ft thick steel and concrete wall, complete with razor wire, attack dogs and machine guns.
Nothing is going to get thru that, and if they do then it's probably the NSA :p

Hiding the SSID is like putting a big sheet of paper in front of the wall, while it will keep sightseers out, it won't stop anyone who wants to get thru.

OK, I know it probably sounds a bit of a noddy description, but I'm only trying to put it into context.

MAC filtering is useless if you want to control the time your kids spend on the network, as it makes sure they don't change their MAC to get round any access rules the router's got.
 
Nick644622 said:
Set it to broadcast, connect, then set it to not broadcast. Will last until the lease expires or the router is re-started.
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tried that, i lost connection the moment i saved the settings (as tomato disables wifi when saving wifi settings, then restarts it after settings finish saving)
 
Turning of SSID Brodcast actually causes many more problems in Windows XP and as other posters have stated offers no security. There is an article explaining about this:

How does Windows XP deal with non-broadcast SSIDs?

In Windows XP or Server 2003, users can connect to non-broadcast networks by configuring a preferred wireless network either manually or through Group Policy. A non-broadcast network will not appear in the “Choose a wireless network” dialog box.

The wireless supplicant will look at all the available networks and try to match them up to the networks in its preferred list. If it finds a match set to automatic connection, a connection attempt will be made. If no match is found after comparing visible networks to the preferred list, it will start plumbing down each network in the preferred list from top to bottom. It will wait two seconds to see if a connection is made, then proceed to plumb down the next one in the list.

This process will allow the supplicant to connect to a hidden network if it is in range, but only if no other preferred networks are available and visible. Because of this, even if a non-broadcast network is at the top of the preferred list, it won't take priority over a broadcast network lower in the list.

In order to address this problem, you can apply Windows Server 2003 SP2 or the wireless update from KB article 917021 to Windows XP SP2 machines. This allows you to configure wireless networks as broadcast or as non-broadcast networks. You can also configure this new setting through Group Policy from a computer that is running Windows Vista. If a non-broadcast network is configured as preferred, the XP client will now probe for it every 60 seconds, in effect broadcasting the SSID of the network.
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From: http://blogs.technet.com/networking...-hidden-wireless-networks-are-a-bad-idea.aspx
 
My XP PC & my Wii connect flawlessly to my non broadcasting router no matter how many times I restart it, but they all have static I.P addresses and the Gateway set + a non expiring lease in the router. I hope this helps ?
 
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