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29

JUN

Tutorial: Mac Preferred Wireless Networks

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Tutorial Platform: Mac Mac
Tutorial Time: 5 minutes.
Tutorial Requirements:
  • An Apple computer running Mac OS X.
  • An available wireless network, with a known network name and password.

 

Tutorial Overview:

In this tutorial, we’ll cover an important feature of wireless network connection management in OS X, known as Preferred Networks.

This tutorial follows on the heels of a previous post, covering the basics of connecting to wireless networks. If you’re not familiar with these steps, please review them before continuing. When you’re ready, here are the steps to follow:

  1. From the far-left side of the Menu Bar, click the Apple icon, and select System Preferences:
    Tutorial Part 2 Step 1 - Mac OS X menu bar, Apple icon menu shown, System Preferences menu item highlighted.
    (System preferences will appear.)
  2. Under the “Internet & Wireless” section, click Network:
    Tutorial Part 2, Step 2 - System Preferences window, Network icon highlighted.
  3. The preferences for network connections is displayed. On the left pane, click on your Airport connection:
    Tutorial Part 2, Step 3 - Selecting the Airport connection type in Network preferences.
  4. Now, we need to authenticate with an Administrator-level Mac user account to make changes to the network settings. Click the Lock icon at the bottom left of the window:
    Tutorial Part 2, Step 4 - Network preferences administrator authentication lock icon
  5. Enter your Administrator user name and password, and click OK to continue:
    Tutorial Part 2, Step 5 - Administrator user account authentication window, user name and password entry
  6. Once we’re authenticated, the Lock will unlock. Click the “Advanced…” button near the lower right of the window:
    Tutorial Part 2, Step 6 - Network preferences pane, Advanced button highlighted
  7. The Advanced network settings pane will appear, and under the Airport tab, a list of preferred networks is displayed:
    Tutorial Part 2, Step 7 - Advanced network preferences pane, Airport tab selected, List of preferred networks shown
  8. When you click on a preferred (remembered) network in the list, you have a few options as to what to do with it:
    Tutorial Part 2, Step 8 - Advanced network preferences pane, preferred network editing toolbox shown

    1. If you click the “–” (minus) icon, you can remove it from the list.
    2. If you click the pencil icon, you can edit the existing network name, security (encryption protocol,) and password:
      Tutorial Part 2, Step 8 - Editing an existing preferred wireless network
  9. If you want to add a new preferred network to the list manually, you can click the “+” (plus) icon. You’ll be presented with a network name entry form:
    Tutorial Part 2, Step 9 - Manually adding a preferred network pane
  10. If you click “Show Networks” your Mac will scan for available wireless networks, and allow you to select and configure one as a preferred network:
    Tutorial Part 2, Step 10 - Editing preferred wireless networks, searching for a new network
    …and click “Add” or “Save” when you’re done entering the details.
  11. Click “OK” at the bottom of the Airport preferences window, and close System Preferences to finish up.

 

Conclusion:

Your preferred network list should now be up to date, with settings saved for your usual wireless network connections!

As always, please post your feedback, questions, suggestions, etc in the comments section at the bottom of this blog post! Thanks.