Connect to Wi-Fi access point with specific MAC address
Although Nouhad Velladath suggested the right software for this task, he missed to tell how exactly to achieve this. NetSetMan has a built-in Wi-Fi manager that shows all available wireless networks. If there are different access points (with different MAC addresses) they're listed individually so you can choose the prefered one and connect to it.
Open it from the main menu: Tools > NSM WiFi Management
Here is a description of it (together with a download): http://www.netsetman.com/en/wifi
You can do this with Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software, but this can only be done if you have Intel® Wireless Adapter. If you have Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software you need to:
- Right click light bulb icon in system tray -> "Configure Wi-Fi"
- Right click on wanted network and select "Properties"
- Write down the wanted BSSID
- Press "Close"
- Click "Profiles" -> "Manage Profiles" (Ctrl+R) or click "Profiles..."
- Select wanted network, and then click "Properties..."
- Click "Advanced"
- Select "Mandatory Access Point" and enter custom MAC address (same as BSSID)
This worked for me on Dell Latitude E5520. I don't know if there is custom program for all wireless adapters.
The short answer is no, you can't. At least, not with any standard solution. The manufacturer of your WiFi card might offer a custom connection manager that offers this functionality, but I've never seen it.
Windows will generally select the strongest signal among access points with the same SSID in the same band. On some WiFi cards, you can tune the "roaming agressiveness" from the device manager. This essentially decides how much better a signal has to be for Windows to switch access points with the same SSID. (You can turn it down if frequent AP changes are disrupting connectivity, and you can turn it up if you're getting stuck on a poor AP.)
One common irritation is that the strongest signal may not yield the fastest transfers. I have this issue myself with one access point that uses a 20MHz bandwidth and one that uses a 40MHz bandwidth. Windows will choose the 20MHz signal if it's stronger even if it yields a lower transfer rate.
However, my advice to you would be to focus on what's causing your issue rather than trying to patch around it. Is Windows choosing the stronger signal? If so, why isn't that working for you?