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Automatically connect to wireless networks in Gnome

Linux Mint's implementation of the Gnome desktop does not automatically connect to wireless networks, unless you tell it to...

I've recently installed Linux Mint 8 'Helena' on my Dell M1330 laptop, following an upgrade to an incredibly fast Intel X25-M solid state disk. It's an impressive and polished OS. Largely, it's very similar to Ubuntu Karmic Koala, upon which it's based, but it also has a few nice tweaks that save the bother of installing stuff from PPAs.

I'm not sure whether it applies to all Gnome-based desktops with the wireless networking widget built-in, but the default on my install is not to automatically connect to known wireless networks. So, each time the machine boots I need to manually select my wireless network and wait a few seconds while it connects.

I find this a bit annoying, and would prefer it if Gnome simply connected automatically to my preferred wireless networks whenever a wifi connection was detected and a wired ethernet connection wasn't running.

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Going automatic

Unsurprisingly, it is possible to configure Gnome to automatically connect to the wireless network of your choice. First, you need to right click on the wireless network icon in the Gnome panel and select Edit connections.

This will open up the Network Connections dialog. Click the wireless tab, then select the wireless network you want to connect to automatically, then click Edit.

Check the box at the top of the panel which says 'Connect automatically' and, if you have multiple accounts on your computer, 'Make available to all users', then click Apply. You'll be prompted for your administrator's password before it will apply the configuration changes.

From here on, every time you login to your Gnome desktop, it should automatically connect to your preferred wireless network without you needing to click a button.