Apple Airports and WEP Encryption

[JustJon]

I was wondering if anyone had experience with Apple Airports. I've had problems in the past running WEP encryption on my airport extreme, but I was able to get around it utilizing WPA encryption.

I recently got an airport express and so I can play music through itunes to my stereo and extend my wireless network. The problem is WDS (piggybacking airports wirelessly) requires WEP or no encryption, and I don't want to leave my network open.

I have an airport extreme, an airport express and a linksys wireless router running through the house.

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[Reephdweller]

Damn that's a good question, I've been wanting to get an apple airport for a while and I was curious about WEP as that is how my existing network is setup. Have you checked through Google Groups (http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Apple+Airports+and+WEP+Encryption+&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search)? A lot of times I will find the answers right there.

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[Mike Teacher]

I didnt know apples could fly; much less that theyve acheived a system of organized takeoffs and landings!

Is this that genetically engineered apple?

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[Reephdweller]

http://images.apple.com/airportexpress/images/indexhand06072004.jpg

http://images.apple.com/airportexpress/images/indexairtunesflow06072004.jpg


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[JustJon]

I didnt know apples could fly; much less that theyve acheived a system of organized takeoffs and landings!

Is this that genetically engineered apple?

And the winner for obvious joke is...

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[wilee]

If you're using a passphrase generated by your linksys, copy the hex code that it generates and enter it into your airport's configuration. When entering the hex into the airport, you must precede it with a '$' character. This is the case for the extreme, and most likely the case for the express as well. Make sure you give one each a unique name (not SSID) so you know which you're talking to with the admin utility.



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[JustJon]

Why would my extreme need the linksys hex code?

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[wilee]

It doesn't need the linksys hexcode, but if you were using the same WEP key for both the Linksys router and the airport, it's the easiest way of doing it. The Airport does require the '$' character before the hex code, however. I guess it's Apple's way of quickly determining that you're using hex instead of ASCII.

I figured since you mentioned that you had the Linksys, you were going to be using it in you WLAN setup.

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[JustJon]

or you could just select the "hex" from the drop down

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[wilee]

Direct from the Airport Manual:

Joining a 128-Bit Encrypted Wireless Network
If you want to join a wireless network that requires 128-bit encryption, you have two
options for entering a password, depending on the password scheme the network
administrator has set up.
If you were given a password that is 13 characters, enter it exactly. Thirteen-character
passwords are usually case-sensitive.
Example: password12345
If you were given a password that is 26 characters, put a dollar sign ($) before the
password. Twenty-six-character passwords may be case-sensitive.
Example: $12345678901234567890abcdef
If you need additional information on your 128-bit password, contact your network
administrator.

26 characters is the hex key (which is 104 bits of the 128 bit encryption for WEP, the other 24 bits come from the initialization vector in the algorithm).

I don't see any mention of a "hex in the dropdown menu".

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This message was edited by wilee on 9-8-04 @ 1:03 PM

[JustJon]

And all that has no bearing on my problem. The Airport Extreme (not the laptop) does not accept the laptop connection when set to WEP. Works fine with WPA. The linksys is an also running on the network.

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[wilee]

That quote is from the Airport Extreme BASE STATION manual, from the section that tells about using the Airport Base Station Utility to set it up the security (specifically with WEP).

I set up my laptops to use the Extreme with WEP originally since my older laptop did not have a card that supported WPA. Once I got a new card, I now use WPA, but I set up the Airport exactly as I stated earlier and it worked fine. I even had my older Linksys router running with the same SSID providing access in a different room (the Linksys doesn't support WPA and is now disconnected).

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