Windows 10 | Connect to wireless automatically before logging in

A client of mine had a MS Surface running Windows 10.  They were almost 100% wireless and kept running into issues where they'd login to their profile and then it would connect to the wireless.  That's not usually a problem, however in this case it was a roaming profile and caused some issues with connectivity.

To get around this, I was able to save the credentials prior to logging in, which allowed the Surface to connect to the Wireless before they actually go through the login process, and ensure that it has access to a Domain Controller.

Click on the 'WiFi' option from Network Settings

Click Wireless Properties

Click Advanced Settings

Select User Credentials then click Save Credentials.  It will then ask you to type in a username and password which it will then use to authenticate against the wireless prior to logging in.

Note: this isn't a scalable solution, and merely designed to get one or two users up and running on wireless devices.  This will cause problems if the user's password expires as well.

For a scalable solution, you will need to use Group Policy and define a Service Account username and password.

An Access-Request message was received from RADIUS client x.x.x.x with a Message-Authenticator attribute that is not valid

A client of mine recently had Enterprise Wireless (PEAP) wireless configured which connects to a NPS server to authenticate users connecting up.  People had issues connecting to the wireless after a new Domain Controller was brought online.

Checking the Event Logs, I found the following error:

This indicates that the Shared Secret between the Access Point and what's configured on the NPS (usually a DC) is not the same.  In order to get around this, I checked the settings of each Access Point and updated the Shared Secret.

Once you've done this, log into each access point and update the Shared Secret on to ensure that it's the same.  Once you've done this, the access points should communicate with the DC (or NPS) successfully.

Winthrop Australia provides IT Support in Perth.