This morning a friend Tweeted in horror that managing wireless profiles in Windows 8 required using the Command Line. Windows had decided to hand on to a wireless network so she couldn’t connect to a new access point.
Are you shitting me, Windows 8? I have to remove wireless profiles via COMMAND LINE???? Sweet Thor's nipples, I hate this operating system.— Reesa Herberth (@reesah) July 24, 2014
I was shocked this was the method prescribed by Microsoft so I had to look. And she is right.
Some tasks, such as deleting a profile, must be done at the command
prompt. To do these tasks, open Command Prompt, and then type the
appropriate command from the following table.
At the command prompt you need to type netsh wlan delete profile name=”ProfileName”. This is how you can remove a wireless profile in Windows 8. There had to be a better way.
Up to Windows 7, previously connected wireless networks were saved and
viewable via the Preferred Wireless Network List, but this feature seems
to have been removed in Windows 8. Microsoft probably removed it as
they have added a supposedly smart feature, that handles wireless
profiles by how much you connect to it.
— WiFi Profile Manager 8: View Preferred Wireless Network Profiles in Windows 8
Wifi Profile Manager 8 is a freeware application released Lee Whittington for The Windows Club.
The author notes some people have had success with the application while others have not. But if the command line scares you or if you think it’s absurd to have to use it to do something that was very easy in Windows 7, try it out.