Installing and Configuring an Ad Hoc Wi-Fi connection

A tutorial on Wi-Fi has already been written here on Generation NT.

In this tutorial we saw how to configure a wireless network using an access point as well as how to share a wireless internet connection.

This is not quite the same as this type of installation as it requires material that not everyone has available, making this type of installation a little less used.

With the Wi-Fi standard, there are the two different “operational” methods:

The first consists of connecting directly to an access point in “infrastructure” mode.

The second mode which is becoming more and more popular is the “Ad Hoc” mode, which is the topic of this tutorial.

First of all if you haven’t already done so, you should read the creation and configuration of a local area network tutorial for Windows XP (here).

The technologies that are used are not exactly the same as a local Wi-Fi network, but the networking principles are similar to traditional networks and require the same skills in order to configure workgroups, IP addresses, subnet masks and protocols.

These settings are becoming quite widely known these days, but wireless also has some other important network settings to look at for it to be properly operational. There are the operational mode settings and connection channels for example.

To create a local area network under Windows XP, you will first of all need to have the connectors made active. This is necessary to properly configure the file transmissions so that certain files will be given priority.

After you are sure that the drivers and other relevant programs are up to date (even for new hardware it doesn’t hurt to pay a visit to the manufacturers website as there may well be new drivers), then “all there is left to do” is configure it!

Each brand may have their own utility software with the following illustrations offering a better indication of what these do. In any event, the steps are basically the same but maybe with a different interface ;)

Once the material has been installed, a Windows XP “information bubble” will appear notifying you that a new peripheral device has been installed and will ask you if you want this to be automatically configured. At this point there is not point as the other posts aren’t active, but the card will be.

You should close this window and we will come back to it later. You should therefore deactivate the Windows XP default auto configuration for the wireless. This will allow the provided network card tools (more advanced and powerful) to work. To do this you need to double-click on the network icon on the taskbar and go to the “wireless network” tab, uncheck the “use windows to configure my wireless connection” box.

A more radical and efficient process consists of stopping the process. Right click on My Computer and select “manage”, double click on the Services and Applications and then on “Services”.

In the services list, look for “automatic wireless configuration” and double click on it, or right click and select “properties”.