How to view my WEP Key ?

Question

How to view my WEP Key ?

I need to connect to my Airport Extreme Wireless Network from a WIndow XP configured Macbook.

WIndows requires the Hexadecimal WEP key to connect.

How do i get this?

To be sure, i have read many similar questions on this forum and tried :

- The network preference panel. The "show password" tick option remains grayed out.

- The Airport utility. The "equivalent network password" on the Base Station meny remains grayed out.

- The Keychain access utility. I can only find the alphabetic passord, not the hexadecimal WEP key (of course tried to enter the alphabetic one, but did not work, so i assume it is expecting the hexadecimal one....).

- In one of the posts, the contributor is bemoaning about an upgrade on snow leopard that makes getting to view the WEP key absurdly complicated. He provides a link :

http://www.adamriggins.com/2009/11/16/how-to-view-saved-wifi-passwords-in-osx-sn ow-leopard/

... which unfortunately is not working anymore...

I do clearly remember easily retrieving the WEP key 2 or 3 years ago, maybe from OS leopard at the time. I don't quite understand why it's been made so difficult now. Was there a security issue ? then is there an Apple note summarizing those facts and recommanding steps for previously set networks ?

Anyone who can help on this is very welcome.

Thanks in advance

YM

Mac Pro 2x2.4GHz/8 Gb, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Dec 26, 2011 7:58 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

rigormortis

Level 2

251 points

Dec 27, 2011 4:55 AM in response to yann_in_tokyo

well first of all why are you using wep? don't you realize that all wep networks can be cracked in 15 minutes?

older versions of windows xp do not know WPA/WPA2 if you are running the latest service pack then it should support WPA or WPA2

if for the life of you cannot determine the WEP password no matter how hard you try. i found mine by going into keychain and clicked on show password and there was my wifi password

then you might as well just download the latest version of airport utility, write down all the important settings, and then use the reset button to erase everything and then reconfigure it from scratch. and then you will know your password.

while you are there, if you can turn on wpa, by all means turn it on

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Answer 2

Dec 27, 2011 1:18 PM in response to rigormortis

Hi thanks for your advice, that's where i was at anyway. Reset the airport extreme from scratch, set up a new password, etc.... And update all the devices... Still can't quite figure out why you just can't get to see that WEP password anymore, as it was the case in previous OS versions.

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Answer 3

Dec 27, 2011 1:52 PM in response to yann_in_tokyo

Did you remember to open AirPort Utility, select the AirPort Extreme.....then click Manual Setup.....then click the Base Station menu at the top of the screen?

If I do this, the Equivalent Network Password selection is dieplayed and active.

If I do not click Manual Setup first....then click the Base Station menu.....the Equivalent Network Passord selection is grayed out.

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Answer 4

Dec 29, 2011 11:52 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Hi thanks for your answer.

This is exactly what i did, a good dozen of times now, but no matter what the Equivalent Network Password selection stays grayed out.

To add more info, i am on Mac OS X 10.6.8, Airport Utility 5.5.3. I tried also from my Desktop (Mac Pro), same result.

Thanks for your help anyway, i'll go for an Airport Extreme full reset as soon as i can afford one hour without Internet.

Cheers

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