How-To Geek
Stupid Geek Tricks: How to Browse and Connect to Wireless Networks From the Command Line
We are always on the lookout for geeky ways to impress our friends, and recently we came across a way to connect to our wireless network from the command prompt, so today we’ll show you how to do it as well.
How to Browse and Connect to Wireless Networks From the Command Line
Browsing available wireless networks from the command prompt requires only a single command:
netsh wlan show networks
Unfortunately in order to connect to a network, you need to have a network profile for it. This means that you need to have connected to it at least once before. To see what profiles you have available on your machine, use the following command:
netsh wlan show profiles
Once you have made sure you have a profile for the network you want to connect to, you can easily connect to it using the network profile name:
netsh wlan connect name=”w1r3l3$$”
That’s all there is to it.
Got Feedback? Join the discussion at discuss.howtogeek.com
Comments (9)
Taylor Gibb is a Microsoft MVP and all round geek, he loves everything from Windows 8 to Windows Server 2012 and even C# and PowerShell. You can also follow him on Google+
- Published 12/30/12
I thought this was also going to include how to browse the web from a command linle, but still useful!
nice trick i like it!
@Lee
lynx browser :)
Should be useful to many,always interestingly geeky yet easy to understand.High marks!
Thank. You,I like to try
And what if its password protected?
@Jerry S
Profile contains the password already, and uses it to make connection.
@ jerry s
“Unfortunately in order to connect to a network, you need to have a network profile for it. This means that you need to have connected to it at least once before”
Is there an equivalent command for linux? Thanks