Wireless encryption

[Platinum]

Is doing my head in
Ive set authentication to open system and selected wep encryption, I then selected 256bit and put in a pass code I randonly generated and clicked appy.
I thenwent to the laptop and windows asked me for the pass code and I put it in, it then said its not valid as it has to be between 40 bits and 104 bits? the card defo supports 256 bit , I then set my access point to use WPA-PSK but looking on both the laptop and other pc here I cant see a option in the settings to connect using this encryption?

Help!

[BEANFro Elite]

Get yourself a Firewall app along the lines of Zone Alarm, install on your PC and Laptop (and any other systems for that matter), disable WEP / WPA problem solved.

This is what I do but, hey if someone does connect to your network, what could they do??

[megah0]

Get yourself a Firewall app along the lines of Zone Alarm, install on your PC and Laptop (and any other systems for that matter), disable WEP / WPA problem solved

No, don't.

Do you use a specific program to apply your wireless settings or does windows take care of it?

WEP is a waste of time imo, useful for stopping casual eavesdropping but useless for securing your connection properly

[Paul Adams]

This is what I do but, hey if someone does connect to your network, what could they do??

Use up your bandwidth so everything takes ages to download and your latency gets shot to hell so you can't stream anything.

Use your connection to perform illegal activities which get traced back to your IP address, hence you.

Potentially reconfigure your WLAN.


Seeing as there are now step-by-step guides on how to crack WEP (which so many people thought impossible following the discovery of "interesting packets") any script kiddie can do it, it does not take skill.

Even without connecting your your WLAN, anyone can pick up all of your network traffic out of the air without your knowledge - e.g. every site that doesn't use HTTPS but has a logon page will make your client authenticate in clear text.


@Platinum - you don't mention the brand/model of wireless AP or NIC you are using, or the OS on your laptop.
Windows XP SP2 is the only OS I have experience with fiddling with WLANs (and for the most part, I dislike WLANs), and if the Wireless Zero Configuration service is running then it's usually a doddle...

[Platinum]

Exacly, the main thing is I dont want chavs stealing my bandwith.

wireless access point is a Dlink Xtreme G+ plugged into a netgear DG834 Router, the card is a Dlink XtremeG + CArdbus adapter.

The only other thing I thought was to set it to only allow access from certian IP addys but couldnt see a option for this in the options?

[megah0]

DG834 is easy to setup,



setup access list is the badger you want where you can restrict access by MAC addy

are you using a Dlink program to setup your PC settings or the windows wizard?

[Dougal]

You must have SP2 installed in order to use WPA.

Most cards need an updated driver if they are pre WPA

[Paul Adams]

You must have SP2 installed in order to use WPA.

Actually there was an update for XP SP1 before SP2 came out:
WPA Wireless Security for Home Networks
Overview of the WPA wireless security update in Windows XP

I wouldn't bother with MAC address filtering when using WPA - just becomes an administration overhead and a pain for changing hardware or having visitors who do want to connect (especially when so many wireless APs/routers want to reset themselves if you change anything at all).

[Kumagoro]

If you cant get WPA to work, stick it on 64 bit WEP.

As someone who has actually tried to crack my own 64 bit WEP I can tell you its not
as easy as some people make out. Airsnort doesnt work as well as it did over 3 years ago seeing as the routers have been programmed not to generate so many weak keys.

I have even tried the supposedly better prog out of the two new ones and i still didnt
get the key, the same key i have been using for donkeys.

[Twigman]

Off topic.

I hate iTunes!!!1111

That man speaks the truth. Tis ****e.

[Platinum]

Right updated driver sorted it but now i have a new problem, no internet connection on the wireless, I can ping the router from the laptop but cannot get a net connection.
If I set the laptop to automaticly get a IP adress it gives me a limited connection warning and defaults the IP adress to the 169. range

[nichomach]

I assume that you have manually set the IP address in order to be able to ping the router. Sounds like 1. You don't have the router's DHCP server enabled; and 2. You're missing either the default gateway setting and DNS server addresses (or both) on the laptop. The problem is that if you're not using the DHCP server, not only are you not getting an IP address if you set the laptop to automatically get one, you're not getting the address of the router to use to connect to the internet and you're also not getting the addresses of any servers to use for hostname resolution. The 169 range is the APIPA range which is what Windows uses when no DHCP server is available.

[Platinum]

DHCP server is defo enabled, just done a repair and it fails on getting IP adress

[nichomach]

OK, what happens if you set the IP address manually, define the default gateway as being the router's address and also use that for the DNS server address?

[Paul Adams]

Erm, hang on have we missed something important here... you are using a D-Link wireless NIC on the laptop, a D-Link wireless access point and a NetGear wireless router - you showed us a screeny of the wireless settings for the ROUTER before...

The encryption method is between the client and the access point with which the client associates (I assume in this case you are using D-Link to D-Link) - do you have a the access point connected to the router with a wired connection?

Where is DHCP enabled, and which of the wireless devices does the client connect with?
You do NOT want both devices set up for wireless...


Edit: Ah, my mistake - screeny was from mgh0, not Platinum

But it does raise the question - what happens if you try to connect directly to the NetGear when it is configured for wireless and WPA-PSK?

[Platinum]

Changed over to a 3Com All in one router / access point now mate