Network - How to Forget a Wireless Network (Windows, Mac OS X, Ubuntu, iOS, Android)


One common cause of network issues is when the profile for the wireless network on a computer has become corrupted or has experienced some kind of interruption. This often happens when a computer is brought out of sleep or hibernation. To fix this, you need to clear out the profile or "forget" the network. The following information shows how to do this on different operating systems.
 

Table of Contents

Windows 

Windows 10

  1. Press Win+I to open the Settings app. 

  2. Select Network & Internet from the left menu.

  3. Look for Wi-Fi and the "Manage Wi-Fi Settings" link and click it.

  4. Select the desired wireless network from the list.

  5. When selected you will click the Forget button.

 

Windows 8.1

  1. From the start menu, start to type PC Settings and select it.

  2. Select Network from the left menu.

  3. In the Connections section, look for Wi-Fi and the "Manage known networks" link and click it.

  4. Select the desired wireless network from the list.

  5. When selected you will click the Forget button.

 

For Windows 8

  1. From any screen, access the Charms Bar by moving the mouse to the top right or bottom left corner of  the screen.  You can also swipe from the left edge inward, if the computer has a touchscreen.

  2. Select the Settings icon (it looks like a gear).

  3. Click on the Network icon, which will look like either 5 bars of increasing height ( a wireless connection) or a computer screen with a wire next to it (a wired connection).

  4. Right-click on the network (generally BYUSecure), and select Forget this Network from the menu that appears.

 

Alternate Instructions

  1. Press  + R, then type cmd in the blank and press Enter to open a command prompt window.

  2. To see what profiles are stored on the computer, enter the following at the command prompt: netsh wlan show profiles. If you don't see BYUSecure, then there isn't a profile for it on the computer and it has already been cleared or never existed.

  3. To delete the profile/forget the network, enter netsh wlan delete profile name=[profile name] at the prompt. Put the profile (for example, BYUSecure) that you want to delete in place of [profile name] and press Enter. The network is now forgotten.

 

For Windows Vista/Windows 7

  1. Click on the Start Button, then on Control Panel.

  2. In the Control Panel, click on Network and Internet, then click on Network and Sharing Center.

  3. Is the sidebar on the left of the window, click on Manage Wireless Networks.

  4. In the window that pops up, find the listing for BYUSecure, right-click on it, then select Remove.

 

For Windows Phone

  1. Go to Settings, then select Wi-Fi. 

  2. Press and hold on the wireless network that you want to forget. 

  3. Two items should appear, select Delete.

 

Another helpful tool for Windows is to access: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/manage-wireless-network-profiles

 

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For Mac OS X

To forget BYUSecure and manually configured eduroam connections:

  1. Click on the Wi-Fi icon on the bar at the top of the screen.

  2. Select Open Network Preferences from the drop down menu.

  3. In the Network Preferences window, make sure Wi-Fi is highlighted in the sidebar on the left of the Network Preferences window.

  4. Click the button labelled Advanced.

  5. On the Wi-Fi tab, look for the network (BYUSecure, for example) in the list of Preferred Networks.

  6. Click on the network name then click on the minus sign button to remove the network.

 

To forget Eduroam if it was installed with the configuration utility:

  1. Click on the Apple icon in the top left corner.

  2. Click on System Preferences.

  3. Click on Profiles (towards the bottom of the window).

  4. Click on the eduroam profile.

  5. Click the minus button.

  6. Click remove in the dialogue box.

 

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For Ubuntu Linux (version 11.04 and higher)

  1. Click on the Wi-Fi icon on the bar at the top of the screen.

  2. Select Edit Connections from the drop down menu.

  3. In the Network Connections window, click on the Wireless tab.

  4. Look for the network you want to forget in the list (BYUSecure, for example), and highlight it by clicking on it.

  5. Click on the Delete button to remove the network.

 

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For iOS

To remove BYUSecure and manually configured eduroam connections:

  1. Go to Settings, then select Wi-Fi.

  2. Click on the blue "i"  to the right of the network you wish to forget. 

  3. Click on Forget this Network.

 

To forget eduroam if it was installed using the configuration utility:

  1. Go to Settings, then select General.

  2. Scroll down and tap on Profile (if there is no profile option then eduroam was not setup with the utility).

  3. Tap on the eduroam profile.

  4. Tap the Delete Profile button.

  5. Enter phone passcode (if applicable).

  6. Tap the Delete button.

 

iOS will also occasionally save a profile on the device for Eduroam when it shouldn't. To remove it:

  1. Open Settings.

  2. Scroll to the very top, prompting a search bar to appear.

  3. Search Profiles.

  4. Select VPN/Device Management.

  5. If there is a profile for Eduroam, delete it. Otherwise, there is no problem here.

 

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For Android

These directions may vary from phone to phone but should be similar to the ones below: 

  1. Go to Settings, then select Wi-Fi. 

  2. Press and hold on the wireless network that you want to forget.

  3. After holding it for a moment, a menu will pop up. 

  4. Hit Forget.

 

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