Windows – How to check if I’m connected to the own wireless network on windows or linux

networkingrouterwindows 8wireless-networking

Recently I had to reset my router and was unable to log into my network.

There were some networks around me when I was out of my network and had to reset my router to defaults, even though it's highly impossible that I had connected to others' networks (with coincidentally the same password and the same SSID, and possibly changed the homepage's settings because they matched). How can I absolutely confirm that I'm connected to my own network?

I've tried the non-technical way with confirming by switching the router on/off, but, is there a more precise way of confirming that I am connected to my own network?

Best Answer

Check the BSSID, that is, the access point's MAC address.

At home you'll usually have only one access point that's built into your router, so compare the MAC with the one written on the sticker on its bottom. (It might differ by a single digit in some cases.)

You didn't mention the OS you use, so I'll assume Linux:

$ iw wlan0 link
Connected to 24:a4:3c:ce:d2:16 (on wlan0)
    SSID: eduroam
    freq: 2462
    ...

Or you could check whether a scan detects multiple APs with the same name:

$ sudo iw wlan0 scan | egrep "^BSS|SSID"

$ nmcli -f in-use,ssid,chan,bars,security,bssid dev wifi list

There are various "Wi-Fi scanner" apps for Windows and macOS as well – can't recommend any, but most of them are able to display a basic "network list" including channels, BSSIDs, and all that. There's one from Nirsoft, and probably heaps of other freeware.

If you're on Windows (7 or later), the same can be done via netsh:

C:\> netsh wlan show interface
There is 1 interface on the system:
    ...
    SSID                   : eduroam
    BSSID                  : 24:a4:3c:ce:d2:16
    Network type           : Infrastructure
    Radio type             : 802.11n
    ...

(I can't remember offhand what's the command to request a scan, but it's also under netsh wlan show <something>.)

On macOS, this post suggests:

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/A/Resources/airport -I en1
              ...
      link auth: wpa2-psk
          BSSID: 24:a4:3c:ce:d2:16
           SSID: eduroam
            MCS: -1        channel: 6

On FreeBSD, all that should be under ifconfig.

Android has quite a few "Wi-Fi analyzer" apps; at the time of posting, this one worked well.

The homepage, however, is not a network setting. Only your web browser cares about that.

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