Connect Airport Express to existing network

Excellent, that is good news.

All that was needed was for the settings to match up and be compatible between devices.

It can be confusing.

Your router was using WPA2 - TKIP

For WPA2, Apple uses AES so the settings did not match exactly.

WPA/WPA2 will use either TKIP or AES, so it is a more compatible setting and match.

Hi Gunnar

I know this thread is a bit old now but I wonder if you had success in the end?

I just bought an AirPort Express to turn some speakers into AirPlay Speakers on my home network. I had no problem joining the Express to my home network following the set up process. In fact it was about the only option it would let me make. The problem I am having is unstable playback of music from myMacBook iTunes over wireless to the Express.

I called tech support and they said I was using it wrong. They said if I connect it to my home network (the modem/router is not apple by the way) then the 2 devices will be competing for the same channel, so I will get intermittent playback or poor internet connection.

The advised me that I had to create a seperate network using the Extreme if I wanted to use it for music streaming. But this totally goes against the point of turning speakers into Airplay speakers in the way their advertising suggests it will work.

How did you get on in the end?

Can anyone help me? Tried unsuccessfully adding a new Airport Express to my new Linksys AE4500 network. Each time I tried to add the Airport Express to the network using my new (4th Gen) iPad, it would never work. My ultimate goal is to connect the Airport Express to my home theatre receiver in the next room and play music with my iPad through the home theatre speakers. I've tried and tried to no avail. Right now the Airport Express is boxed up and ready to be sent back to Apple. I thought I would try asking for help before I actually send it back. Anyone out there that can help?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Jimmie

Can you give a bit more detail around it not working when you try to add the Express to your network? i.e. would it not recognise it, or would it join but not play back music properly...?

I had a great deal of trouble trying to add my Express to my network. First off I had some Airplay speakers I joined to my network. They joined, but the playback was patchy. So I got a an Express and plugged it into a set of speakers in in the room next to my router, so distance should not have been a problem. Using the Airport utility App I was able to EXTEND my wireless network with the Express.

I then had a stack of problems trying to get playback to work consistently. I tried a bunch of things. In the end I found my router was just not compatible, even though it is a new router, and supposibly a good one.

So, as a last attempt before sending the Express back to the retailer I bought an Airport Extreme base station. I hooked this upto my router via ethernet. I turned the wireless funtion off on my router. So I now had my router working as a wired modem/ethernet router, plus Extreme powering my wireless network. This has solved all of my problems. The Express extended the network without any problems and I can not stream media faultlessly.

I have the Express and an Apple TV as well as many other things connected, and I control everything via MacBook, iPad and iPhone.

Keep trying, its worth it when you get there.

Hope this helps.

Richard

Richard,

Thanks so much for your reply. I've actually solved my problem. Let me explain what I was experiencing and how I ultimately got the AE to work. What I originally was doing was:

Plugged AE into a power strip near my new Linksys AE4500 router (which was working fine, network allowing internet to work both wired and wirelessly).

Tried to set up the AE using my iPad by following instructions for iOS device. On iPad went to Settings, Wi-Fi, and waited for the AE to show up, then followed the instructions. Tried to "join an existing network" and this is where the problem arose. It would try and try and never join. Ultimately after waiting and waiting, I gave up. (I waited long enough to know it was never going to join).

Solution:

What I ended up doing was directly connecting the AE to my router with an ethernet cable, downloading the Airport Utility for Windows application to my Windows 7 PC, and using it to configure the AE. After successfully configuring the AE (got the solid green light in front), I unplugged it from the router and the power strip, took it to the room where my home theatre is located, plugged it into the power strip (again, the green light shined solidly), and then connected the micro to RCA connector from the AE to my receiver. Next, I turned on the iPad, opened the Music app, chose (upper right corner of app) to have the music play through the AE (vs the iPad) and voila, music through my home theatre speakers.

This was a very frustrating experience for me because the folks at Apple support would not help me because they said my router was a "third-party" device and Linksys said the same thing about the Apple Airport Express.

Anyway, I didn't put every detailed step that I followed because I actually don't remember each step. I just followed the instructions as they showed up on the screen. If you or others have more detailed questions, I'll try my best to answer them.

Thanks again for trying to help me!

Jimmy

Bob,

I've been having this exact problem with my AirPort Express from day one. By chance I came across your posting this morning and your steps were spot on to solve my problem...THANKS

Just Wanted to thank you! This just worked to fix my identical issue that I have been frustrated with for months!!!! Airport Utility 5.6 to the rescue!

Thanks

In case anyone else finds this thread and has my issue, figured I'd log it as well.

I have an old 1st gen Airport Express (looks like a large Mac power supply) which I use to stream music to my stereo by joining my home wifi network. Recently I "upgraded" to a new Xfinity router and needed to re-set up the APE. BUT -- apparently my APE is too old to be managed by Airport Utility 6.1 (which seems like BS, but so be it).

I followed all the instructions re: downloading Airport Utility 5.6, but upon install was told 5.6 is incompatible with My Mac OS (Mtn Lion 10.8.2). What to do now other than buy a newer APE? Sucky suck suck.

Aha -- just dig out of mothballs or borrow any other older Mac (I happened to use an old silver 12" powerbook) and connect it to the APE to with an ethernet cable. Then use the Airport Setup Assistant software which was already on the old Powerbook to set up the APE. I assume you could probably use some other version of APU as well?Once working and reset (green light), I unplugged the APE from the wall and moved it to where I wanted it (behind my stereo cabinet). All set!

Note that even though the APE and Xfinity wifi router were 10 years apart in terms of dates, I had no problem w/ wifi security protocols. I just used the Xf's recommended setting (WPAWPA2PSK-TKIP/AES) and WPA on the APE. Maybe I got lucky, or maybe that Xf setting is universally compatible? Anyway.

So, net net, what I hope I'm contributing here is what to do if you need to reconfig an old APE and run into trouble installing APU 5.6 on your newer Mac. Best of luck.

Thank you so much, Bob. I was completely lost. Your detailed guide really helped and now I don't have to buy an Airport Extreme. Express working just fine with Belkin router and all my Apple devices are connected to stereo connected to the Express!

I ended up getting my 1st gen Airport Express working with WPA-PSK selected in my Netgear wireless router.

(thanks to this thread 🙂 )

Unfortunately it wouldn't work with WPA2-PSK or WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK.

Trade-off for getting Airplay working.

Thank you so much for this advice. Here's an update: if you're running OS 10.9 or 10.10 you won't be able to install Airport Utility 5.6 directly. However, a good samaritan has created a utility that will let you do this. Here's the link: http://coreyjmahler.com/2013/10/24/airport-utility-5-6-1-on-os-x-10-9-mavericks/ He created it for Mavericks, but, as he notes, it works on Yosemite too. I downloaded and installed it on my Yosemite and it worked fine. It's not officially blessed by Apple and you'll have to tell your Yosemite security to approve it.

Now I can stream to my Airport Express again through my Comcast/Xfinity wireless router. Yay! I didn't want to have turn on the wireless in my Mac to be able to connect to the Airport. My Mac is connected directly to my Comcast router via ethernet cable (they are right next to each other in the office, so why not use a hardline that is faster and more secure?) and the router sends wireless out to other devices on my network. I didn't want to have to run a second wireless signal out from my Mac just to connect the Airport Express.

I don't know why Apple hasn't figured this out for themselves. Surely there are boatloads of users with wireless routers from their cable or telephone providers that would like to be to easily connect their Airport devices to their existing wireless network.