Failure to Connect to Hidden Networks

Question

I'm aware of similar threads like this:

How do I connect a Windows 8 laptop to a wireless network (which has a hidden SSID)?

but apparently there are no definite answers to this question. In short, connecting to hidden networks fails in Windows 8.

I've attempted connection to the same hidden network through Win7, Ubuntu and Android and have succeeded through all of them.

I've tried creating a manual connection through Network & Sharing Center.

I don't have access to the router and can't modify the visibility of it, even though I'm aware that a hidden network is not the best security practice.

How can I fix this? If there are Windows logs I can post to help resolve this problem, please do let me know.

Answer 1

If not there already, open your desktop from the Windows 8 Start menu. The first thing to do is normal-click (usually left-click) the wireless icon on the right-hand side of taskbar at the bottom of the desktop.

A network charms bar (menu) should open showing you all of the networks that your computer sees. At the bottom of the list (you may need to scroll down) you would need to select one of the following items:

Once you select an item, the Charm bar will change to one of the following depending on the hidden network type you selected:

You can select the box to let Windows know if you want to remember the connection and automatically logon. Once you click Connect, the charm bar will change again asking you to enter the name of the SSID you are trying to connect with. Enter the SSID, and click Next.

The charm bar will change yet again and ask you to enter the network security key used to connect to your hidden wireless access point.

Once you enter the key, Windows will attempt to connect to the wireless access point with the information you provided. Windows will display an error if there was a problem connecting. If so, start over and carefully check the SSID and key that you entered.