Back in the old days, if I had any home network problems, I used to spend hours trying to recreate complicated networks and adjusting wireless network settings. I actually used to play with everything that had anything to do with computers, simply because I loved them.
When one of my networks crashed or had errors, I would always wish that I had backed up my network settings before the errors occurred. There were ways of doing this but not as easy as it is today.
Well now with Windows 7, it is extremely easy to backup your wireless network settings, to save for the just in case times. Even know setting up a wireless network in Windows 7 is very easy, there are still things like a security key that you have to remember and typing manually. Therefore I like to save my wireless network settings and import them back in whenever I need them.
Backup your wireless network settings
Follow the steps below to backup your wireless network settings and have the freedom to know that your wireless network can be re-set up within seconds.
- Go to the network and sharing Center in Windows 7. You can find the network and sharing Center by clicking on the network icon in the notification area, or by going to the Control Panel in the start menu and clicking on the network icon.
- In the network and sharing Center, you will see a link that says “manage Wireless networks”. This link will be in the left sidebar. Click on this link.
- A new dialogue box will open showing the wireless networks you have connected to in the past.
- Double-click on the network that you want to backup. This will open up the properties of this network.
- Go to the connection tab and click on the link that says “copy these settings to a USB flash drive”. You will find this link at the bottom of the dialogue box.
- The Copy Network Settings wizard will open. Insert your USB flash drive into a spare slot in your computer. When your USB drive has been detected, click on the next button to start the copying process.
- This process will only take a few seconds and when it is finished you can press the cross button to close the window.
- If you go into your USB flash drive you will now see a new folder called SMRTNTKY and a setup file SNK.exe that was automatically created for you.
Import your wireless network settings
To import the settings that you previously backed up, simply put your USB drive into a USB port on the computer that you want these settings to be installed to. Then all you have to do is locate the file SNK.exe and double-click on it to start importing the settings. That’s how easy it is.
Now with this fantastic feature that Windows 7 includes, there is no need to try and remember any authentication keys or extremely long numbers to set up your wireless network settings. This is a great help when your network settings have mysteriously changed or disappeared.
Hi guys! I am a computer freak who is obsessed with computer tips, building websites, money making. Finger in every pie, love working, addicted to caffeine. Multi multi tasker, likes juggling ten jobs, should have joined the circus. Ha Ha!
I always mess up on how to setup a wireless network for my laptop, this tutorial helps me to backup all those settings.
Twitter: freedommmc
says:
Hmmm. Secure your network with unsecured Microsoft? not sure about this one.
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Twitter: rickyrock626
says:
It’s really great that we can backup a network setting in window 7.you explain it very clearly in this post.that’s really good.
BEC5 Curaderm’s recent post ..Cataract Eye Drops
Twitter: tips4pc
says:
Yes it is very handy to know!
Mitz’s recent post ..External Hard Drive Buying Guide
Thanks a lot for this post and for sharing with everybody. Yes, I do remember the times when I used to spend hours trying to remake all my network’s settings – searching for long-lost passwords, resetting routers, stuff like that.
I’ll probably backup my networks too in the future..
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Very well said. It’s nice to know that we can back up a network settings in Windows 7. Thanks!
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What a fantastic tip! I also got to know computers through messing with everything although these days I have a mac but still need to use windows for certain things…
Twitter: tips4pc
says:
It is always handy to know how to backup something useful.
Mitz’s recent post ..What Is A Local Area Network?
This is perhaps more important than we would like to admit. Backup is something that we all know we should be doing but never do. Until that one day….
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Twitter: tips4pc
says:
You are right there. Everyone forgets to do this one!
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Twitter: ModestMoney
says:
I really wish I had done this over the years. I can’t count the number of times we went to use our wireless network and just couldn’t remember the password. Backing up all those settings would’ve saved a lot of time.
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Twitter: tips4pc
says:
I know I have had the same headaches!
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Twitter: greencountrylaw
says:
This is very helpful to me. Backing up wireless network settings has always been an elusive process for me. I am just now using Windows 7, probably the last guy on earth, and I am still finding my way around. I seem to lose network settings as I do move around a lot, go mobile, and join many networks, then when I am at home or back at the office my system, or maybe myself, seems to get confused. Also my router crashes a lot and I find myself having to do hard resets and lose all my settings. Thanks for sharing this information !
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Twitter: tips4pc
says:
Wow sounds like you do need this tutorial. I like it because it is so easy too!
Mitz’s recent post ..Is The Recordable Disc a Dying Dinosaur?
Nice! Anyone who has had a network crash or forgotten a network password will find this useful. I’m still relatively new to windows 7, and its great to know that they incorporated this feature.
Nice and useful advice, thanks for sharing it! It made me upset so many times when I had to reinstall the wireless connections after a refresh of the operating system. And I think I1m not the only one with this.
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Twitter: tips4pc
says:
You are right! You are not the only one!
Mitz’s recent post ..External Hard Drive Buying Guide
Thank you for the guide and instructions that you have provided here Mitz. I am not really aware of this but I am so happy that you have shared this simple yet very informative blog of yours.
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At last! Finally Windows has a way of backing up something that is vital! Thank goodness they launched windows 7. And thanks for the article!
Twitter: tips4pc
says:
I agree that Windows seven is useful.
Mitz’s recent post ..External Hard Drive Buying Guide
Thanks for providing useful information. It is really a good idea that we need to backup our network settings. I will definitely follow all the tips that have mentioned here. Thanks for the post and keep up the good work.
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I believe that backing up your wireless connecting is helpful as well as important. Your article provides the right steps needed for it. I followed the steps here and found them to be very useful.
Cammile Mailhot’s recent post ..Achat home trainer
I think this is really nice to use if I’m going to back up also my computer..Thanks for the info..
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Gret information and advice stated here!Thanks for the great post!
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Hi Mitz,
Awesome advice and so timely; as usual!! To create the rock solid belief that ‘back-up’ is essential only takes one really mean virus or the inadvertently loading of a trojan program. But it is so much easier to read an easy to understand article such as this one and actually follow it step by step. And put the USB drive in a safe place for use later, if necessary. I have sent this link to several of my friends.
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Twitter: soumailaadamou
says:
indeed, it becomes very easy to save the network setting, nice post.
Twitter: gravityinfo
says:
nice information.it might become easy to save the task.
Twitter: gravityinfo
says:
thanks for the great post,it can be very helpful for me.it’s very essentially to save your data in personal computar.great.
Hi.
Nice tips! I was looking for information how can I backup my wireless network settings there. Thanks a lot for sharing this. It’s very useful!
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Twitter: techsparx1
says:
nice steps for wireless network backup. I found it very useful.
vishvast’s recent post ..How to create a bootable Windows 7 USB flash drive
Whoa! I never knew about this. I got a book on MCITP Windows 7 but haven’t read this topic on that book. Thanks for this tip mate.
Twitter: tech_ticks
says:
Excellent information on Windows 7 and its wireless network settings, thanks to Microsoft which made it really very easy.
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This is a great backup for our computers! Having this wireless, it is more convenient to use. Thank you for this information.. I’ll check more details on this!
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Great post! Thanks for providing us this useful information. I will definitely check this. Thanks for sharing this to us!
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Having this backup on our computers in a must. This will help as to be more secure on our files. This is for our own benefit too! Thanks for sharing this…
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Twitter: genelia522
says:
Backup of data is necessary on any computer. This is helpful to get better results. Backup is necessary for data security so that if data is lost due to some failure then you use data from saved backup.
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Great post, this information can surely bring a huge help to all the blogger…
I do love to share it on my pinterest…
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