Wireless key on group policy?

[zag]

I've just got my shiny new Aruba site wide managed 'N' wireless installed but I'm wondering how to configure the clients to access the new system.

Currently we go round each computer and connect to the wireless AP manually by typing in the key, this is very time consuming. The network engineer who did our install mentioned I could set the wireless access point and key in a group policy for all machines.

Anyone know how to do this? I took a look at the group policy but can find any mention of Wireless.

[leco]

I'd be interested in the answer to this one - I have manually entered our key but the machines seem to "forget" it when off the network.

[nephilim]

In Wireless Network (IEEE 802.11) Policies, double-click the wireless network policy that you want to configure.

On the Preferred Networks tab, choose whether to add a new preferred wireless network or edit or remove an existing one:

To add a new preferred wireless network, click Add.

To edit an existing preferred wireless network, click Edit.

To remove an existing preferred wireless network, click Remove.

If you are adding or editing a preferred wireless network, in Properties, click the Network Properties tab, and then do any of the following:

To name the preferred wireless network or to change the existing name, type a unique name in Name.

To provide a description of the preferred wireless network, such as the type of network, whether a network key is required, and whether IEEE 802.1X authentication is enabled, type a description in Description.

If a network key is required to connect to the preferred wireless network, do the following:


To specify that a network key is used for authentication to the wireless network, from the drop-down list in Network authentication, select one of the following:

Shared

WPA

WPA-PSK

If you do not select this check box, open system authentication is used.

To specify that a network key is used to encrypt the data that is sent over the network, from the drop-down list in Data encryption, select one of the following:

For Shared, select one of the following:

Disabled

WEP

For WPA, select one of the following:

WEP

TKIP

AES

For WPA-PSK, select one of the following:

WEP

TKIP

AES

Note

By default, Data encryption, WEP is selected.

To specify that a network key is automatically provided for clients (for example, if you are using 802.1X for dynamic key distribution), select the The key is provided automatically check box.


If the preferred wireless network connection that you are configuring is to a computer-to-computer (ad hoc) network, select the This is a computer-to-computer (ad hoc) network; wireless access points are not used check box.


Enjoy

[leco]

Yep done all of that but the machine forgets - would like to do it from a GPO possibly at logon. Thanks anyway

[nephilim]

write a script so that it enforces it to take it from the GPO.

[zag]

Where do I enter the network key?

When I choose WPA-PSK + TKIP the box is greyed out

[BAS]

Not sure if you are using CA & RADIUS but that would help in implementing a secure solution
Try using certificates on devices for authentication. I have implemented this a few times & seems to me the most secure way of deploying wireless for trusted domain objects