Surface WPA2 Enterprise 802.1x Computer Authentication

We have a number of laptops that are joined to our domain that are configured to connect to a wireless network via 802.1x and authenticate with their domain computer account.  This allows our users to then log in with their domain account on the devices.

I was given a Microsoft Surface Tablet to configure the same way

  • Login using the local admin account on the Surface
  • apply any available updates and reboot
  • join the Surface to your domain and reboot
  • open a command prompt and enter "netsh"
  • enter "wlan"
  • enter "show profiles"
  • if there are any WLAN profiles you'll want to delete them using 'delete profile name=<profilename>'
  • Press Winkey+X and select Control Panel
  • Go to 'View network status and tasks'
  • Select 'Set up a new connection or network'
  • Select Manually connect to a wireless network
  • Enter Network name, select Security type & Encryption type which in my case was WPA2 Enterprise and AES
  • Press Next, and then select Change connection settings
  • Select the Security tab
  • Confirm the network authentication is Microsoft: Protected EAP (PEAP) then select Advanced settings
  • Pleace a check on Specify authentication mode: change drop list to computer authentication
  • Click OK, OK and then Close

Assuming all the stars have aligned then you should be all set.  You'll want to give it a reboot and when it comes back up you can check the network status in the bottom left corner before trying to log in with a domain account.