Windows Vista in a Nutshell

Wired and Wireless Connections, Management, and Configuration

Windows Vista includes many tools, screens, and features for setting up, connecting to, managing, and configuring networks. This section covers all of Windows Vista’s features for doing that, and it includes basic information for setting up and connecting to networks and network connections.

Change Workgroup or Domain

Change the workgroup or domain to which a PC is attached.

To open

Control Panel → [System and Maintenance] → System → Change Settings → Computer Name tab

Description

The Networking and Internet Control Panel and the Network and Sharing Center both have one surprising shortcoming: they do not offer a way to change the workgroup or domain to which your PC is currently attached, or to easily connect to a new domain or workgroup. So you may think that there is no way to perform both tasks.

In fact, though, they’re both easy to do, as long as you know where to look. And you’ll have to look in a surprising place—on the Computer Name tab of the System Properties dialog box (Figure 7-8). You can also reach it via Control Panel → [Network and Internet] → Network and Sharing Center → Network Discovery → Change Settings.

Figure 7-8. The System Properties dialog box, which lets you connect to a domain or workgroup and change your domain or workgroup

Click Network ID to launch a wizard that will allow you to join ...