Windows 10: Enable or Disable W-Fi Sense and Paid Wi-Fi Services in Windows 10

How to: Enable or Disable W-Fi Sense and Paid Wi-Fi Services in Windows 10

How to Enable or Disable W-Fi Sense and Paid Wi-Fi Services in Windows 10


Information Wi‑Fi Sense can automatically make Wi-Fi connections on your computer so that you can go online quickly in more locations. Wi-Fi Sense can connect you to open Wi-Fi hotspots that are collected through crowdsourcing, or to Wi-Fi networks that your contacts share with you through Wi-Fi Sense.

It can do these things for you to get you Internet access:

• Automatically connect you to open Wi‑Fi networks it knows about by crowdsourcing networks that other people using Windows have connected to. These are typically open Wi‑Fi hotspots you see when you're out and about.
• Automatically connect you to Wi‑Fi networks that your Facebook friends, Outlook.com contacts, or Skype contacts have shared with you after you've shared at least one network with your contacts. When you and your contacts share Wi‑Fi networks with each other, you give each other Internet access without having to tell each other your passwords. No networks are shared automatically. When you first connect to a network that you decide to share, you'll need to enter the password, and then select the Share network with my contacts check box to share that network.

Paid Wi-Fi Services enable you to get online by buying Wi-Fi at the hotspot through Windows Store. Windows will temporarily connect to open hotspots to see if paid Wi-Fi services are available.

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the ability to turn on Wi-Fi Sense and Paid Wi-Fi Services for all users on the Windows 10 PC.

You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to enable or disable Wi-Fi Sense.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Enable or Disable "Wi-Fi Sense" and "Paid Wi-Fi Services" using Group Policy
• Option Two: To Enable or Disable "Wi-Fi Sense" and "Paid Wi-Fi Services" using a REG file

EXAMPLE: "Wi-Fi Sense" and "Paid Wi-Fi Services" enabled and disabled








OPTION ONE [/i] To Enable or Disable "Wi-Fi Sense" and "Paid Wi-Fi Services" using Group Policy


Note Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.

All editions can use Option Two below.


1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor.

2. In the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Network\WLAN Service\WLAN Settings




3. In the right pane of Personalization in Local Group Policy Editor, double click/tap on the Do not display the lock screen policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)

4. Do step 5 (enable) or step 6 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


5. To Enable "Wi-Fi Sense" and "Paid Wi-Fi Services"
A) Select (dot) Not Configured or Enabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

NOTE: Not Configured is the default setting.

6. To Disable "Wi-Fi Sense" and "Paid Wi-Fi Services"
A) Select (dot) Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)




7. When finished, you can close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.





OPTION TWO [/i] To Enable or Disable "Wi-Fi Sense" and "Paid Wi-Fi Services" using a REG file


Note The .reg files below will add and change the DWORD in the registry key below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WcmSvc\wifinetworkmanager\config

AutoConnectAllowedOEM DWORD

0 = disable
1 or delete = enable


1. Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


2. To Enable W-Fi Sense
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Enable_Wi-Fi_Sense.reg

Download
3. To Disable W-Fi Sense
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Disable_Wi-Fi_Sense.reg

Download
4. Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5.Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

6. When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7. Restart the computer to apply.

8. If you like, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Turn On or Off W-Fi Sense in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Paid Wi-Fi Services W-Fi Sense in Windows 10
• How to Connect To a Wireless Network in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Hotspot 2.0 Networks in Windows 10

:)

 

Wi-Fi sense

Hi Alex,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

I appreciate your interest in Windows 10. We sincerely regret for the inconvenience caused.

I suggest you to follow the below link and check if it helps:

Wi‑Fi Sense FAQ

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/wi-fi-sense-faq

Please let us know if you need further assistance.

Thank you

 

Wireless Connections


Disable WiFi sense:
W-Fi Sense and Paid Wi-Fi Services - Enable or Disable in Windows 10

The network profiles you are finding in the registry are probably coming from Windows 10 probing available WiFi connections to see what is available.

 

Windows 10 stop automatically connecting to random new wi-fi networks

Hi,

I have searched a lot, but all the tutorials I found only explained how to not connect automatically to a known wi-fi network or how to disable wi-fi sense... but this is not what I am looking for...

PROBLEM:

• When my laptop (Windows 10 Pro X64) is not connected to a network and the wireless adapter is on, it will automatically connect to any random new unsecured wi-fi network... The only way I have now to avoid this is to disable my wi-fi adapter.

UNUSEFUL TUTORIALS I FOUND ON THE INTERNET:

• How to manually uncheck the option for a particular wi-fi network not to connect automatically in Network Properties. This is not what I am looking for. This would suggest that everytime I power my computer. I would have to manually go through all the available wi-fi networks and unclick them all...
• How to disable Wi-Fi Sense. This is not useful, because I don't even have a Wi-Fi sense option in my computer where the tutorials say it should be.

EXPECTED BEHAVIOR:

• I am looking for an option to tell my computer to stop connecting randomly to unknown wi-fi networks like an hyperactive, reckless idiot.

PERSONAL COMMENT:

• Honestly, why would any respectable company think that it could be somewhat wise or secure to do this... Anyone's computer could just randomly connect to any hacker's wi-fi network without the user even knowing it...

Any solutions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

Turn On or Off W-Fi Sense in Windows 10

If MS is no longer updating this module, is there a way to completely remove it from any systems that still have the option rather than trying to disable it?

 

Turn On or Off W-Fi Sense in Windows 10


Starting with Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14342, Microsoft had removed the Wi-Fi Sense feature that allows you to share Wi-Fi networks with your contacts and to be automatically connected to networks shared by your contacts. The cost of updating the code to keep this feature working combined with low usage and low demand made this not worth further investment. Wi-Fi Sense, if enabled, will continue to get you connected to open Wi-Fi hotspots that it knows about through crowdsourcing.