Configuring A Secure Wireless Connection on Windows XP

These steps assume that you are using Windows XP SP2 or higher, and you are using the software included with Windows to configure your wireless connection. Go to the Start menu, click on "Connect To" and select "Show all connections". This will open a window that displays your computer's network connections.

Right-click the Wireless Network Connection and select "Properties". In the properties window, click on the Wireless Networks tab (see below). If there is no Wireless Networks tab, the wireless connection on your computer is probably managed with third-party software, such as Intel PROSet software. Use that software to configure your wireless connection.

The "Use Windows..." box should already be checked. Click the Add... button to add a preferred wireless network. Fill in the information you see below. If there is no WPA2 option for Network Authentication and you are using Windows XP SP2, you will need to download and install the wireless client update package available from Microsoft at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917021

Click the Authentication tab and set the values as below. Choose PEAP for the EAP type, and uncheck "Authenticate as computer...".

Click the Properties button and set the values as you see below. Note that the servers are vradius1.cune.edu and vradius2.cune.edu separated by a semicolon ";" (not a colon or a comma).

Click the Configure... button and uncheck the box (see below) to use your Windows login name and password. A username and password will be entered in a later step. Click OK when you are done.

At this point, almost all of the configuration is complete. Click the OK button in each window until you are back to the Network Connections window. Windows will then automatically attempt to connect to the network, and you will see the message "Validating identity".

The connection attempt will not succeed, because a username and password are required. A small, yellow popup (see below) will appear in the system tray. Click on the popup to open the credentials dialog box.

When the credentials dialog box opens, enter "concordia" (without quotes) for both the username and the password. Leave the domain blank. Then, click OK.

It will take a minute or two for the computer to negotiate the secure connection. As you watch the status in the Network Connections window, it will display "Validating identity", "Attempting to authenticate", "Acquiring network address" and finally, "Connected".

Close the Network Connections window and register your computer at www.cune.org.