How To Forget a Wi-Fi Network on a Chromebook

Chromebooks may be simple devices compared to other types of laptop but they are powerful in their own right. They are great for more than just internet browsing and can do a whole lot more with the right apps and configuration. Key to all that is having a network connection. Today I’m not just going to show you how to forget a network on a Chromebook but also how to manage networks too. It is a fundamental requirement for getting the most out of your Chromebook.

As good as a Chromebook is, without an internet connection it isn’t much more than an expensive paperweight. Chrome OS will work without a connection but is more than a little hamstrung. Most apps require a connection and you cannot sync, update or communicate without one. Here is what you need to know about managing networks on a Chromebook.

As most of us use WiFi to connect our Chromebook, I will use WiFi in these examples.

Connect your Chromebook to a network

When you first unbox your Chromebook, after signing in you’re going to want to connect it to a network. Here’s how.

1. Select your account photo in the status tray of your Chromebook.
2. Select No Network to turn on WiFi.
3. Select your network from the list that appears.
4. Enter your WiFi password when prompted.

You should only need to turn WiFi on when you first unbox your Chromebook. Most of the time you can leave it running and connected. If WiFi is on, you should see a little network icon in the status tray. You can select that and join a network from there if that is the case.

Automatically connect to a WiFi network

You don’t want to have to manually connect to your WiFi every time you want to get something done so let us set things up so you don’t have to. Make sure you are connected to your WiFi network before doing this.

1. Select your account photo in the status tray of your Chromebook.
2. Select Settings and Network.
3. Select Wi-Fi and then toggle Automatically connect to this network to on.

Now whenever you boot your Chromebook it will automatically join the network.

Prefer a network in a Chromebook

If you use your Chromebook for work or school and use multiple WiFi networks, you can prefer a network. This tells Chrome OS to select a particular network out of several and connect to the one you choose while ignoring the others. This is useful if you are in areas with overlapping WiFi networks.

1. Select your account photo in the status tray of your Chromebook.
2. Select Settings and Network.
3. Select WiFi and connect to the network you want to prefer.
4. Select Prefer this network.

Now, whenever your Chromebook detects several networks it will automatically select that one to connect to and ignore the others.

Forget a network in a Chromebook

If you’re in a coffee shop or airport or somewhere and use a local WiFi network and want to forget it afterwards, you can. This can stop your WiFi network list from becoming too long and contain too many irrelevant networks.

1. Select your account photo in the status tray of your Chromebook.
2. Select Settings and Network.
3. Select WiFi and select Known networks.
4. Select a network you want to forget, select the three dot menu icon and select Forget.
5. Rinse and repeat for all networks you want to remove.

This will not stop your Chromebook from detecting them again if you find yourself in the same place. It just tidies up the network list.

Change network settings on your Chromebook

In most situations your network settings will be configured automatically. There may be occasions when you want to manually configure them to set a static IP address or change DNS server. Usually this is done at the router but there are times when it is necessary to configure the local machine. Here’s how.

1. Select your account photo in the status tray of your Chromebook.
2. Select Settings and Network.
3. Select Network again and toggle Configure IP address automatically to off.
4. Enter your IP address and DNS servers manually.

These changes will happen dynamically so once you leave this settings pane the Chromebook will take those network settings and run with them. Make sure you get the IP address correct and use the right DNS servers. Chrome OS offers the ability to select Google DNS servers, I would suggest using those unless you really need to use others.

That is how to forget a network and how to manage networks on a Chromebook. Got any other networking tips? Tell us about them below if you do!