Wireless Handy Guide - Windows Basic Setup Instructions

Introduction

This guide is meant to be a guide for anyone trying to use their laptop to connect to our campus wireless network.

Want to print these instructions out?

Please go back to the Wireless Guides page for the downloadable version!

Here is what you will need to have:

Wireless-enabled laptop: This means that you must have a laptop with wireless capability built-in, or you must have an external wireless card. NOTE: The card must be compatible with the 802.11b signal! That is, the card must say "802.11b" or 802.11g" on it. If it says "802.11a" only, then the card will not work on our network!
Wireless network name: engarde
Your eGCC Username and Password: If you are an employee here at GCC, your eGCC Username and Password usually is NOT the same as your Glory login information. You would use your eGCC Username and Password login information to access machines in the High Tech Centers and in the classrooms. If you have forgotten your eGCC Username and Password, please contact the Technology Research & Implementation at (623) 845-3482 for assistance.

Note: This guide assumes that Windows XP, Service Pack 2 (SP2) is the operating system on your laptop. Some of these instructions may also work on laptops with Windows 98 as the operating system - of course, please stop by for assistance at any time!

Here's a screenshot of a Windows laptop running Windows XP, SP2. The magnified area in the center of the screenshot is where the Wireless icon is located. And, this is where we'll start.

Step 1: Locate the Wireless notification icon

WinXP default wireless notification icon

Wireless notification icon: Picture of a computer with the three lines. If there is no network detected, a little red "x" will appear next to it.

Look in the right-hand corner of your laptop's screen, and look for the icon. If you put your mouse cursor over the icon, a message like the one shown here appears. Please double-click on the icon to proceed to Step 2.

Now, if you do not see the icon, there are two possibilities:

Your internal wireless card is not activated. Please look at your laptop and look for a button with the symbol like the one on the right, or a little switch that has the symbol next to it. Ensure that the button is glowing (newer laptop models) or that the switch is set to the "on" position.
Your external wireless card isn't plugged in correctly or your card needs to be enabled. To enable it, usually you just need to go to the Start Menu, go to "Settings" and select "Open Network Connections". Then double-click on the icon for the Wireless card to enable it. If the card is disabled, the icon in the "Network Connections" window will be grayed out.

Step 2: Verify that "engarde" network isn't detected

Now, when you clicked on the Wireless notification icon, a window like the one on the right should appear.

If you don't see the "engarde" network listed in the white box to the left, then please click on "Change advanced settings".

Step 3: Add the "engarde" wireless network as a Preferred Network

Wireless network connection properties dialog

Now, when you clicked "Change advanced settings" in Step 2, the window to the left should have appeared. And, the window in Step 2 should have disappeared.

At first, the window will open to the "General" tab. Please click on the "Wireless Networks" tab at the top. Then, locate the "Preferred Networks" section in the bottom half of this window.

If you do not see "engarde" listed, then please click the "Add..." button to add the "engarde" network to your list.

If you do see "engarde", chances are that the settings for it weren't configured properly. In this case, please click on "engarde" once and then click the "Remove" button. Now, click the "Add..." button to add the "engarde" network to your list.

Step 4: Configure settings for "engarde" network

When you click the "Add..." button in Step 3, the window to the right should appear. Here, we're going to enter in the information needed to set up our wireless connection to "engarde".

In the "Network name (SSID)" text box, please type engarde
In the "Data encryption" drop-down box, please select the Disabled option.

Once you ensure that the window on your computer looks the same as the one on the right (without the arrows), please click on the "OK" button to save your configuration settings for "engarde".

Step 5: Apply the changes you just made

Wireless network connection properties, everything set up

You should now see the window we started with in Step 3. This time, you should see "engarde" listed in the "Preferred Networks" section in the bottom half of this window.

Under normal circumstances, there should not be any other things to configure. Go ahead and click the "OK" button to apply the changes you just made. This will close the window.

Step 6: Connect to the engarde network

Once you click the "OK" button, the Wireless notification icon should look like the icon to the right. This indicates that a network was found and that an connection is in the process of being established.

Assuming all is well and all steps were followed, you should see the following upon successful connection! Of course, the signal strength will depend on where you are on campus.

Step 7: Logon to the engarde network!

As we're currently working with various versions of both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, here are the instructions for setting up each. This part is a little long.

Internet Explorer 6 and Firefox 1.0 - 1.5

There should not be any other special instructions for these versions of Internet Explorer or Firefox.

Please open your favorite browser's window.
You might see a warning box appear, most likely stating that you're either entering a secure website or the site's certificate has expired. Under normal circumstances, you would be wise to ensure you are at the site you intended to visit. In our case, if you see such a dialog box, please click "OK" to proceed to the GCC Wireless Logon page.
3. Once you reach the login screen, please type in your eGCC Username and Password, and click the "Logon" button. Upon authentication, you should now be able to surf the web.

Internet Explorer 7 (IE7)

By default, Microsoft decided to make IE7 recognize the current SSL 3.0 and TLS 3.0 protocols, and not recognize the SSL 2.0 protocol (which is what our wireless network's logon page currently uses). Microsoft chose to make SSL 3.0 protocol recognition the default so to improve the security for HTTPS connections.

If you were to try to use IE7 to logon to our wireless network right now, you would see the message below, which gives the impression that you didn't even connect to our wireless network at all.

Here's how to let IE7 access the wireless network's login page:

Open Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.
Click the Advanced tab, and scroll down to the Security section.
Find and click on the Use SSL 2.0 check box. Click OK.

Now that you have allowed IE7 to view pages with SSL 2.0 certificates, you can now refresh the IE7 browser window by clicking the refresh button (or press the F5 key on your keyboard). You should now see the image below.

IE7 error - SSL2 enabled, expired certificate warning

To proceed, simply click "Continue to this website". You should now find yourself at the login page.

Once you reach the login screen, please type in your eGCC Username and Password, and click the "Logon" button. Upon authentication, you should now be able to surf the web.

Firefox 2.0 (FF2)

If you were to try to use FF2 to logon to our wireless network right now, you would see the following dialog box:

To allow FF2 to access our wireless network's logon page, please do the following:

Type about:config in the location (or address) bar. You should now see the configuration file for Firefox.
In the "Filter" box, which has just appeared below the location bar, type ssl2 (that is, SSL2, just in lowercase).
You should see various items with the text ssl2. Please enable at least the following options by double-clicking their names:
- security.enable_ssl2
- security.ssl2.rc4_128
Now, the two items you just activated should now appear in a bold font, and should have their values set to True. Please refresh the browser by pressing the F5 key on your keyboard; and you should now find yourself at the login page.
Once you reach the login screen, please type in your eGCC Username and Password, and click the "Logon" button. Upon authentication, you should now be able to surf the web.