Please be aware of notation below in command outlines. $ represents a command and rests of the lines following that line are output. Powershell is superset of traditional command prompt. Hence, all usual binaries still run on powershell for example, takeown.
We still need to use netsh till we have cmdlets support
To connect to a specific network or SSID
netsh wlan connect name='Starbucks WiFi'
To disconnect from WiFi
$ netsh wlan disconnect interface=Wi-Fi
Disconnection request was completed successfully for interface "Wi-Fi".
To disable Net WiFi Adapter (requires admin privilege),
Disable-NetAdapter -Name Wi-Fi -Confirm:$false
To disable Net WiFi Adapter (requires admin privilege),
Enable-NetAdapter -Name Wi-Fi
To provide more context, new cmdlets and netsh features enable us to control network interfaces of the PC. Here's a netsh example to list WiFi SSIDs,
$ netsh wlan show profiles
Profiles on interface Wi-Fi:
Group policy profiles (read only)
---------------------------------
User profiles
-------------
All User Profile : CSC-Public
All User Profile : Starbucks WiFi
All User Profile : VTA Free WiFi
All User Profile : Philz Tesora
All User Profile : PEETS
.......
This command does not show currently available WiFi Networks. It only shows the networks that are saved in the System because it has connected to those in the past.
Following shows pretty much the same list probably because most WiFi have clear type Key,
$ netsh wlan show profiles key=clear
To view information on the currently connect WiFi network
$ Get-NetConnectionProfile
Name : Starbucks WiFi 12
InterfaceAlias : Wi-Fi
InterfaceIndex : 16
NetworkCategory : Public
IPv4Connectivity : Internet
IPv6Connectivity : NoTraffic
Applying above command on a specific SSID provides us more info,
$ netsh wlan show profiles name='Starbucks WiFi'
Profile Starbucks WiFi on interface Wi-Fi:
=======================================================================
Applied: All User Profile
Profile information
-------------------
Version : 1
Type : Wireless LAN
Name : Starbucks WiFi
Control options :
Connection mode : Connect automatically
Network broadcast : Connect only if this network is broadcasting
AutoSwitch : Do not switch to other networks
MAC Randomization : Disabled
Connectivity settings
---------------------
Number of SSIDs : 1
SSID name : "Starbucks WiFi"
Network type : Infrastructure
Radio type : [ Any Radio Type ]
Vendor extension : Not present
Security settings
-----------------
Authentication : Open
Cipher : None
Security key : Absent
Key Index : 1
Cost settings
-------------
Cost : Unrestricted
Congested : No
Approaching Data Limit : No
Over Data Limit : No
Roaming : No
Cost Source : Default
Following is equivalent,
$ netsh wlan show profiles name='Starbucks WiFi' key=clear
To view currently connected SSID etc,
$ netsh wlan show interfaces
There is 1 interface on the system:
Name : Wi-Fi
Description : Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX200 160MHz
GUID : 605a0ad1-b96b-4f4e-b5a9-782623d6d797
Physical address : 04:ed:33:4c:9e:1f
State : connected
SSID : SAOS_House
BSSID : 44:48:c1:a4:f5:11
Network type : Infrastructure
Radio type : 802.11ac
Authentication : WPA2-Enterprise
Cipher : CCMP
Connection mode : Auto Connect
Channel : 112
Receive rate (Mbps) : 400
Transmit rate (Mbps) : 400
Signal : 88%
Profile : SAOS_House
Hosted network status : Not available
Using powershell cmdlet, we can view information on all network interfaces in the system,
$ Get-NetAdapter
$ Get-NetAdapter
Name InterfaceDescription ifIndex Status MacAddress LinkSpeed
---- -------------------- ------- ------ ---------- ---------
Ethernet 2 Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Clien… 14 Not Present 00-05-9A-3C-7A-00 0 bps
Wi-Fi Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX200 160MHz 10 Up 04-ED-33-4C-9E-1F 400 Mbps
vEthernet (Default Switc… Hyper-V Virtual Ethernet Adapter 23 Up 00-15-5D-5F-1A-CB 10 Gbps
To view information on the WiFi network interface,
$ Get-NetAdapter -Name Wi-Fi
Name InterfaceDescription ifIndex Status MacAddress LinkSpeed
---- -------------------- ------- ------ ---------- ---------
Wi-Fi Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX200 160MHz 10 Up 04-ED-33-4C-9E-1F 400 Mbps
Show cmdlets related to net adapter,
$ gcm -Noun netadapter | select name, modulename
Name ModuleName
---- ----------
Disable-NetAdapter NetAdapter
Enable-NetAdapter NetAdapter
Get-NetAdapter NetAdapter
Rename-NetAdapter NetAdapter
Restart-NetAdapter NetAdapter
Set-NetAdapter NetAdapter
Additionally, now, we have cmdlet to show IP Address info without sing netsh,
$ Get-NetIPAddress
IPAddress : fe80::1d40:6866:1418:1efe%22
InterfaceIndex : 22
InterfaceAlias : vEthernet (Default Switch)
AddressFamily : IPv6
Type : Unicast
PrefixLength : 64
PrefixOrigin : WellKnown
SuffixOrigin : Link
AddressState : Preferred
ValidLifetime : Infinite ([TimeSpan]::MaxValue)
PreferredLifetime : Infinite ([TimeSpan]::MaxValue)
SkipAsSource : False
PolicyStore : ActiveStore
IPAddress : fe80::61e3:ae79:980e:1c5d%8
InterfaceIndex : 8
InterfaceAlias : Wi-Fi
AddressFamily : IPv6
Type : Unicast
PrefixLength : 64
... ...
... ...
IPAddress : 172.31.98.36
InterfaceIndex : 8
InterfaceAlias : Wi-Fi
AddressFamily : IPv4
Type : Unicast
PrefixLength : 23
PrefixOrigin : Dhcp
SuffixOrigin : Dhcp
AddressState : Preferred
ValidLifetime : 00:38:38
PreferredLifetime : 00:38:38
SkipAsSource : False
PolicyStore : ActiveStore
IPAddress : 127.0.0.1
InterfaceIndex : 1
InterfaceAlias : Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1
AddressFamily : IPv4
... ...
Show available WiFi Networks using netsh,
$ netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid
Interface name : Wi-Fi
There are 3 networks currently visible.
SSID 1 : SAOS_Guest
Network type : Infrastructure
Authentication : WPA2-Personal
Encryption : CCMP
BSSID 1 : 20:a6:cd:32:fe:e1
Signal : 50%
Radio type : 802.11n
Channel : 6
Basic rates (Mbps) : 24
Other rates (Mbps) : 36 48 54
BSSID 2 : 44:48:c1:a5:08:81
Signal : 81%
Radio type : 802.11n
Channel : 6
Basic rates (Mbps) : 24
Other rates (Mbps) : 36 48 54
BSSID 3 ... ...
SSID 2 : SAOS_House
Network type : Infrastructure
Authentication : WPA2-Enterprise
Encryption : CCMP
BSSID 1 : 44:48:c1:a4:f0:b1
Signal : 62%
Radio type : 802.11ac
Channel : 157
Basic rates (Mbps) : 24
Other rates (Mbps) : 36 48 54
BSSID 2 ... ...
SSID 3 : hello_kitty
Network type : Infrastructure
Authentication : WPA2-Personal
Encryption : CCMP
BSSID 1 ... ...
Few points,