This is similar to the prompt in Windows Vista and 7 asking you what type of network (Public, Home, or Work) you’re connecting to so it could determine if sharing should be enable. The first time you connect to a particular Wi-Fi network, you’ll also receive a prompt (see Figure 3) asking if you’d like to enable sharing for the network. Similar to Windows 7, to connect to a network you click (or tap) on a network name (and you can uncheck the Connect Automatically option if you don’t want it to automatically connect in the future) and then click (or tap) the Connect button, as Figure 2 shows.Īnd when selecting a mobile broadband network you’ll also see a Roam Automatically option you can enable before connecting if you prefer to do so.

Under the Airplane mode option you’ll find a separated list of any detected mobile broadband (if you have built-in or added 3G or 4G capability) and Wi-Fi networks. Of course this will be more useful on Windows 8 laptops and tablets than on traditional PCs. Like offered on many mobile devices already, when the Airplane Mode is enabled all wireless communication on the computer is disabled. On the top of the network list you’ll find a switch to turn the new Airplane Mode on and off. Then on the Metro style bar, select the network icon. You can also access the network list when using the new Metro Start screen: slide your cursor (or finger) from the bottom right corner up and then select the Settings button. Instead of the network list popping up from the system tray, a Metro Style pane or bar (see Figure 1) will slide out from the right side of Windows 8 and is much larger about the same width but the height runs the entire screen. Network List and the Network and Sharing CenterĪs soon as you click (or tap when using a touch screen) on the Windows network icon in the system tray you’ll notice a difference from Windows 7 and earlier versions.

Although this is based on the Consumer Preview of Windows 8, it should be close to what we’ll see in the final release. Here I’ll show you some of these network-related interface, feature, and functionality changes. In addition to the new Metro Start screen, you’ll find some new, enhanced, and even removed networking features in Windows 8.

Wireless setup utility windows 8