Configuring Vista to connect to CCIS-XNet

by David Blank-Edelman on October 8, 2009

Last updated November 17, 2009

This document describes how to connect to the wireless network CCIS-XNet at the Northeastern University College of Computer and Information Science using WPA2 Enterprise on a Windows Vista machine.

Contributed by Alexandra Schieren (2009).

Configuration Steps

These steps describe how to configure your wireless connection in Vista to connect to CCIS-XNet. Please note that this only has to be done once and your credentials will be stored for future connections.

  1. Go to the control panel then navigate to Network and Sharing Center.
    vista-xnet-001
  2. Click Manage Wireless Networks from the menu on the left-hand side.vista-xnet-002
  3. Click Add.vista-xnet-001
  4. Click Manually create a network profile.vista-xnet-004
  5. Set the following options:
    • Name: CCIS-XNet
    • Security type: WPA2-Enterprise
    • Encryption type: AES

    Click [Next].
    vista-xnet-005

  6. Click on Change connection settings. Toggle Connect automatically when this network is in range if you’d like to auto-reconnect.vista-xnet-006
  7. Click on the Security tab. Set the following options:
    • Security type: WPA2-Enterprise
    • Encryption type: AES
    • Choose a network authentication method: Microsoft: Protected EAP (PEAP)
    • Cache user information for subsequent connections to this network: Checked (Stores password) or Unchecked (doesn’t store)

    vista-xnet-009

  8. Click the Settings button and set the following options:
    • Validate server certificate: Unchecked
    • Select Authentication Method: Secured password (EAP-MSCHAP v2)
    • Enable fast Reconnect: Unchecked

    vista-xnet-010

  9. Click the Configure button and uncheck Automatically use my Windows logon name and password. Click [OK] for everything to exit all settings windows.
    vista-xnet-011
  10. To connect to the network double click on CCIS-XNet after clicking Connect to a network in your network connections:vista-xnet-014
  11. You will then be prompted to enter in your login information. Click Enter/select additional log on information.vista-xnet-016
  12. Enter the following information:
    • User name:
    • Password:
    • Logon domain: CCIS-WINDOWS

    Click [OK].vista-xnet-017

  13. You can alternatively click on the taskbar message presented if you checked off connect to this network automatically when in range in a previous step:vista-xnet-018

Further Support

If you are still having issues with the configuration steps presented in this document that can not be resolved using other means, please send mail to systems@ccs.neu.edu with as much information as possible about your problem. We will do what we can to help you resolve the problem, but please note: CCIS Systems does not have the resources to support non-CCIS machines, so we may have to refer you to other forms of support.

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

Nathan Heaps January 27, 2010 at 10:03 am

These instructions don’t work for Windows 7 and it is quite a pain because you aren’t given the option to choose the logon domain. Can someone make Windows 7 compatible instructions?

David N. Blank-Edelman January 27, 2010 at 10:57 am

Yes, they are Vista-specific instructions. We will have a Windows 7 version posted here in the near future (we’re working on our Windows 7 rollout as we speak).

Dimitri Ayrapetov February 16, 2010 at 10:46 am

I was able to configure Windows 7 to use CCIS-XNet by taking these additional steps:

1. In addition to Step 7 above:
– Click the “Advanced settings” button (new with Win 7)
– Check “Specify authentication mode”
– Select “User authentication” and click “Replace credentials”
– Username: CCIS-WINDOWS\[your username]
– Password: [your password]
– Click OK

2. In addition to Step 8 above:
– Click “Configure” to the right of “Secured password (EAP-MSCHAP v2)
– Uncheck “Automatically use my Windows logon name and password”

Christopher Noyes October 5, 2010 at 1:05 pm