Connecting with WiFi, what does "Identifying" mean?
February 4, 2009 6:47 PM Subscribe
[WiFi Filter] What does "Identifying" mean?
When connecting up to a WiFi hotspot, the Network and Sharing Center on my laptop shows the word "Identifying." My question is simple: Who is identifying whom?
The word "Identifying" appears underneath the middle icon, which represents the hotspot. Sometimes the Identifying is completed quickly, sometimes it hangs and never finishes.
As I sit glumly staring at it, I can't help needing to know: Who is doing the Identifying? Whom are they trying to Identify? And why does the Identifying sometimes fail?
Windows Vista SP1 on a Toshiba laptop, various hotspots.
When connecting up to a WiFi hotspot, the Network and Sharing Center on my laptop shows the word "Identifying." My question is simple: Who is identifying whom?
The word "Identifying" appears underneath the middle icon, which represents the hotspot. Sometimes the Identifying is completed quickly, sometimes it hangs and never finishes.
As I sit glumly staring at it, I can't help needing to know: Who is doing the Identifying? Whom are they trying to Identify? And why does the Identifying sometimes fail?
Windows Vista SP1 on a Toshiba laptop, various hotspots.
Best answer: More specifically, it would be your machine checking a whole host of things on the hotspot: IP, DNS, DHCP, security settings, permissions, that class of thing. Go to Start-Run and type "cmd" to get to a DOS prompt, then type "ipconfig /all" at the prompt (sans quotes). Basically, everything listed there is what it's identifying (unless you've got a static IP address or the like).
posted by turgid dahlia at 7:40 PM on February 4, 2009
posted by turgid dahlia at 7:40 PM on February 4, 2009
Basically it is using the settings it finds in the WiFi Hot Spot so it can identify itself on the WiFi network as a different from any other computer on that Hot Spot.
As turgid said, it does this by using a unique IP address given to it by the WiFi Hot Spot. Sometimes it only takes a sec, sometimes it buggers up (to use the technical term) and the Hot Spot does not give your computer the IP address in time so it just gives up asking.
posted by Man_in_staysis at 9:38 PM on February 4, 2009
As turgid said, it does this by using a unique IP address given to it by the WiFi Hot Spot. Sometimes it only takes a sec, sometimes it buggers up (to use the technical term) and the Hot Spot does not give your computer the IP address in time so it just gives up asking.
posted by Man_in_staysis at 9:38 PM on February 4, 2009
Response by poster: odinsdream, thanks for the tip. I tried it with two hotspots, one which was Identifying for 15 seconds, and another for more than 60 seconds. With the adapter set with a static ip, there was ZERO Identifying for either hotspot; it connected immediately.
So — if the Identifying problem is due to DHCP, is there anything I can do with my laptop (in Vista Basic) to help this situation? Or is the DHCP problem all with the hotspots (and what would they need to correct their problem)?
posted by exphysicist345 at 8:35 PM on February 5, 2009
So — if the Identifying problem is due to DHCP, is there anything I can do with my laptop (in Vista Basic) to help this situation? Or is the DHCP problem all with the hotspots (and what would they need to correct their problem)?
posted by exphysicist345 at 8:35 PM on February 5, 2009
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posted by turgid dahlia at 7:30 PM on February 4, 2009