Suppose there is a network with several Access Points, all with the same ESSID, but I always want to connect to an specific access point that has a certain BSSID (MAC address), is it possible to do this in Windows?
I tried making this type of connection by using the Native Wifi API, but the Connect function only lets you specify the ESSID not BSSID.
Has anyone found a way to connect to an AP, by specifying its BSSID in Windows?
Did you manage to solve this? In case it's helpful, I've found a partial solution.
The utility WirelessMon - http://www.passmark.com/products/wirelessmonitor.htm It allows you to override Windows wifi selection, and explicitly connect to an AP by MAC address.
I had the highly frustrating problem of needing to use a public hotspot network with a portal website, and every time my wifi roaming jumped AP, every ~5 minutes or so owing to two of them being very similar signal strength, I'd have to re-enter my login details.
The downsides of using WirelessMon are, it's only a 30-day trial, and it also tends to screw up the connection itself by constantly scanning in the background. The best solution I've found is to set its sampling rate to the maximum of 60 seconds, which helps enormously compared to the default of 3.
If anyone knows of a free app that does a similar job, please post about it!
Try Nirsoft WirelessNetView - it's freeware. There's no option to do this without 2nd party software, just for available BSSID's - it can be done via netsh, powershell etc. If you want to do this in Windows - you must change Wireless Zero configuration.. and it's Windows built in.
The free utility (for home use) NetSetMan includes a utility called NSM Wifi Management, which lets you do just that... connect to WiFi AP by BSSID instead of ESSID.
Once installed, choose
Tools --> NSM Wifi Management
Then choose
Down Arrow next to Refresh --> In-Depth Refresh.
All APs will be listed, even those with the same ESSID, and you can choose the one you want. It doesn't show you the MAC/BSSID in the search results, but you can try them all one at a time and type
netsh wlan show interfaces
at the cmd prompt to check when you have the right one.
Solution for Intel adapters with PROSet software here.
Basically you have to choose your Wi-Fi network from list, select checkbox for using Intel parameters, select "Mandatory Access Point" and enter BSSID. (Unfortunately cannot tell exact names because my Windows localization not in english.)
You can use WifiInfoView from https://www.nirsoft.net/
Connect wifi using below step.
You can also create a shortcut on desktop, to connect wifi using BSSID.
Shortcut look like:
