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I'm not defending Windows 8, though I am using it right now and I don't hate it as much as I'd hoped to hate it. 
But I would like to point out that this is similar to old Web Browsers and W3C compliance.
Web Browsers W3C Compliance : Remember When?
Remember when Microsoft didn't follow the W3C and you could have malformed HTML and IE would render perfectly? Then you would load the bad HTML and/or CSS in a standards compliant browser like (netscape) or firefox and it would look ugly or totally fail to render. Everyone thought microsoft IE worked perfectly but they encouraged bad behavior by HTML creators.
Analogous?
Maybe in the case of having to re-connect they are actually keeping you more safe, but they look like they fail.
And -- I too am a Nexus 7 owner and love Android -- the fact that the Android device doesn't warn you means that if someone set up a fake network of the same name as yours then you'd connect to that one without knowing it.
Just some thoughts.
Ubuntu Vs. Vista
I suffered this same kind of problem with an old Vista laptop and I finally just gave up bec it wouldn't connect to wireless router and I booted Ubuntu from a flash drive and it connected before the OS was even finished loading. wow. Cool stuff.
The Real Solution
And after all of this, it is a failure that the OS doesn't pop up a window and say, "I can't connect because you are connecting to a new network even though it has the same name as an old network connection."
So in this case I guess we can now go back to blaming Win 8 for not doing that. It really should.
Shew... for a moment there I thought I was an M$ fanboy. 
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Yes, I'd agree - if you set up a "fake" network with the same SSID and password I'd be glad of it not connecting. But...first there is the "password" bit, which a fake shouldn't know. Second, why not pop up a box to say "this has changed, do you want to connect?". And thirdly, why the elephant make be delete teh contents of a text box, type the same text back in and then work? That does nothing to prevent "fake" networks, it's just plain annoying because the network doesn't work, but all the information is correct! 
MS does some things very well indeed (VS and Excel are prime examples) - but there are times when I feel they farmed out user interface design, development, and testing to the lowest bidder on Rent-a-coder (the Ribbon, Win 8, VS 2012 SHOUTY, Word...) 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Again, I totally feel your pain on this, bec I just went through it with Vista a few weeks ago. I completely gave up after deleting and re-adding the wireless connection multiple times.
OriginalGriff wrote: fake" network with the same SSID and password I'd be glad of it not connecting
I think you are right about that. The one situation I was thinking of and wondering about is if it would be possible that the fake network be named the same as yours but require not password for login. Would it then authenticate you? I don't know. I'm curious though.
It's a terrible thing to be trapped helping someone with their computer and then they think the problem is you.
This Dilbert really says it all:
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-06-27/[^]
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newton.saber wrote: Would it then authenticate you?
I don't think so: as far as I know it isn't a "password" so much as an encryption key, so a blank at the "sending" end should mean a decryption failure at the "receiving" end and a lack of communications (otherwise the actual wifi data would be public and naughty people would have wifi readers on their tablets (like they used to have for analog phones in the Dark Ages)
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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I don't know much about WLAN connections, but maybe Windows 8 also saves and checks the MAC of the router to match?
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When the laptop did not connect, did you try rebooting it in between the switch of the APs, or even turning off the network adapter an turning it back on?
It seems to me that would be a security feature of the devices that require you to force the reconnect even though the credentials matched to protect against devices masquerading as the same "safe" AP.
If you did try that, I sympathize with your frustration.
Actually, I sympathize either way.
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You and a whole lot of others.
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Yes, there are plenty of reasons to dislike it...agreed. Not connecting to a 'masquerading' router seems like a good idea to me, but I do agree that the OS could have been more forthcoming about the connection failure.
On a positive note, I installed a wireless printer/scanner for the wife a couple of weeks ago. Her Win8 system found the printer on the network and could print within seconds. Her Win7 work laptop required much more work to get it working, including installing drivers and software.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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Is it possible that it was looking for the "MAC" address too ?
And the others were not?
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Meh.
If a new network device suddenly pops up and is set up to pretend to be an existing router, I'd be okay with being forced by my OS to re-enter the password instead of assuming this is not a rogue device and connecting to it automatically.
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And so would I. But just disabling the WiFi without telling you, or giving you any reason, or clue that it's done it, or idea how to undo it...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Weird; for me a dialog box just popped up when my daughter clicked on my WiFi for the first time, I read off the password to her and that was that.
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I have registered on CodeProject and StackOverflow.
These two sites have taken care of all my questions for, duh, a year ? Two years ? Three ? Whatever, neat places.
I am watching StackOverFlow exhibit some behaviors which I hope are temporary, and which I don't understand.
Let me emphasize my heartfelt desire for these behaviors to be temporary. I really like that site and I really want to keep participating, both as one who helps others, and as one who gets answers when I'm stuck.
(I really can't say which role I like better)
For the moment, the behaviors I'm observing are a stark warning to me that the game there has radically changed, and what was in the past, is not going to be happening in the future.
Hence, I need to look for another place to ask (and answer) questions.
If you are a registered member of another answer site such as StackOverFlow, and you've had positive experiences either asking or answering questions, I would appreciate your feedback.
Hopefully, this entire post will be needless.
For the moment, I really feel like I need to find at least one other place to make friends and start helping others in anticipation of the (very soon to come) day when I will start having more questions again.
So, where do you go (outside of CodeProject, which is clearly the ultimate, best, and finest place on the internet) to get your technical questions answered ?
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I go to myself.
No, really. I write the question down, and then .. usually it's already solved by that time. Or if it isn't, it may take some more time. Failure is also a possibility.
But it's never worth asking some anonymous narcissistic a**hole on the internet to solve it for you. It's better to fail than to feed their overinflated egos.
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Just curious, what is your opinion of the Quick Answers section here on CodeProject ?
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Well it's not as bad as SO.
You can have bad luck and run into SAK though.
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Never use the name: like Voldemort, he will appear! 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself.
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I'm not afraid of the name, or the person - I just like that there is a small corner of the site where I don't run into his arrogant pontification. 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Kenneth Haugland wrote: Since you answered a question, this could be the beginning of a beautiful tautology
I.. but.. oh 
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Ah, Harold, esteemed mentor, if only I could go to you with all my technical questions !
« I had therefore to remove knowledge, in order to make room for belief » Immanuel Kant
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Bill, esteemed student, I seem to have woken up in an alternate reality today. Me a mentor?
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Accidentally,
while trying to write a post,
I wrote a haiku.
(not the post above this one, obviously, not that there should be any confusion..)
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One haiku deserves
another, especially
one a mentor wrote !
« I had therefore to remove knowledge, in order to make room for belief » Immanuel Kant
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