Thinkpads Forum

I need help on using a generic unsecured wireless profile in Access Connections.

This has been mentioned in many posts such as:

Wiz wrote:You can create a profile without specify a SSID/Network name for wireless networks without security. Then it will connect to any SSID

steveg47 wrote:To connect to any available non-secured (open) wireless network that is in range, leave the SSID field in the profile blank.

steveg47 wrote:To accomplish what I believe you want, do the following:
Create a new profile in AC. Call it "Any"
Select Wireless Lan as the network connection type
Select the wireless settings tab
Leave the Network Name (ssid) blank
Connection type is Infrastructure
Wireless mode is auto
Wireless security type is None (encryption is disabled)
...

This profile should automatically select the best unsecured access point.

The trick is leaving the ssid (network name) field blank.

It works fine on, for example an older Access Connections v3 (3.81) on my ThinkPad X41 Tablet with Windows XP and Atheros 11a/b/g Mini PCI Adapter II.

But not on the latest Access Connections v4 (4.52) on a ThinkPad X300 with Windows Vista and Intel 4965AGN. I cannot leave the SSID field blank in a Wi-Fi profile (or "Best Available Network" profile), because the Next or OK button is greyed out and I cannot continue.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? Is it a known limitation of the latest Access Connections version, or perhaps a limitation of either the Intel Wi-Fi card/driver or the Vista operating system?

Forget about AC and let Windows manage your connections.
Or more drastically, revert back to XP and ditch Vista.

I can leave the SSID blank in 4.52 on XP, not sure if it still works the same way though.

So XP and Vista's built-in wireless management can both be set to automatically connect to any open SSID without having to manually select one first? I seem to recall that I could do this before, but I can no longer find this option anymore...

Zender, since you're using the latest AC v4.52 with the Intel 4965AGN and Win XP, that seems to suggest Windows Vista as a possible culprit of the problem. Thanks for the info.

In the distant past, I seem to recall that I could also create a generic Access Connections profile by entering 'ANY' in the SSID field (as opposed to leaving it blank). But I already tried this on the ThinkPad X300 recently and it did not work.

So frustrating...

realblackstuff wrote:Forget about AC and let Windows manage your connections.

Seconded.

Ditto

Hey... where's jdhurst when you need him...

Hey... where's jdhurst when you need him...

Give him time.......

beq wrote:Hey... where's jdhurst when you need him...

Since Vista will only do about one-half of what I need, you do not find me at my Vista computer. It is collecting dust right now.

So I fired it up, and I find that, yes, with AC4.52 you cannot save a connection without a SSID. That said, any unsecured network has a SSID, so what you can do is create a new profile, hit Next, and then underneath the SSID box, click on Find Network, click on the unsecured network and it fills in the SSID. I tried it just now and it seem to work.

... JDH

jdhurst wrote:

beq wrote:Hey... where's jdhurst when you need him...

Since Vista will only do about one-half of what I need, you do not find me at my Vista computer. It is collecting dust right now.

So I fired it up, and I find that, yes, with AC4.52 you cannot save a connection without a SSID. That said, any unsecured network has a SSID, so what you can do is create a new profile, hit Next, and then underneath the SSID box, click on Find Network, click on the unsecured network and it fills in the SSID. I tried it just now and it seem to work.

... JDH

Try ANY as the generic network name. It usually works...