Wireless connecting to a router - that's not on the internet

In a couple of days I'll be fetching a couple of desktop PCs from some friends to set them up with wireless networking which they'll need in their new home.

Once I've installed the network ability I'll connect them to my wireless router for testing. When I've done that they'll be ready to connect to the proper router when returned to the friend's new home.

A question.

If I also bring their router can I power it up, albeit not connected to my telephone line, and set the PCs up to connect to that wireless network. This will save a small task when I return them in a week or two. I can't see why the PCs should not be able to connect to the router but won't of course be able to get to the internet.

I don't see why not. You should be able to access the configuration manager. You may need to turn your own router's wireless off if it's using the same channel.

Agreed, I suspected that about my router, it's trivial to switch wireless off.

It does raise another, sort-of-related question.

Is it possible to pre-load a PC with wireless network details for when it's in range?

For example when my sons visit us I could have sent them my wireless network details and they could have pre-loaded the details into their devices. In reality of course, 'cos I hadn't thought of it, when they did come they just spent a few moments connecting things.

No you normally need to be in range of the wireless network to configure its details, but may well be possible, question needs to asked which exact operating system are they using, as the answer will vary from OS to OS.

Yes, on Windows you certainly can. You can setup a network manually entering the SSID, authentication type and password.

EDIT : Just checked and I can do it on my Android phone as well. Most OS's should allow this.

Edited by ian72 (Wed 18-Feb-15 16:44:19)

Yes of course you can. Then as long as the router can connect to the Internet once it's back at the original location then it's will work just fine.

Yes of course you can.

Thank you for your replies, I suspected connecting to a non-internet-connected router would work, it may well be a handy option. As they also have a laptop, I'm not sure if they'll need the router - not actually sure when their telephone & BB will be enabled.

Both their desktop PCs are running Windows 7 so I see now that if I don't have the router, provide I make a note of the details, I can pre-plant its profile in the PCs.

You can configure a wireless profile and then export it to a file which can be imported on other machines at a future date.
http://www.surfacetablethelp.com/2013/03/backupimpor...