Connect to Wi-Fi access point with specific MAC address

Question

I can see several (5+) Wi-Fi access points with the same SSID, but different MAC addresses (using InSSIDer). However, my Windows 7 laptop always keeps connecting to one of the APs, and I suspect it's not the best one.

How can I choose to connect to a Wi-Fi access point with a different MAC address? Is there a custom connection manager that allows specifying the MAC address of the preferred AP?

Solution 1

You can do this with Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software, but this can only be done if you have Intel® Wireless Adapter. If you have Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software you need to:

1. Right click light bulb icon in system tray -> "Configure Wi-Fi"
2. Right click on wanted network and select "Properties"
3. Write down the wanted BSSID
4. Press "Close"
5. Click "Profiles" -> "Manage Profiles" (Ctrl+R) or click "Profiles..."
6. Select wanted network, and then click "Properties..."
7. Click "Advanced"
8. Select "Mandatory Access Point" and enter custom MAC address (same as BSSID)

This worked for me on Dell Latitude E5520. I don't know if there is custom program for all wireless adapters.

Solution 2

Although Nouhad Velladath suggested the right software for this task, he missed to tell how exactly to achieve this. NetSetMan has a built-in Wi-Fi manager that shows all available wireless networks. If there are different access points (with different MAC addresses) they're listed individually so you can choose the prefered one and connect to it.

Open it from the main menu: Tools > NSM WiFi Management

Here is a description of it (together with a download): http://www.netsetman.com/en/wifi

Solution 3

I found that WifiInfoView is able to do this on Windows 10.

The portable application shows you all WiFi access points it can see, with their BSSID and other information.
You can select the BSSID you want, right click on it and press Connect Selected Access Point (or press F2).

Alternatively you can create a shortcut on the Desktop that connects to the specified BSSID.

Solution 4

The short answer is no, you can't. At least, not with any standard solution. The manufacturer of your WiFi card might offer a custom connection manager that offers this functionality, but I've never seen it.

Windows will generally select the strongest signal among access points with the same SSID in the same band. On some WiFi cards, you can tune the "roaming agressiveness" from the device manager. This essentially decides how much better a signal has to be for Windows to switch access points with the same SSID. (You can turn it down if frequent AP changes are disrupting connectivity, and you can turn it up if you're getting stuck on a poor AP.)

One common irritation is that the strongest signal may not yield the fastest transfers. I have this issue myself with one access point that uses a 20MHz bandwidth and one that uses a 40MHz bandwidth. Windows will choose the 20MHz signal if it's stronger even if it yields a lower transfer rate.

However, my advice to you would be to focus on what's causing your issue rather than trying to patch around it. Is Windows choosing the stronger signal? If so, why isn't that working for you?

Solution 5

Passmark WirelessMon is what you're looking for.

It has a 30-day evaluation trial and works perfectly on Windows 7.

http://www.passmark.com.au/products/wirelessmonitor.htm

Using this software will display a list of every wireless network in the local area, providing a breakdown of its MAC address, channel, and other useful information.

For example, if there are six access points in range, all with an SSID, "hotel_ap", then you'll see six individual rows as separate entries.

You can then find one with the MAC address you want, right-click it, and select 'connect to AP'. The in-built windows wireless network manager will then drop whatever (if any) connection you currently have, and attempt to connect to the device with the MAC address you selected within the Passmark Wireless Monitor software.

You can also set the software to start with your computer, as well as build up a list of hotspot priorities, by MAC address. It's a pretty effective bit of kit for what you're after.

Hope this helps!

SOURCE: I'm using it to write this!

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Comments

[mgutt]

Possible duplicate of Choose specific access point in a multiple access point WIFI network sharing SSID

[Axel Bregnsbo]

My impression is the correct term is BSSID (Basic SSID) and not MAC address. Though BSSID has the same format (3 byte manufacturer + 3 byte device) as an Ethernet MAC address.

[Heidar]

The question was based on windows 7 and not linux

[slhck]

Would be nice to explain how exactly you achieved this with this piece of software.

[bwDraco]

Can you give a more detailed description of the linked content, and explain how it relates to the question? This will help ensure that this answer remains useful in the event the link becomes invalid. In addition, please be careful posting links in answers of this nature—they could be seen by the community as spam, correctly or otherwise. See the help center for more information.

[Jack_Hu]

Consider it done!

[Simon Steinberger]

Not true - there are well working solutions below, e.g. Passmark WirelessMon.

[Simon Steinberger]

Works like a charm, thanks! Better than Passmark WirelessMonitor and free to use.

[yass]

You are repeating the accepted answer

[BlackICE]

I have almost the same laptop (precision 5520), with the intel wireless chip, but setting the MAC address in that field does nothing, it still connects to whatever access point it wants to.

[AsimRazaKhan]

how can it be done is osx?