Managing wireless profiles in Windows 8.1

In Windows 8, I used to be able to right-click on a wireless connection in the "Networks" sidebar and click "Properties" to access the password info, the connection settings, etc. The right-click context menu would also allow me to forget a network on demand (with the "Forget Network" option).

In Windows 8.1, the right-click option is gone. What's an easy way to manage my wireless network profiles in Windows 8.1 (without being connected to it)? If at all possible I'd like to avoid third-party software for this task, and although I'm sure I can do this from Powershell, I'd like my convenience back.

lunchmeat317

Posted 2013-12-04T19:10:02.983

Reputation: 476

Answers

This is something they took out in Windows 8.1.

Essentially, you will need to connect to the network at least once and then, if it fails, it will prompt you to be able to forget it. Unfortunately, this is not at all easier.

If you are itching to do it manually, you can use the Command Prompt.

Start the Command Prompt with Admin rights, and type netsh wlan show profiles. It will display all the wireless network profiles stored by Windows 8.1. The list can be long if you used your laptop or tablet for more than a couple of weeks.
Identify the name of the wireless network profile you want removed, then type the following command to remove it: netsh wlan delete profile name="profile name".

As an example, I wanted to remove a wireless network profile named swisscom and I typed: netsh wlan delete profile name="swisscom".

All credit goes to this article

Kirs Kringle

Posted 2013-12-04T19:10:02.983

Reputation: 244

@CanadianLuke I apologize that I failed to follow the guidelines. I will from now on make sure I do that. I also edited my answer here to reflect your advice. Thank you. – Kirs Kringle – 2013-12-04T20:55:14.420

It looks much better. I edited it to add some pretty formatting for you. +1 for the correct information though, good find! – Canadian Luke – 2013-12-04T21:13:27.563

1Gah, this is what I wasn't hoping to hear.....but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. netsh wlan gives you a list of commands to use with that object, as well. Does anyone know why this was removed from 8.1? – lunchmeat317 – 2013-12-04T21:48:57.917

As a note, with one of the recent updates, it looks like this feature has returned! – lunchmeat317 – 2014-06-16T21:30:03.353

I found a tool for users to manage their network profiles (change priority, make default, forget, view properties, etc.) without using those command line methods. I believe this is a much more user-friendly solution! You can find it here: http://main.kerkia.com/Products/WinFi/description.aspx.

Gwenole

Posted 2013-12-04T19:10:02.983

Reputation: 11

My Windows 8.1 machine shows "Forget this Network" and "View Connection Properties" when right clicking the network name.

See this article for more info: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/manage-wireless-network-profiles

falconspy

Posted 2013-12-04T19:10:02.983

Reputation: 592

Are you on Windows 8, or 8.1? I used to have that option, but I no longer do - right-clicking does nothing. – lunchmeat317 – 2013-12-04T21:49:40.000