Changing priority of WiFi networks in Windows 8

I have been using Win 8 for a while now, one feature that MS decided to remove from the "Standard" WiFi management utility is ability to change the order in which windows decides to connect to WiFi networks. In my case, I have two WiFi networks close by at work, I want to connect to second network only if the first network is out of range. But Windows by default connects me to the WiFi network which was added recently. In Windows 7, you could go to WiFi adapter settings and do this, but in Win 8, for some reason, you will need to run a command.


To get a list of all WiFi profiles stored in your PC, execute the below command:

netsh wlan show profiles

This command shows the names of all WiFi profiles stored in your PC. This also gives you the name of the interface. For example, mine is "Wi-Fi".

Command to change the priority :

netsh wlan set profileorder name="MySSID" interface="Wi-Fi" priority=1

Note: Just substitute "MySSID" with the wireless SSID you want to connect first. 

Delete a Wifi Profile (without having to connect to the profile):

netsh wlan delete profile name="MySSID" Interface="Wi-Fi"

Export a WiFi Profile (For backing up the settings and/or having to import to another PC):

netsh wlan export profile folder=. name="MySSID" interface=*

Import a WiFi Profile :

netsh wlan add profile filename="Wi-Fi-Public.xml" interface=*