Whether you are working with dial-up, broadband, or VPN
connections, you’ll often need to set additional properties after
creating a connection. The key properties that you will work with are
examined in this section.
Note
As you work with connection properties, keep in mind that VPN
connections use existing connections and that the configuration of each
connection is separate. With VPN, the primary connection is established
first by using the settings assigned to that connection, and then the
VPN connection is attempted using the VPN connection settings. With this
in mind, you should configure the primary connection first and then
configure the options for VPN. You should change this approach only when
you are troubleshooting problems with VPN. In this case, you should
start with the VPN configuration and work your way back to the settings
for the primary connection.
1. Configuring Automatic or Manual Connections
Windows 8 can be configured to establish dial-up, broadband, or VPN connections automatically when users access
programs, such as a web browser, that need to connect to the Internet.
Automatic connections work in ways that depend on settings in the
Internet Options tool. The dial-up options include the following:
-
Never Dial A Connection Users must manually establish a connection.
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Dial Whenever A Network Connection Is Not Present The connection is established automatically when it’s needed, but only when the network connection isn’t working.
-
Always Dial My Default Connection
The default connection is always established when an Internet
connection is needed (even if other connections are already
established).
Tip
The way you configure automatic
connections really depends on the way your organization works. Contrary
to what some administrators think, mobile device users are usually less
frustrated when their computers are set to never dial a connection.
Users might not have access to a dial-up connection when they are out of
the office, for example, and having the computer attempt to dial a
connection when a user is meeting with customers or giving a
presentation can be disruptive. On the other hand, if you are
configuring dial-up networking for users with desktops at a remote or
home office, they’ll probably want to use automatic connections.
To configure computers to connect manually, follow these steps:
-
In Control Panel, tap or click Network And Internet. In Network And
Internet, tap or click Internet Options. In the Internet Properties
dialog box, tap or click the Connections tab, as shown in Figure 1.
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Select Never Dial A Connection, and then tap or click OK.
You can configure automatic connections by following these steps:
-
In Control Panel, tap or click Network And Internet. In Network And
Internet, tap or click Internet Options. In the Internet Properties
dialog box, tap or click the Connections tab.
-
Select Dial Whenever A Network Connection Is Not Present to establish
a connection automatically if a network connection isn’t working.
Select Always Dial My Default Connection to always attempt to establish a
connection.
-
The Dial-Up And Virtual Private Network Settings list shows the
dial-up, broadband, and VPN connections that are currently configured.
Select the connection you want to use by default when establishing a
connection, and then tap or click Set Default.
-
Tap or click OK.
