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18_1587202115_ch16.qxp 9/29/08 2:42 PM Page 298298 CCNA Wireless Official Exam Certification Guide

Foundation Topics

Using Windows to Connect to a Wireless LAN

The wireless configuration tool for Microsoft Windows is called the Windows WirelessZero Configuration Utility (WZC). The WZC is designed to provide the basic capabilitiesnecessary to access most WLANs; however, it is not very powerful when it comes to trou-bleshooting utilities. Many vendors such as IBM/Lenovo install a custom client that canbe used to create and manage profiles as an alternative to the WZC. So when you usethese vendor-installed clients, you cannot use the Windows WZC.WZC is a pretty basic client. It’s designed to set up the connection for you and take someof the workload off the end user—hence the “Zero Configuration” part of the name.When a computer boots without a WLAN profile preconfigured, the WZC detects anywireless networks that are broadcasting and informs the user that a wireless network isavailable.If a profile has already been created, the WZC tries to join it automatically. This WZC be-havior can cause confusion when you have a WZC profile configured with the same SSIDas another network that is within range. This is why changing default SSIDs such as“linksys” is recommended.Configuring a ProfileYou can set up a profile using Windows Vista in many ways. One method is to followthese steps:Step 1. Click Start (that’s the little round Windows logo if you’re running Vista).Step 2. Right-click Network.Step 3. Click Properties. You see the Network and Sharing Center window, as shownin Figure 16-1.Step 4. Click Manage wireless networks in the left panel. The Manage wireless net-works window appears. Here you can see all available wireless network con-nection profiles. If you have yet to create any, this window looks like Figure