WAP or WEP

[MS]

My friend is trying to establish wireless connection for laptop via Linksys
wireless-B router, and she was asked to enter WAP or WEP. How do you know
which and what do you enter? I've never had this happen to me so I don't know
how to help her. She is running Windows XP professional. Please help!

 

[Steve Winograd]

My friend is trying to establish wireless connection for laptop via Linksys
wireless-B router, and she was asked to enter WAP or WEP. How do you know
which and what do you enter? I've never had this happen to me so I don't know
how to help her. She is running Windows XP professional. Please help!

I think you mean WPA or WEP -- those are two types of wireless network
encryption.

I'm not sure whether your question is:

1. How to set up the Linksys wireless router to use encryption.

or:

2. How to connect a laptop to a Linksys wireless router that has
already been set up to use encryption.

WPA encryption is much more secure than WEP. If your friend is
setting up the router, she should use WPA.

If the router has already been set up, you can tell what type of
encryption it uses by looking at the wireless network name in "View
Wireless Networks" on the laptop. A network that uses WPA will say
"Security-enabled wireless network (WPA)". If it just says "Security
-enabled wireless network", it uses WEP.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[Jack \(MVP-Networking\).]

Hi
From the weakest to the strongest, Wireless security capacity is.
No Security
MAC______(Band Aid if nothing else is available).
WEP64____(Easy, to "Brake" by knowledgeable people).
WEP128___(A little Harder, but "Hackable" too).
WPA-PSK__(Very Hard to Brake ).
WPA-AES__(Not functionally Breakable)
WPA2____ (Not functionally Breakable).
Note 1: WPA-AES the the current entry level rendition of WPA2.
Note 2: If you use WinXP and did not updated it you would have to download
the WPA2 patch from Microsoft. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/893357
The documentation of your Wireless devices (Wireless Router, and Wireless
Computer's Card) should state the type of security that is available with
your Wireless hardware.
All devices MUST be set to the same security level using the same pass
phrase.
Therefore the security must be set according what ever is the best possible
of one of the Wireless devices.
I.e. even if most of your system might be capable to be configured to the
max. with WPA2, but one device is only capable to be configured to max . of
WEP, to whole system must be configured to WEP.
If you need more good security and one device (like a Wireless card that can
do WEP only) is holding better security for the whole Network, replace the
device with a better one.
Setting Wireless Security - http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Security.html
Jack (MVP-Networking).

 

[MS]

She was connecting a laptop to Linksys router that is already set up. I
printed out your answer for her so she can try again.

Thank you for your help!

 

[Steve Winograd]

She was connecting a laptop to Linksys router that is already set up. I
printed out your answer for her so she can try again.

Thank you for your help!

You're welcome!

Your friend needs to know the router's encryption type and the
encryption key. A WEP key consists of either 10 or 26 hexadecimal
(A-F, 0-9) digits. A WPA key consists of 8-63 characters (letters,
numbers, spaces, punctuation, etc).

Is the person who set up the router available to answer questions
about it? If not, you can connect a computer a wired port on the
router and access the router settings.

Please come back with any questions.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[LadyDungeness]

I've got the same question. This post was very helpful. It raises a couple of questions:

The Sony Vaio Windows XP will NOT update past SP2. No matter what, I get messages that the XP is not legit. It came new
with the computer five years ago. Sony says its MS's fault and MS says its Sony's fault and so I sit with XP home SP2 but no
updates since SP2 came out.

Does this mean that it will not support WPA?

If the Sony Vaio does not support WPA, does that mean I cannot use WPA for any of my devices? In other words, do ALL the
networked computers, printers, etc have to share the same level of encryption?

Thanks!


Lady Dungeness
Out of Danger until September
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

[Barb Bowman]

the authenticity issue is separate from everything else. you DO need
to resolve that.

and yes, one WEP only machine ruins your security level for
everything else.

I've got the same question. This post was very helpful. It raises a couple of questions:

The Sony Vaio Windows XP will NOT update past SP2. No matter what, I get messages that the XP is not legit. It came new
with the computer five years ago. Sony says its MS's fault and MS says its Sony's fault and so I sit with XP home SP2 but no
updates since SP2 came out.

Does this mean that it will not support WPA?

If the Sony Vaio does not support WPA, does that mean I cannot use WPA for any of my devices? In other words, do ALL the
networked computers, printers, etc have to share the same level of encryption?

Thanks!


Lady Dungeness
Out of Danger until September
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

--

Barb Bowman
MS-MVP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/meetexperts/bowman.mspx
http://blogs.digitalmediaphile.com/barb/

 

[LadyDungeness]

OK.

How about a wired network for home, then? Then I should buy a cable modem/router with 4 ports? To hook up the printer,
three computers, and the external storage device and the scanner? 6 ports? Or do I use USB to hook the printer and scanner
up to the router?


Lady Dungeness
Out of Danger until September
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

[Jim]

OK.

How about a wired network for home, then? Then I should buy a cable
modem/router with 4 ports? To hook up the printer,
three computers, and the external storage device and the scanner? 6
ports? Or do I use USB to hook the printer and scanner
up to the router?


Lady Dungeness
Out of Danger until September
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

No encryption is needed for wired systems because the signal does not leave
the cabling.
You may not need any more hardware if your wireless router has the almost
standard ethernet ports.
I would connect printers to computers via USB. Getting printers to be
shared can be either extremely easy or quite hard.
In my case, I was able to get an Epson Photo 1280 connected with some
instruction from Epson.
However, my Epson R1900 connected very quickly.
I have had similar experiences with HP printers.
Jim

 

[Lem]

OK.

How about a wired network for home, then? Then I should buy a cable modem/router with 4 ports? To hook up the printer,
three computers, and the external storage device and the scanner? 6 ports? Or do I use USB to hook the printer and scanner
up to the router?


Lady Dungeness
Out of Danger until September
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Consolidate the thoughts in your two threads.

A wired network will be much faster than your proposed 802.1b wireless
network, as well as being more secure.

Buy a router, not a combo modem/router. If you think that you
eventually might replace the Vaio and go wireless, think about buying a
wireless router and just turning off the radio for now.

If you have just 3 computers, a 4-port router will be adequate.

Unless your peripherals (inkjet, laser, scanner, hard drive) are
"network ready" you'll have to leave them connected to the computers to
which they currently are connected, and then share them across the
network. The downside of this is that a shared resource can only be
accessed over the network if the computer to which it is physically
attached is active.

Some -- not many -- routers may include a built-in print server and/or a
server that will accommodate a USB storage device. Otherwise, you'd
have to buy separate devices, such as a print server(s) for the
printers, e.g., http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=166 The print server
would then be connected via Ethernet to the router. (Wireless print
servers are also readily available). Scanning over the network,
however, may be a problem for a scanner not specifically designed to be
used that way.

Finally, as to your sig line, my in-laws have an annual crab feast at
the end of August, so I don't know how save you are even in months
without an R (of course, this is on the Chesapeake, so you're probably
still pretty safe).

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

 

[Barb Bowman]

add to the mix of what Lem has suggested, that if your printer and
external storage device are not network ready, you could get an
external wireless print server type device which also has ports for
USB drives.

definitely a separate cable modem and wireless router. no combo.

How about a wired network for home, then? Then I should buy a cable modem/router with 4 ports? To hook up the printer,
three computers, and the external storage device and the scanner? 6 ports? Or do I use USB to hook the printer and scanner
up to the router?

--

Barb Bowman
MS-MVP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/meetexperts/bowman.mspx
http://blogs.digitalmediaphile.com/barb/