Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

lbgjb · Aug 21, 2003, 08:08 PM

Airport with both Mac and PC works well as long as WEP in airport is turned off. But I think that leaves me open to 'drive' by snoopers. How do I have better security. Running OS X and Win XP. Thanks. lbb

littlegreenspud · Aug 22, 2003, 05:48 AM

Hi,

Under the 'Access' panel of 'Airport Admin Utility' you can limit the access to known MAC addresses (Ethernet Addresses). I have done this.

Also you could create a closed network, or use RADIUS authentication.

tritonus · Aug 22, 2003, 09:35 AM

Originally posted by littlegreenspud:
Hi,

Under the 'Access' panel of 'Airport Admin Utility' you can limit the access to known MAC addresses (Ethernet Addresses). I have done this.

I just did the same as WEP did not work on a 802.11b notebook in my WLAN.

lbgjb · Aug 22, 2003, 10:22 AM

Originally posted by littlegreenspud:
Hi,

Under the 'Access' panel of 'Airport Admin Utility' you can limit the access to known MAC addresses (Ethernet Addresses). I have done this.

Also you could create a closed network, or use RADIUS authentication.

problem with limiting to just mac is that i also use pc on my home network. how do i create a 'closed network'?? when i turned WEP on the mac works fine, pc says it needs ASCII codes to log in. thanks for suggestions. lbb

tritonus · Aug 22, 2003, 10:25 AM

Originally posted by lbgjb:
problem with limiting to just mac is that i also use pc on my home network. how do i create a 'closed network'?? when i turned WEP on the mac works fine, pc says it needs ASCII codes to log in. thanks for suggestions. lbb

I turned WEP off because the PC didn't get it with ASCII or HEX codes to log in.

Instead, I limit access to MAC adresses in AirPort Admin. PC wireless cards have a MAC adress, too, so no problems with mixed environments.

lbgjb · Aug 22, 2003, 10:38 AM

Originally posted by tritonus:
I turned WEP off because the PC didn't get it with ASCII or HEX codes to log in.

Instead, I limit access to MAC adresses in AirPort Admin. PC wireless cards have a MAC adress, too, so no problems with mixed environments.

thnks for the speedy reply. could you be a little more specific as to what i do on pc side. using XP. and is it just a dialog box to check to say use mac addresses in airport. thanks. lbb

striker100 · Aug 22, 2003, 04:05 PM

Found this:

Question:

My PC will not recognize the WEP encryption number provided by my Airport Extreme Base Station.
When seeting up my base station a drop down window appeared providing a 40 bit hex # that would have to be used with third party non airport hardware.

On my PC the 40 bit (or hex) is equal to a 64 bit WEP #.
The PC can only see the base station if I have WEP encryption disabled , if I enter the # I get a network unavailable message.

I used to have a snow airport base station and never had this problem.

Anyone know why this is happening & how to rectify it?
I'm using the latest firmware and downloads of the Airport software.

Answer:

As of AEBS firmware v5.1, Apple changed the WEP Authentication method to "Shared" and did not include any mechanism for changing it. So, if your PC is running Windows XP or XP Pro, there should be, under Advanced Properties of the network connection, a setting for WEP Authentication. Set it to "shared" and you will be on your way.
For older flavors of Windoze, the availability of such a setting is entirely dependent upon the driver and/or client manager software which the vendor of the WLAN card may have provided, so it may or may not be there. I have heard of folks finding it on Windows 2000 systems, but I don't recall where

lbgjb · Aug 22, 2003, 05:43 PM

thanks for the help. i made the settings changes and the pc connected to the network, but wouldn't go online. it would finally assign an automatic ip address but some how i think isn't assigning some other settings. oh well. closer but.. any other suggetsions. thanks. lbb

Originally posted by striker100:
Found this:

Question:

My PC will not recognize the WEP encryption number provided by my Airport Extreme Base Station.
When seeting up my base station a drop down window appeared providing a 40 bit hex # that would have to be used with third party non airport hardware.

On my PC the 40 bit (or hex) is equal to a 64 bit WEP #.
The PC can only see the base station if I have WEP encryption disabled , if I enter the # I get a network unavailable message.

I used to have a snow airport base station and never had this problem.

Anyone know why this is happening & how to rectify it?
I'm using the latest firmware and downloads of the Airport software.

Answer:

As of AEBS firmware v5.1, Apple changed the WEP Authentication method to "Shared" and did not include any mechanism for changing it. So, if your PC is running Windows XP or XP Pro, there should be, under Advanced Properties of the network connection, a setting for WEP Authentication. Set it to "shared" and you will be on your way.
For older flavors of Windoze, the availability of such a setting is entirely dependent upon the driver and/or client manager software which the vendor of the WLAN card may have provided, so it may or may not be there. I have heard of folks finding it on Windows 2000 systems, but I don't recall where

kampl · Aug 22, 2003, 09:22 PM

Doesn't Apple create WEP keys somewhat differently than the rest of the world? When I put up a non-Apple AP I used Xwepgen to create keys. I may be wrong and perhaps a little buzzed (it is Friday night here after all).

tritonus · Aug 23, 2003, 04:49 AM

Originally posted by lbgjb:
thnks for the speedy reply. could you be a little more specific as to what i do on pc side. using XP. and is it just a dialog box to check to say use mac addresses in airport. thanks. lbb

On the PC side, it depends on your driver.

You can limit MAC addresses in AirPort Admin Utility: All Settings -- Access -- Add (translated from my German version)

tritonus · Aug 23, 2003, 04:54 AM

Originally posted by striker100:
Found this:
Answer:

As of AEBS firmware v5.1, Apple changed the WEP Authentication method to "Shared" and did not include any mechanism for changing it. So, if your PC is running Windows XP or XP Pro, there should be, under Advanced Properties of the network connection, a setting for WEP Authentication. Set it to "shared" and you will be on your way.

Thanks, I'll try that.