Q: In Airport fireware 7.6.4 how do I extend my network... there is no longer the checkbox to allow this?

Extend wireless is simply no longer required as an option. Apple have assumed it will be extended and it is on by default.

With your main base setup.. I gather you are using the A1408??

Simply factory reset the TC..

Then when you do the setup.. extend wireless is the option that will automatically be offered to you.

I am just going to do it.. Other way around.. but it is the same thing.

So here we go..

I have factory reset the airport extreme.. and it takes a couple of min for it to come up.

You can also see it in wifi.

You can click on it in either place and get into the auto setup function.

I have no network connection at all on the extreme.. it is simply powered on and close to the computer.

It will automatically offer a name.. for reasons I won't go into here but see C9 http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

Give the Extending router a name that is short, no spaces and pure alphanumeric.. you can do it immediately here.

Go next..

Magically it is done..

Now fix up the errors..

Default password.. in my home this is not an issue.. and I don't want to change it ..

So I ignore it.

Second error is firmware is old.

But I much prefer 7.6.1 So I have no intention of giving that up..

Just uncheck firmware update checking.. and instead of annoying you every 48 hours it will go a week or two.

BTW it is not the 7.6.4 firmware that is the problem.. you can do all these things in 7.6.4 .. it is the utility.

Only 5.6 utility offers much of this functionality.. like seeing the logs. Apple no longer believe in logs.

And I can actually check the link between the two routers.

You can also check it from the other unit as well.

How to load 5.6 into later Lion & ML

There are a number of methods posted around .. here is one I use that is free.

1. Download 5.6 for Lion.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482

Click to open the dmg but do not attempt to install the pkg.. it won't work anyway.

Leave the package open on the desktop so you can see the file. AirportUtility56.pkg

2. Download and install unpkg.

http://www.timdoug.com/unpkg/

Run unpkg on the desktop.. If your Mac refuses to run the software, because it wasn’t downloaded from the Apple store, go to security in preferences and allow other software to work.. this is limitation of trade methinks. You can set back later if you like.

Now drag the AirPortUtility56.pkg file over to unpkg.. and it will create a new directory of the same name on the desktop.. in finder, open the new directory, drill down.. applications, utilities .. there lo and behold is Airport utility 5.6 .. drag it to your main utilities directory or just run it from current location.

You cannot uninstall version 6 (now 6.3 if you updated) so don't try.. and you cannot or should not run them both at the same time.. although I have had no problems when doing so.

For screen shots see this post.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4668746?tstart=0

Searching around.. here is how to do it from terminal.

https://gist.github.com/Raefael/4272254

There is also a method to do Mavericks.. but I am avoiding the plague..

Much more complicated but I can promise you if I ever do update to Mavericks this is one of the first things to try.

How to load 5.6 into Mavericks.

http://coreyjmahler.com/2013/10/24/airport-utility-5-6-1-on-os-x-10-9-mavericks/