Wireless: XP-Home and XP-Pro have different options!

  • Thread starter Thread starter OneMouseTooMany
  • Start date Start date
O

OneMouseTooMany

I can get my laptop (XP-Home) to connect with my desktop
(XP-Pro) using wireless, but I cannot use WEP.
XP-Home has less options than Pro, so I'm confused.
What settings does it use? (hex or ascii? 0, 64 or 128
bit?)
 
you need to apply SP1 to your XP Home machine. Also be sure you have all the
security updates for both computers.

The key length determine the encryption strength. MS wanted to simplify it
and "just make it work" in SP1


1 ASCII Character=8 Bits

1 HEX Character=4 Bits


40 or 64 bit ASCII WEP code has 5 characters

40 or 64 bit HEX WEP code has 10 characters


104 or 128 bit ASCII WEP code has 13 characters

104 or 128 bit HEX WEP code has 26 characters
 
Yes, I forgot to mention, the laptop (Home) -does- have SP1 (but I think
the XP Pro one doesn't, does that make a difference?).
I also tried updating the laptop - it now has all critical updates
installed. (As a side note, isn't www.windowsupdate.com supposed to
work? I have to use windowsupdate.microsoft.com now...)
Are the 'recommended updates' also required? Some of them I haven't
installed (I consider those "don't fix it unless it's broken"-type patches).

I've noticed that when I type my key in XP-Pro, it changes the # of bits
as I type, so I guessed that Home does it too. However, the key doesn't
seem to work.

I should also note that I can successfully:
- Connect the two XPs without WEP.
- Connect XP-Pro with a Windows 98 computer WITH WEP enabled.
I still, however, cannot connect with WEP enabled. (Oh, I've tried
changing the hardware settings as well.)

Thank you.
 
you should apply SP1 immediately. open Internet Explorer, then Tools,
Windows Update. be sure you aren't already infected with the mblaster virus
before proceeding. see http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/blast.asp

(see all the news stories about mblaster as to why www.windowsupdate.com was
pulled out of DNS).

After you apply the update, if you are using HEX, you should enter the key
manually and not use a passphrase generator.
 
Barb,

I am having the same problem connecting Win XP Pro to my
wireless network with 128 bit WEP enabled. I try to type
in my 26 character HEX key, but the field provided only
takes 23 characters??? How can I solve this? By the way,
the wireless connection works just fine with WEP disabled,
but I don't want to go that route.

Thanks,

Tammam
-----Original Message-----
you should apply SP1 immediately. open Internet Explorer, then Tools,
Windows Update. be sure you aren't already infected with the mblaster virus
before proceeding. see http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/blast.asp

(see all the news stories about mblaster as to why
Click to expand...
www.windowsupdate.com was
 
Do you mean in the wireless access point/wireless router or in XP?
If XP, I'd remove the connection from preferred networks and start again. If
that does not work, try a totally different HEX key on the router and XP.
Use only the letters a-f and the numbers 0-9.
Barb,

I am having the same problem connecting Win XP Pro to my
wireless network with 128 bit WEP enabled. I try to type
in my 26 character HEX key, but the field provided only
takes 23 characters??? How can I solve this? By the way,
the wireless connection works just fine with WEP disabled,
but I don't want to go that route.

Thanks,

Tammam
-----Original Message-----
you should apply SP1 immediately. open Internet Explorer, then Tools,
Windows Update. be sure you aren't already infected with the
mblaster virus before proceeding. see http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/blast.asp

(see all the news stories about mblaster as to why
www.windowsupdate.com was pulled out of DNS).

After you apply the update, if you are using HEX, you should enter
the key manually and not use a passphrase generator.
Yes, I forgot to mention, the laptop (Home) -does- have SP1 (but I
think the XP Pro one doesn't, does that make a difference?).
I also tried updating the laptop - it now has all critical updates
installed. (As a side note, isn't www.windowsupdate.com supposed to
work? I have to use windowsupdate.microsoft.com now...)
Are the 'recommended updates' also required? Some of them I haven't
installed (I consider those "don't fix it unless it's broken"-type
patches).

I've noticed that when I type my key in XP-Pro, it changes the # of
bits
as I type, so I guessed that Home does it too. However, the key
doesn't seem to work.

I should also note that I can successfully:
- Connect the two XPs without WEP.
- Connect XP-Pro with a Windows 98 computer WITH WEP enabled.
I still, however, cannot connect with WEP enabled. (Oh, I've tried
changing the hardware settings as well.)

Thank you.


Barb Bowman [MVP-Windows] wrote:
you need to apply SP1 to your XP Home machine. Also be sure you
have all the security updates for both computers.

The key length determine the encryption strength. MS wanted to
simplify it and "just make it work" in SP1


1 ASCII Character=8 Bits

1 HEX Character=4 Bits


40 or 64 bit ASCII WEP code has 5 characters

40 or 64 bit HEX WEP code has 10 characters


104 or 128 bit ASCII WEP code has 13 characters

104 or 128 bit HEX WEP code has 26 characters



OneMouseTooMany wrote:

I can get my laptop (XP-Home) to connect with my desktop
(XP-Pro) using wireless, but I cannot use WEP.
XP-Home has less options than Pro, so I'm confused.
What settings does it use? (hex or ascii? 0, 64 or 128
bit?)
Click to expand...

--
Barb Bowman
Expert Zone Columnist
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
MS-MVP (Windows)



.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Back
Top