Windows is Unable to Connect to the Selected Network

Strange problem! I’ve also had this error once before when I first installed Windows 7 on a new computer and it refused to connect to any wireless networks. I tried to recall everything I had done to fix it the previous time and eventually got things working again. I’ll list out all the methods you can try to fix the wireless connectivity problem.

Release/Renew IP Address

You can first try to release and renew the IP address in case it’s simply a problem with the IP address. You can do this in one of two ways. You can try to simply restart the computer or you can run a few commands from the command prompt. Or you can try both.

To run the commands, click on Start and then type in CMD into the search box. Press Enter and you’ll get the command prompt dialog. Now simply type these two commands:

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

You should see something like what I have above in the screenshot, but instead of saying Ethernet adapter, it’ll say Wireless network adapter. If you get some kind of error when trying to release or renew related to DHCP server, then there may be an issue with the wireless router, which is the second thing to try.

Restart Wireless Router

The second thing to try is to restart the wireless router, if you can access it. If you’re trying to connect to someone else’s wireless router or a hotspot at an airport, for example, then you obviously won’t be able to do this and the issue could still be with your computer. You can skip this part and read on if this is your scenario.

Otherwise, go ahead and turn off the router completely and then wait about 30 seconds and turn it back on. Wireless routers are notorious for having all kinds of strange connection issues and most of the time the problem can be fixed by simply restarting.

Disable Security on Wireless Router

Depending on what kind of wireless card you have and the security settings for the wireless router, it could be that you simply cannot connect because the security encryption on the router is too advanced and your network card does not support it.

In order to test this, try to turn off or disable the security on the wireless router temporarily to see if you are able to connect. You’ll have to log into your router and go to the wireless settings page and choose either None or Disable.

If you are able to connect, then it’s basically a problem with the security settings. You may have to upgrade the drivers on your network card or you may even have to upgrade to your OS to the latest service pack. For example, make sure you are running Windows XP SP3 in order to connect to the latest wireless routers.

Update Network Card Drivers

Also, if there is a security problem between the two devices, you should upgrade the drivers for your network card. The latest drivers may support the higher encryption on the wireless router and therefore allow you to connect.

Even if you bought a computer recently, it’s always a good idea to go directly to the network card manufacture’s website and download the driver from there. You can see the exact model of your network card by going to Start, Control Panel, System and clicking on Device Manager in the left menu.

Expand Network adapters and you’ll get a list of all the network adapters on the computer. It should have the company and the model number in the list itself. Make sure you install the correct version depending on what operation system you are running.

Turn on Network Discovery

There are occasions when somehow settings get changed on your computer and you have no idea how. One of those could be Network Discovery, which lets Windows talk and connect to other computers and network devices. To make sure it’s turned on, go to Control Panel and click on Network and Sharing Center. In the left pane, click on Change advanced sharing settings.

Now make sure that the radio button for Turn on network discovery is selected.

If it was turned off for any reason, that could have been causing the issue where you could not connect to a wireless network or even an issue where you could not see the wireless network at all in the list.

Use Network Troubleshooter

Windows has a nifty little troubleshooting tool in Windows 7 that can possibly fix your problem too. It’s called the Network Troubleshooter and you can access it by right-clicking on the wireless icon in your task bar and choosing Troubleshoot Problems.

A dialog will pop up and try to detect any network problems.

If this doesn’t fix your problem, then continue reading and hopefully you’ll find a solution soon!

Windows XP and Shared Encryption

If you’re having this issue on Windows XP, then it could be an issue where the wireless router is open shared encryption instead of open encryption. You can get around this by manually adding the wireless network to your computer. To do this, go to Control Panel and then Network Connections. Right-click on the wireless network adapter and choose Properties.

Then, click on the Wireless Networks tab and click the Add button.

Finally, go ahead and type in the SSID for the wireless router and set the Network Authentication to Shared. BY default it is set to Open like in the image below, so you have to change it to Shared.  Also, uncheck the box that says “This key is provided for me automatically“.

Manually type in the network key and click OK. If this was the issue, you will now be connected to the wireless network. It’s a little annoying, but it works. So it nothing else is working for you and you’re not sure what type of encryption the router is using and you’re on Windows XP, give this a shot.

Wireless USB Adapters

If you’re using a wireless dongle or one of those wireless adapters that connects to a computer via USB, then your issue is probably related to the device itself. Those USB wireless adapters tend to have issues since it’s connected via USB.

Here’s a couple of things you can try for these types of adapters:

1. Turn off your computer completely and unplug it! Yes, unplug it! Then turn it back on and see if you are able to connect.

2. Try using a different USB port for the wireless adapter.

3. Uninstall all USB devices from Device Manager and then let the computer reinstall them

4. Update the drivers for the USB adapter

Uninstall Security Software

As a last resort, your problem could be related to some kind of security software. This is especially true for company computers that have Symantec Endpoint Protection or some other insane security software. If you can, try uninstalling it and seeing if that fixes your issue.

Other programs to try and uninstall include Microsoft Security Essentials and any kind of Norton software. If you find that was the problem, try a different product or try to reinstall it.

Those are pretty much all the possible solutions I could find on this particular wireless issue. If something else worked for you, post a comment here and let us know! If you’re still having issues, tell us your setup and we’ll try to help. Enjoy!

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Like with any other technology, sometimes as it gets more advanced, it also gets more complicated and hence, more error prone. That is very true with wireless printers. They will work great for a week, then suddenly when you have to leave for the airport in a rush, it won’t print your boarding pass!

In this article, I will go through as many troubleshooting tips that I have learned over the years while working with the two wireless printers I have at home. It’s nice to have two, because when one fails, you can always use the second one as a backup. However, I didn’t buy two for that purpose, which would totally defeat the purpose of buying a wireless printer.

Method 1 – Restart Everything

The first thing I realized with having a wireless printer is that it’s totally at the whim of the wireless router. If your router is having issues, which they do all the time, then your printer will no longer work. This is true even if you are able to connect to the Internet with a computer that is wireless connected. I can’t tell you how many hours I wasted trying to change settings on the printer and computer, only to find out I had to restart the router and everything worked fine!

So the first thing you should do is turn off your computer and turn off the printer. Go ahead and restart the wireless router by unplugging it and then waiting 30 seconds and then plugging it back in. Then switch on your computer and then switch on the printer. Let everything connect and then try to print again.

Method 2 – Check Wireless Connectivity

The second thing you need to do is make sure that the printer is still connected to the wireless network. Once you have a printer for a long time, you tend to forget that it depends on the wireless network. You might make a change to your wireless router (password, mode, SSID, etc) and all of a sudden your printer is no longer connecting.

The main thing to do is to print the network configuration sheet directly off the printer. There is usually a button or a menu option that lets you print the current network status. It will tell you if it is connected to the wireless network or not. If you see an IP address like 169.254.x.x, that means your printer is not connected to the network properly.

In this case, you will have to either manually add it back to the network on the printer itself or will have to cable connect it to your computer and then configure it to reconnect to the wireless network. Sine printers will even allow you to run the software and connect the printer to the wireless network without having to connect the printer to the computer via cable. It basically creates an ad-hoc wireless network between the printer and the computer, thereby not needing a wireless router.

If you have an HP printer, you can also check out their site which gives extensive details on reconnecting your wireless printer to the network:

http://h30495.www3.hp.com/p/_wireless/printer-setup-help.html

If you have a Lexmark wireless printer, they have this guide online:

http://images.lexmark.com/publications/pdfs/2007/c925/html/en/info-you-need-to-set-up-printer-on-wireless-network-topic.html

Brother also has a guide, though it’s for the HL-2170W printer. You can probably use it for your printer model also.

http://goo.gl/V5gRv

Of course, if you are making sure your wireless printer is connected to the network, make sure your computer is also connected to the network. Make sure you can browse the Internet or something like that.

Method 3 – Anti-virus/Firewall Programs

Did you recently install any software on your computer like an anti-virus program or any kind of Internet Security suite or additional firewall? A lot of times programs such as Norton Internet Security or McAfee or Comodo Firewall can block the connection from your computer to your printer. Try disabling any anti-virus or security software and check to see if that fixes the problem with the printer connectivity.

Also, if you installed any other software like virtualization programs, it’s best to uninstall those and try again. Only uninstall something if you recently installed it and started seeing this problem.

Method 4 – Reconfigure Printer

I kind of mentioned it above, but it’s worth going over again. If you replaced an old router or changed some settings on your router, you may have to reconfigure the printer in order for the wireless printing to work. If you changed:

1. Wireless password or wireless security protocol (WEP, WPA, WPA2, etc)

2. SSID (network name) of your wireless router

3. Enabled any kind of filtering like MAC address filtering or AP Isolation

In these cases, you will have to change the settings on the printer to match the router and then connect again.

Method 5 – IP Address Change

Normally, your printer will have the same IP address on the local network because it’s lease will never expire as long as it communicates with the DHCP server every couple of days. However, there are time when the printer’s IP address will change and all of a sudden your printing ability will go bye-bye.

The easiest thing to do in this case is simply change the IP address of the printer on your computer. On a Mac, you can just delete the printer and then re-add it with the new IP address. On Windows, you can change the IP address of the port or you can remove and add the printer again if you like.

Note that you will never have this problem if you use the CD that came with the printer to install the printer. The reason why is that the software installed on the computer will automatically detect any address change of the printer and send the print jobs to the correct IP address. If you install the driver and then manually add a TCP/IP printer in Windows, you will have to manually delete the printer and add it again in order to print.

Method 6 – Download Latest Utilites

If you still can’t figure things out, try downloading the latest install package for your printer directly from the manufacture’s website. Sometimes the CD that comes with the printer may have not the latest drivers and so it’s best to download them directly from the website.

Another thing you can do to help narrow down the problem is to try and print from multiple computers. If you setup your wireless printer on several machines, try to see if you can print from another computer. That way you can quickly tell if it’s a problem with the printer or with the computer. Again, do this after you rule out the wireless router by restarting it.

If you are still having trouble printing to your wireless printer, post a comment here with your setup and details and we’ll try to help! Enjoy!

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NAS devices are available for Windows, OS X, and Linux, and the consumer-grade devices generally accept between one and four disk drives. A NAS gives you much more flexibility than an external USB or Firewire hard drive, and gives you a place to back up your important data from the computers on your network without having to move a hard drive from one device to another.

A NAS device is a good investment, and can save you from having to constantly upgrade the hard drives on your PC.

Electricity, Money, and Space Savings

A NAS is usually a very small device. Most consumer-grade NAS devices have footprints that are slightly larger than that of a Mac Mini. Due to the size and the absence of components like video cards and DVD drives, the average NAS consumes a fraction of the electricity of a desktop PC.

Since they generally only have one or two small fans, they are also much quieter than the average desktop. You also do not have to worry about maintaining another PC on your network.

NAS devices are not particularly cheap, but there are some devices that sell for under $200 which are reliable and easy to use. You will save a lot of money if you buy a NAS that does not have a hard drive, and purchase the hard drives for it separately. Make sure that you find out what types of hard drives your NAS will accept. Some devices have a limit on the hard drive sizes.

Easy to Configure RAID Arrays

RAIDs safeguard your data with redundancy. In a properly configured RAID, if one of the drives goes bad, you will still have a full copy of your data on the remaining drive. You should just be able to pop in another drive, sync the RAID, and continue working.

It sounds simple, but it generally is not for the average consumer, so a multi-drive NAS is the answer. The software included with the NAS does most of the work. After you install the hard drives, all you do is follow the instructions and configure the device.

It does help to have some prior knowledge of RAIDs before you attempt to configure your first NAS, but you can find plenty of information to help you on the web.

Always Available on Your Network

With a NAS connected to your home network, everyone can save their data to one safe place, and minimize data loss if a PC goes down. Everyone can share their data, and access it from any computer on the network.

You can save large files, like movies, somewhere other than your desktop or laptop’s hard drive, so you are not constantly running out of space. You can also have your PC create backups directly to the NAS.

Windows 7 allows you to create backups on a network device, and there are tutorials on how to save Apple’s Time Machine backups to a NAS. Some newer Mac friendly NAS devices support Time Machine out of the box.

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However, you need to by licenses from Microsoft to do this. If you only need one person to access a computer remotely at a time, Windows allows you to do this without Terminal Services, in Windows XP as well as in Windows Server 2003.

Right-click on My Computer on the Start menu and select the Properties option from the pop-up menu.

The System Properties dialog box displays. Click the Remote tab. In the Remote Desktop box, click the Allow users to connect remotely to this computer check box.

Note the Full computer name so you can use that when logging in.

To specify which users of the computer are allowed to log on remotely, click the Select Remote Users button. The Remote Desktop Users dialog box displays.

Click the Add button to add a user to the list. The Select Users dialog box displays.

Type the name of the desired user in the Enter the object names to select text box and click the Check Names button. The full name of the user is filled in. Click OK.

The user displays in the list on the Remote Desktop Users dialog box. Click OK.

You are returned to the System Properties dialog box. Click OK.

Select Accessories | Communications | Remote Desktop Connection from the Start menu.

The Remote Desktop Connection dialog box displays.

Enter the Full computer name you noted earlier in the Computer edit box and click Connect. The drop-down list provides access to computers you have logged in to before.

Enter your user name and password on the dialog that displays and click OK. Your desktop on the remote computer displays. To close the connection, just log out of your account like you would normally.

If you need to remotely connect to a computer that is not on the same network, i.e. across the Internet, the only thing you have to do is configure your router for remote desktop access and use the public IP address of the computer you want to connect to.

You can read my previous post on how to find your public IP address quickly. If you have any problems, post a comment and I’ll try to help.

by Lori Kaufman

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If your computer are on a wired network, you can network two computers and then share files and folders, but it’s a lot of work! A crossover cable is another way to connect two computers and transfer data.

In order for this setup to work, there are a few things you need to make sure are setup or configured properly. I will try to go through all the different steps in this article.

Step 1 – Configure IP Addresses

Usually, if you are using a crossover cable to connect two computers, the computers are not connected to a LAN network. In this case, you will need to configure static IP addresses for each computer.

You have to make sure that both computers have IP addresses that are on the same subnet. For example, if you give one computer an IP address of 192.168.0.1, then you should give the second computer an IP of 192.168.0.2.

If you used the above IP addresses, you should use a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. If you use an incorrect subnet mask, the connection will not work.

Lastly, the value for the default gateway should be the same on both machines. You can pick which IP address you want to use, but use it on both computers for the default gateway. Below is how my setup looks for one computer:

Step 2 – Crossover Cable

The second thing you need to verify is that you actually have a proper crossover cable. Basically, there are a few different types of crossover cables, but it’s best to get the standard crossover cable where the green and orange pairs are swapped and the brown and blue pairs stay in the same position.

The only pins that need to be crossed are 1,3 and 2,6. So just check your cable on both end and make sure it matches the diagram.

Step 3 – Local User Accounts

If you’re having problems accessing files both ways, you may have to create a user account on each computer that has the same name and same password. This helps get past any kind of Access is Denied errors that may pop up.

Make sure the accounts are administrator accounts also! It’s best to create a new account rather than rename a current account.

Step 4 – Disable Firewalls

Finally, you should disable the firewall on both computers to ensure that none of the file sharing ports are being blocked. You can do this by going to Control Panel and then Windows Firewall. Click on Off.

That’s about it! If you follow all these steps, each computer should be able to access the other properly. If you are having problems, post a comment here and I will try to help! Enjoy!

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