Wireless networking in windows xp

If a red "X" is displayed over the connection icon in the Network Connections folder, or if you cannot connect:. By disabling the Wireless Zero Configuration, you should be able to connect to the wireless network.

If you continue to encounter issues when you try to connect to the network, in the Network Connections folder, double-click the Wireless Connection icon to view the connection status. In the connection status, use the signal strength meter to verify the strength of the signal between computers. If you still have trouble connecting, but the signal strength is good, a different network configuration issue may be preventing communications.

If you still have trouble connecting, and the signal strength is not good, or no signal is received, try the above steps for configuring Windows XP without using Wireless Zero. If that does not resolve the issue, consult the manufacturer to determine if the wireless network adapter and the access point are working properly.

Change the default user name and password. This helps protect your router. Most router manufacturers have a default user name and password on the router and a default network name also known as the SSID. Someone could use this info to access your router without you knowing it. To help avoid that, change the default user name and password for your router. See the documentation for your device for instructions. Set up a security key password for your network. Wireless networks have a network security key to help protect them from unauthorized access.

See the documentation for your router for more detailed info, including what type of security is supported and how to set it up. In Windows 7 or Windows 8. Select Set up a new network , then choose Next.

The wizard will walk you through creating a network name and a security key. Write down your security key and keep it in a safe place. You can also save your security key on a USB flash drive by following the instructions in the wizard. Use a firewall. A firewall is hardware or software that can help protect your PC from unauthorized users or malicious software malware. Running a firewall on each PC on your network can help control the spread of malicious software on your network, and help protect your PCs when you're accessing the Internet.

Windows Firewall is included with this version of Windows. Select the Network or Wifi icon in the notification area. No account yet? Create an account. Edit this Article. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy.

Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article methods. Related Articles. Method 1. Note that if buying a router, all routers are compatible with Windows XP. It is wireless adapters that have varying levels of Windows XP compatibility. If your router isn't new, then turn it on and skip to "Detecting your wireless adapter" below. Device Name: Network Controller. One thing that Windows has got better at over the years is offering more driver support out of the box and installing compatible drivers for many components in a system without having to go online.

Nowadays Windows can usually install the majority of the most important drivers on a system without having to connect to the internet first. After a visit to Windows Update, there will probably be one or two drivers at the most which need to be downloaded from a third party. There is a driver though which is one of the most important of all, and that is the network adapter driver.

If you have no wired or wireless network driver installed, you have no internet connection. Installing Windows and finding a network driver has not been detected and installed can be a real cause for frustration. Although several sites list it just as an ethernet driver installer it does actually detect and install wireless drivers as well.

After that the updater program will run and popup a small user interface with a list of network adapters on the system, if there is already a driver installed it will show the version number and date. To switch between adapters if you have more than one, click the green plus button and a selectable list will show on the right.

To install another driver select it from the right hand list to bring it to the main window, click it and go through the same process. It works on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 8. Snappy Driver Installer SDI is developed by a former coder of Driverpack Solution that became unhappy with the direction it was going and decided to create his own driver updater.

It relies on Driver packs similar to those found at Driverpacks. To get the ethernet or Wifi driver for your offline computer SDI has to be run on a computer with an internet connection first, extract the downloaded zip and run the executable.