Can't Connect Windows PC to Airport Express Network

Question

Level 1

15 points

Can't Connect Windows PC to Airport Express Network

I have a new Airport Express and I cannot connect my Windows PC to its network.

I see the network in the Windows network control panel but when I click on the Connect button, I get a pop-up that displays "Wait while windows connects..." for about a minute and then closes.

I've tried it with both WEP and WPA/WPA2 Personal networks on the Express, and, the 13 character ASCII and the 26 character equivalent network password on the PC.

Prior to this I had an older Airport Extreme and never had any trouble connecting Macs and PCs to my Airport network.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.4), Toshiba Satellite with Windows XP Pro SP2

Posted on Sep 8, 2008 9:56 PM

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Answer 1

DaleB

Level 1

31 points

Sep 9, 2008 7:15 AM in response to Lerico

Need more information:

Are you trying to connect your PC to the Airport Express (AE) using the AE's ad-hoc network, or through a router connected to a cable modem ?

Are you trying to conncet the PC to the AE via Ethernet cable or wirelessly ?

Have you tried doing a factory reset on the AE ?

Have you tried doing a cold restart on the PC (or whole network) ?

Are you suing the same password for the AE as you do for the encryption on the router (if using a router) ?

Are you using the 10-hex digit/ 26-hex digit encrypted password (not the PassPhrase): this is what should also be used for the AE.
For WEP the encrypted password must be the same.

DaleB

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Answer 2

Lerico Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 9, 2008 9:23 AM in response to DaleB

Are you trying to connect your PC to the Airport Express (AE) using the AE's ad-hoc
network, or through a router connected to a cable modem ?

No and no. Cable modem is connected to the AE. I used the AE to create a wireless network. I have two Macs and an iPod Touch connecting to the wireless network, wirelessly. I cannot get the PC to connect that same wireless network. I have no computer-to-computer networks at my place.

Are you trying to conncet the PC to the AE via Ethernet cable or wirelessly ?

Wirelessly.

Have you tried doing a factory reset on the AE ?

Yes. Several times.

Have you tried doing a cold restart on the PC (or whole network) ?

Yes. Several times.

Are you suing the same password for the AE as you do for the encryption on the
router (if using a router) ?

I am not using a router.

Are you using the 10-hex digit/ 26-hex digit encrypted password (not the
PassPhrase)

When I try to connect the PC to the wireless network, I use the 26 digit hex password. I got that password by selecting "Equivalent Network Password..." from the "Base Station" menu in the AirPort Utility.

I can connect my two Macs and iPod Touch with the PassPhrase without problem.

this is what should also be used for the AE. For WEP the encrypted
password must be the same.

I do not understand what you're trying to say with this.

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Answer 3

DaleB

Level 1

31 points

Sep 9, 2008 9:45 AM in response to Lerico

Hi:
Since you are just using Apple's ad-hoc network, ignore my comments regarding WEP passwords having to be the same.

I had a problem where I was trying to setup an ad-hoc network, but the ad-hooc network between the AE and the PC would not show up in the network conncetions.

Keeping everything powered-on, I held down the reset button on the AE for 10 seconds. After releasing it, this seemd to "jog" its memory, and I could then see the Apple Baseline XXXXXX (or similar) network in the system tray's listing of networks, (where XXXXXX represents the 6-rightmost hex digits of the AE's wireless MAC address.) Then, I was able to continue configuring things.

DaleB

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Answer 4

Lerico Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 9, 2008 10:02 AM in response to DaleB

I had a problem where I was trying to setup an ad-hoc network, but the ad-hooc network between the AE and the PC would not show up in the network conncetions.

This is not a problem for me. My PC sees the AE's wireless network just fine.

Keeping everything powered-on, I held down the reset button on the AE for 10 seconds. After releasing it, this seemd to "jog" its memory, and I could then see the Apple Baseline XXXXXX (or similar) network in the system tray's listing of networks

My Airport Express does not have a reset button.

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Answer 5

DaleB

Level 1

31 points

Sep 9, 2008 10:21 AM in response to Lerico

The AE has a little reset button.
It is a little hole into which you push a paperclip and hold it in for several seconds, then let go. Ther are no markings telling you that it is a reset button.

DaleB

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Answer 6

Lerico Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 10, 2008 7:21 PM in response to DaleB

Resetting the AE did not solve the problem.

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Answer 7

lavatch

Level 1

0 points

Sep 12, 2008 11:50 AM in response to Lerico

Hi. I'm having what I think is the same problem.

I've set up a very simple home wireless network through my imac. My pc laptop picks up the network easily and with full strength. Yet the pc can't connect to the network. I've used wep 128 bit security with a network key of thirteen digits (recommended by the imac for connecting with non-macs). Yet my pc will read the network but not connect. Any ideas?

The one thing that I see is that no matter what network key I put into windows it always reverts to an 8 digit network key of its own.

Thanks for any advice.

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Answer 8

wibic

Level 1

0 points

Sep 21, 2008 1:55 PM in response to Lerico

Not sure I know how to help other than to say that my airport express seems to pretty much be plug and play (it is about two years old). I did have similar problems to begin with, however, when using WEP so I switched to WPA (I see you have already tried both). Also, older XP seemed to have problems as well. You seem to be using SP2, so I don't think this is a problem - still I would use windows update (manually connecting to the site - not just using the auto-update) and make sure you have the latest relevant updates. Many times there are hardware update that aren't downloaded in "automatic Updates". Alternatively, if you go into control panel - system - hardware - device manager, you can hopefully fine the name of your wifi card manufacturer and then go to their website and see if they have any more current drivers. It has to be something on the PC since the airport express works with other devices. you could try changing the passphrase/hex key and seeing if that helps (I have heard that sometimes conversion of hex key to passphrase is not the same from computer to computer). As you have, I have always used the PassPhrase on both the PC and MAC (never the hex equivalent) and have not had a problem connecting to my airport express. I do however, still have an old sony laptop (it has XP Pro SP2, same as my new laptop) and it doesn't even show the option to use WPA in the network configuration menu - and I could never figure out how to fix that....

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Answer 9

Lerico Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 28, 2008 11:29 AM in response to wibic

Thanks for sharing your experiences and suggestions. Sounds like I may be having problems because my Toshiba laptop is about 4 or 5 years old.

I've gone back to using my old Airport Extreme for the time being. I can connect my Toshiba just fine to its AirPort network. The old Extreme allows me to create a 40 bit WEP PassPhrase (5 character). The new Express doesn't have that option. It will only let me use 128 bit security.

My Toshiba also just updated itself to SP3. I'll do as you suggest and try manually updating XP to see if that gives me the options I need to configure it to work with the Express.

Thanks again!

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Answer 10

geek3

Level 1

7 points

Sep 28, 2008 7:30 PM in response to Lerico

What wireless card is in your laptop?

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Answer 11

Lerico Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 1, 2008 6:46 PM in response to geek3

Atheros AR5001X Mini PCI Wireless

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Answer 12

Lerico Author

Level 1

15 points

Oct 1, 2008 8:04 PM in response to Lerico

I am now able to connect my Windows PC to my AirPort Express network using an 8 character WPA PassPhrase. To the best of my knowledge, the only thing that changed on the Windows system was the installation of SP3

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Answer 13

Oct 13, 2008 11:05 AM in response to lavatch

The one thing that I see is that no matter what network key I put into windows it always reverts to an 8 digit network key of its own.

The EXACT same thing happens to me, I have no idea what that 8-digit network key is, all I know is that it won't correct itself when I try to put my AirPort password in its place. What is going on??

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Answer 14

Dec 4, 2008 12:09 PM in response to sayuri235

I opened Airport Utility on my Mac - it should find your Airport, and under "Base Station" go to "Equivalent Network Password". I put this password into the PC in the Wireless connection setup, and it worked. Hope that helps?

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