HT5022: AirPort Base Station: How to set up and configure an 802.11g AirPort Extreme Base Station or AirPort Express in OS X Lion

Learn about AirPort Base Station: How to set up and configure an 802.11g AirPort Extreme Base Station or AirPort Express in OS X Lion
billymaj

Q: How I set up older Airport Express 802.11g on Mountain Lion.

How do I set up older Airport Express 802.11g on Mountain Lion.

AirPort Express Base Station, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Jul 29, 2012 1:11 PM

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Q: How I set up older Airport Express 802.11g on Mountain Lion.

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  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Jul 29, 2012 1:46 PM in response to billymaj
    Level 10 (105,303 points)
    Wireless
    Jul 29, 2012 1:46 PM in response to billymaj

    Unfortunately, you will need to use another Mac running Lion or another earlier version of the operating system to be able to configure the older AirPort Express.

     

    The version of AirPort Utility on Mountain Lion cannot be used to configure an older "g" device.

     

    Hopefully, Apple will soon address this issue.

  • by messonic,

    messonic messonic Jul 29, 2012 6:22 PM in response to billymaj
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 29, 2012 6:22 PM in response to billymaj

    Airport Utility 5.6.1 won't install up on Lion machines either, as I was just unable to install it. You will have to find a Snow leopard or earlier machine. Hurray!

     

    I second Bob Timmons' comment, "Hopefully, Apple will soon address this issue."

     

    indeed

  • by JoeMY,

    JoeMY JoeMY Jul 30, 2012 5:27 AM in response to messonic
    Level 1 (120 points)
    Jul 30, 2012 5:27 AM in response to messonic

    You can try to configure from a Windows machine.  They still work (unfortunately) LOL

  • by S. Kaliko Trapp,

    S. Kaliko Trapp S. Kaliko Trapp Jul 31, 2012 6:00 PM in response to messonic
    Level 1 (35 points)
    Jul 31, 2012 6:00 PM in response to messonic

    It's shocking that Apple has chosen to break this functionality in Mountain Lion! I can't imagine it's much work to write the necessary code to allow the new version of Airport Utility to set up the older Model A1084 AirPort Express Base Stations and others of that b/g era. I have many of these units between my house and office, and used them to stream my music from iTunes.

     

    As Bob said (above), "Hopefully, Apple will soon address this issue."

     

    Message was edited by: S. Kaliko Trapp to remove the word "s u c k s" and replace it with "shocking"

  • by WLWEsq,

    WLWEsq WLWEsq Aug 1, 2012 10:07 AM in response to billymaj
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Aug 1, 2012 10:07 AM in response to billymaj

    My office has this problem, and we need to update the guest wireless password. After upgrading to Mountain Lion, however, we appear to be out of luck.

     

    I suppose one could use VMWare Fusion or Parallels to run OS X Lion or Snow Leopard in order to run the right Airport Utility, but that seems a little silly.

  • by chkptco,

    chkptco chkptco Aug 1, 2012 6:31 PM in response to WLWEsq
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 1, 2012 6:31 PM in response to WLWEsq

    ran into this scenrio today.  Had to fire up and XP windows machine in Fusion to upgrade the firmware and install the airport utility. 

     

    Frustrating ML in incompatible

  • by sethertonb,

    sethertonb sethertonb Aug 14, 2012 7:39 PM in response to billymaj
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 14, 2012 7:39 PM in response to billymaj
  • by John Clouse1,

    John Clouse1 John Clouse1 Aug 16, 2012 9:59 PM in response to sethertonb
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Safari
    Aug 16, 2012 9:59 PM in response to sethertonb

    My machine wouldn't allow me to open this application. Still stuck with no airport.

  • by george wayne,

    george wayne george wayne Aug 16, 2012 11:12 PM in response to billymaj
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 16, 2012 11:12 PM in response to billymaj

    Yes as the other response advised you will need to download and use Airport Utility 5.6 to be able to set up or reconfigure the older Airport Express or extreme bas stations.

    You can find and download this from Apple.

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Aug 17, 2012 5:45 AM in response to george wayne
    Level 10 (105,303 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 17, 2012 5:45 AM in response to george wayne

    you will need to download and use Airport Utility 5.6 to be able to set up or reconfigure the older Airport Express or extreme bas stations.

    You can find and download this from Apple

    Did you do this?  If you try, you will see that you can download AirPort Utility 5.6, but the Apple installer will not allow you to install 5.6 on Mountain Lion.

  • by sethertonb,

    sethertonb sethertonb Aug 17, 2012 6:14 AM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 17, 2012 6:14 AM in response to Bob Timmons

    Hi folks,

    This is easy as pie.  The installer for 5.6 and 5.6.1 won't let you install them in Mountain Lion, but you can go to the link I posted above to get around that. You download a zip file that you extract to find an Automator Workflow, which looks like an application but is actually a thing onto which you drag-and-drop the installer application. It takes 30 seconds or so (you'll see a spinning gear in your menu bar) to fiddle around with the installer and tease out the Airport admin app from within the installer, and then it drops the admin app on your desktop, where you can open it and configure your airport 802.11g without a problem. Feel free to read the full text of that page I linked to get a more precise description :-)

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Aug 17, 2012 6:23 AM in response to sethertonb
    Level 10 (105,303 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 17, 2012 6:23 AM in response to sethertonb

    Even simpler to restore an older version of AirPort Utility to the desktop from Time Machine backups, then drag AirPort Utility into the Utilities folder.

     

    Or, copy/paste the application from another Mac.

  • by John Clouse1,

    John Clouse1 John Clouse1 Aug 19, 2012 9:56 PM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Safari
    Aug 19, 2012 9:56 PM in response to Bob Timmons

    Installed AirPort Utility on my older laptop running Snow Leopard.

    It installs, but cannot "find" the AirPort Express.

    The AirPort Express has a blinking amber light.

    Connected it to laptop with ethernet cable but it still blinks amber.

    Updated firmware on AirPort Express but it still is not "discoverable."

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Aug 20, 2012 6:11 AM in response to John Clouse1
    Level 10 (105,303 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 20, 2012 6:11 AM in response to John Clouse1

    You need to perform a Factory Default Reset on the Express.

     

    Resetting an AirPort Base Station or Time Capsule FAQ

     

    When you do this, the Express sends out a wireless network signal with a name like Apple Network xxxxxx.  You must log on to this wireless network first....no password is required....and then open AirPort Utility.

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