Steve1000 wrote:
Airport utility keeps opening, whenever I start the computer, I quit, then periodically it opens again after that.
Check it isn't one of your login items? (Doesn't explain the rest, though.)
But my main problem is that I don't know what it does.
It lets you configure devices such as Airport Base Stations and Expresses. Airport Setup Assistant can do basic initial setup but Airport Utility can edit an existing setup, backup a configuration and enable more sophisticated options.
I have the new AX, n capable. The previous AX didn't seem to come with the Utility.
Might have been Airport Admin Utility - that was the previous version of the utility.
Here's my confusion: On the first page it indicates that it is reading the proper base station ID already, so I hit continue button and I get a screen asking for my AX password. I don't have an AX password that I know about. Same as my system password?
No. Well, could be but only if you set it that way. If it is asking for your keychain password, that would be your standard keychain password. It will do ask for that if you saved the AX password in your keychain. All quite odd if you have no AX password.
Why would I want a password for airport anyway?
Security - it prevents other people from altering the configuration of the device.
It works fine now, and I don't feel any need for security and I definitely do not want to have to log in a password every time I use the AX.
You only have to give the password when you change the configuration of the AX - not when you just want to use the network, say. You do not even have to know the password to do that. That means an admin can configure the device, enable other users to access the network and still know the users cannot alter the configuration.
Do I have to do this to use Air Tunes?
No.
And why does it keep opening of its own accord?
No idea at this point... Does anything trigger it (apart from starting up)?
Try performing a hard reset on the AX using the reset button. This will wipe the configuration completely and enable you to start from scratch. In particular, it will wipe the password if there is one.
It is possible that somebody else has set the password if you are running the network with no security and no password on the base station. This need not be somebody in your household - it could be a neighbour, say. I don't know your neighbours so this is not necessarily a very likely explanation but it is possible.
- cfr
