Creating User-Specific Wireless Connections

By default, when you connect to a wireless network and then elect to save the network (by activating the Save This Network check box after the connection has been made), Windows Vista makes the wireless connection available to all users of the computer. (That is, Vista stores the wireless network connection in the computer’s All Users profile, which is the profile that Vista uses to make objects available to every user account on the computer.) This is usually the best way to go because it means you only have to make the connection to the wireless network once, and then the connection is set up for every user account.

Sometimes, however, you might not want other users to have access to a particular wireless network connection. For example, your neighbor might allow you to use his wireless network, but only on the condition that your kids not use the network.

For these kinds of situations, Vista enables you to create user-specific wireless connections. This means that when a user connects to a wireless network, Vista enables that user to save the wireless network connection in the user’s profile. The other users on the computer will not see the connection.

Here are the steps to follow to activate Vista’s user-specific profiles (or per-user profiles, as Vista calls them) for wireless networks:

1. Click the Network icon in the notification area and then click Network and Sharing Center.
2. Click the Manage Wireless Networks link in the Tasks list.
3. Click Profile Types in the taskbar. Vista displays the Wireless Network Profile Type dialog box.
4. Select the Use All-User and Per-User Profiles option.
5. Click Save. The User Account Control dialog box appears.
6. Enter your UAC credentials to put the new setting into effect.

Now, when a user creates a wireless network connection, Vista displays the dialog box shown in the figure below, which gives the user three options:

• Save This Network for All Users of This Computer. The user selects this option to save the wireless network connection in the All Users profile, which means that every user account will have access to the wireless network.
• Save This Network for Me Only. The user selects this option to save the wireless network connection in the user’s profile only. Other user accounts will not have access to the wireless network.
• Don’t Save This Network. The user selects this option to bypass saving the network connection.

With per-user profiles activated, users can save wireless network connections in their own user profiles.