automatically connect to invisible SSID

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i've just created an invisible SSID on my Linksys router. how do i set up my mac to automatically connect to it though? i don't want to have to enter the name and pw each time i want to connect.
 
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i've just created an invisible SSID on my Linksys router. how do i set up my mac to automatically connect to it though? i don't want to have to enter the name and pw each time i want to connect.

Unhide the SSID, set automatic connecting on your Mac, then rehide the SSID.

HTH
 

bobtomay

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Leopard??

System Preferences - Network - highlight Airport on the left - hit the Advanced button

Airport tab highlighted at the top - Add the network to your Preferred Networks:
 
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Actually, it added itself to the preferred list automatically in my case. However, I'm having similar problems. I wanted to hide my SSID and set up my system to automatically log on to the preferred Airport network. Unfortunately, with the new update, my system fails to remember the network or to log in automatically to it when my system wakes up from sleep mode even though it is set to "remember" the network and it's parameters. Then to make matters worse, I have to try to log in manually several time because the system log in screen keeps timing out. Pretty frustrating to be honest.
 

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Just a bit of advice (learned the hard way from someone who used to hide his SSID)...

Hiding the SSID is a bad idea on Macs to begin with. For whatever reason, the Airport drivers just don't deal well when there are other WAPs present and the one you want to connect to is hidden.

Hiding your SSID provides no additional security whatsoever. A simple scan with a decent sniffer will still yield your SSID. You're only making your wireless card work that much harder to maintain a connection. This has a direct impact on range and speed of connection.

I would strongly recommend broadcasting SSID and switching over to WPA2 if available and you haven't already done so (plain WPA is fine too).

Any hacker who is smart enough to break encryption, is going to chuckle heartily at a hidden SSID.
 
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Just a bit of advice (learned the hard way from someone who used to hide his SSID)...

Hiding the SSID is a bad idea on Macs to begin with. For whatever reason, the Airport drivers just don't deal well when there are other WAPs present and the one you want to connect to is hidden.

Hiding your SSID provides no additional security whatsoever. A simple scan with a decent sniffer will still yield your SSID. You're only making your wireless card work that much harder to maintain a connection. This has a direct impact on range and speed of connection.

I would strongly recommend broadcasting SSID and switching over to WPA2 if available and you haven't already done so (plain WPA is fine too).

Any hacker who is smart enough to break encryption, is going to chuckle heartily at a hidden SSID.

If there is one thing I have long learned in this business, is to take good advise when given...

SSID - broadcasting again.
WEP is toast
WPA is enabled.

Gracie!!! :)
 

cwa107


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If there is one thing I have long learned in this business, is to take good advise when given...

SSID - broadcasting again.
WEP is toast
WPA is enabled.

Gracie!!! :)

No problem. I spent countless hours of frustration trying to figure out why I couldn't get my signal to extend outside of my house onto my deck (it always worked fine on my Windows laptops), but it just wouldn't work on my Mac. The secret was to enable SSID, because the next door neighbor (whose WAP was closer to my deck than mine was and also broadcasting SSID) was somehow attracting my Mac's attention. Turn SSID broadcast back on and VOILA!
 
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I still get a small delay from Airport before it reacquires wireless connection when it awakes from sleep mode, but so far, so good.

I wonder if Apple is going to address some of these glitches with the new Leopard 10.5.3 that they started testing today...
 

cwa107


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I still get a small delay from Airport before it reacquires wireless connection when it awakes from sleep mode, but so far, so good.

I wonder if Apple is going to address some of these glitches with the new Leopard 10.5.3 that they started testing today...

There is always a delay when waking from sleep. That's completely normal - usually about 10 seconds or so while the adapter is initialized (remember, everything is turned off when the machine sleeps).

Even if this "glitch" were to be resolved (i.e. Airport is more reliable when using a network with a hidden SSID), you'll still see much better performance and range with it enabled. BTW, this has been a problem since 10.4.8 (when I first started using Macs), so don't look for it to be corrected as a Leopard "bug".
 

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