How To Remove Wi-Fi SSIDs From The Network

On the grounds that you're connected to a wireless network, be It at home or at work, when you click on the wireless Icon on the Taskbar, the network flyout will open displaying the SSIDs of all connections that your wireless adapter has picked up.  Depending on the availability and range, the list can become somewhat congested, hence In this tutorial, I will show you how to remove the Wi-Fi SSIDs from the entries In the Taskbar.


Before I begin, here's what I'm referring to. I'm connected to my home wireless network, so I've clicked on the wireless Icon on the Taskbar and as you can see, the SSIDs (also known as network names) that my wireless network adapter has picked up, are displayed.

The list Is a lot bigger than the above entries, and I'm really not Interested In viewing connections other than my own. If you feel the same, or for some other reason do not want your neighbor's connections displayed In the network flyout, I will show you how to completely remove any one you like.

To achieve this, I shall use the good old Command Prompt to filter and block a given network name from being displayed. I will also show you how to restore It, so without further delay, let's rip Into this tutorial.

Step One:
The first thing you need to do, Is access the Command Prompt with elevated privileges. Open the Search bar, enter cmd and right-click on the search result at the top and select Run as administrator.

Step Two:
Next, click on the wireless Icon on your Taskbar, and select the SSID (network name) that you want to remove. For the purpose of this tutorial, I shall remove NETGEAR42 as arrowed below.

Step Three:
The syntax to remove the SSID, Is as follows.

netsh wlan add filter permission=block ssid=Network Name networktype=infrastructure

Replace the Network Name, with the one that you want to remove. For example, I'm removing NETGEAR42, so my command Is as per below.

netsh wlan add filter permission=block ssid=NETGEAR42 networktype=infrastructure

Enter It Into the Command Prompt that you opened In Step One above. Yours should look similar to mine, with the exception of your selected network name.

Step Four:
Hit the Enter key on your keyboard, and a message of The filter Is added on the system successfully will be returned. This means that (In my case), the NETGEAR42 network name has been removed. Of course, the same will apply with your selection.

Step Five:
Now let's check that It has In fact been removed. I've clicked on my wireless Icon and as you can see, NETGEAR42 Is no longer displayed. Perfect!

Step Six:
But what If  you want to restore the SSID (network name) that you've already removed? Well, we need to delete the filter that was applied In Step Three above, by using the following command.

netsh wlan delete filter permission=block ssid= Network Name networktype=infrastructure

Again, replace the Network Name with the one that you want to restore. To give you an Insight, my command looks like this. I'm restoring NETGEAR42.

netsh wlan delete filter permission=block ssid= NETGEAR42 networktype=infrastructure

Enter It Into the Command Prompt, hit the Enter key on your keyboard and you will see a message of The filter Is removed from the system successfully. This means that your SSID (network name) has been restored.

Last Step:
Let's see If my network name of NETGEAR42 Is restored. Upon clicking on the wireless Icon, as you can see, It's back to It's original state.

Final Thoughts:
There Is no limit as to the number of SSIDs (network names) to remove. To keep the network flyout In a neat and organized manner, you can get rid of the lot and only leave your own. The good thing about this, Is that you can restore your selection any time you like. The Command Prompt does require elevated privileges for this to work, so be sure to always select the Run as administrator option.