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AirPort Utility for old Airport Express

Wanted to change name and password for an older Airport Express. Went to Airport Utility and received this message. "This version of AirPort Utility doesn’t support this base station." Now what?

Airport Express-OTHER

Posted on Aug 1, 2013 2:50 PM

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Posted on Aug 1, 2013 2:55 PM

Unfortunately, Apple discontinued support of the older AirPort devices in the Lion and Mountain Lion operating systems.


The easiest solution would be to use another Mac that is running the Leopard or Snow Leopard operating system. A PC would work as well.


Is that a possibility?

11 replies

Aug 1, 2013 3:34 PM in response to Keith Doherty3

Downloading AirPort Utilty 5.6 will be of little value since the download package in Lion and Mountain Lion will not allow you to install the application on the Mac.


There are possible workarounds for this....but none supported by Apple....so no guarantees.


It would be much better and simpler to use or borrow another Mac or a PC to administer the AirPort Express. If that is not possible, then trying a workaround would be an option.

Aug 1, 2013 4:37 PM in response to Bob Timmons

The 5.6 version does work in Lion..


http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482


Unless they have done something without telling me.


But it will not install into Mountain Lion. At least directly..


How to load 5.6 into ML.


1. Download 5.6 for Lion.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482

Click to open the dmg but do not attempt to install the pkg.. it won't work anyway.

Leave the package open on the desktop so you can see the file. AirportUtility56.pkg



2. Download and install unpkg.

http://www.timdoug.com/unpkg/



Run unpkg on the desktop.. If your Mac refuses to run the software, because it wasn’t downloaded from the Apple store, go to security in preferences and allow other software to work.. this is limitation of trade methinks. You can set back later if you like.


Now drag the AirPortUtility56.pkg file over to unpkg.. and it will create a new directory of the same name on the desktop.. in finder, open the new directory, drill down.. applications, utilities .. there lo and behold is Airport utility 5.6 .. drag it to your main utilities directory or just run it from current location.



You cannot uninstall version 6 (now 6.3 if you updated) so don't try.. and you cannot or should not run them both at the same time.. although I have had no problems when doing so.


For screen shots see this post.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4668746?tstart=0



I have had no issues getting it to work.

Aug 1, 2013 6:18 PM in response to LaPastenague

The 5.6 version does work in Lion..


http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482

As usual, Apple buries the really useful details in the documentation.


The rub here is that 5.6 can only be installed using Apple's installer on Lion 10.7.1 or 10.7.2.


Just about anyone who uses Lion has upgraded through the 10.7.3, 4 and 5 versions, since Apple pesters you to do this. The latter three will not allow you to install 5.6 in the normal way.


If a user was lucky enough to install 5.6 on Lion 10.7.1 or 10.7.2.....then the 5.6 application stayed intact in the Utilities folder....even if you upgraded to Mountain Lion.

Aug 27, 2013 1:20 PM in response to chiMaxx

If you have an older version of the Express, then it is true that AirPort Utility in Mountain Lion no longer supports the older Express. That is an Apple decision.


The easiest solution is to use a Mac running Leopard or Snow Leopard, or even a PC to configure the older Express.


If that is not possible, there are other workarounds that can be tried......but none of them are supported by Apple....so results cannot be guaranteed. A popular choice is this one:


Installing the Old AirPort Utility (Version 5.6) on Mountain Lion | frank.is

Aug 27, 2013 1:39 PM in response to Bob Timmons

LaPastenague's suggestion above worked great. I was able to use PathFinder (restores functionality of the old Fineder...and more) with the unpkg utility to replace the 6.3.1 Airport Utility with 5.6 in Mountain Lion. It runs like a champ, has the old, more informative and usefual user interface (what's with the the mystery meat UI of Airport Utility 6.3.1?) and gave me back AirPlay (not AirTunes, as I mistakenly typed above) in iTunes.


Apple shouldn't be making things this hard for their customers.

Sep 9, 2013 4:23 AM in response to LaPastenague

I've come to this party late, but I found this blog, which also explains how to get the OLD Airport Utility extracted for use under Mountain Lion. He has very good directions, & includes an Automator Workflow to automate the process, too.


http://frank.is/mountain-lion-and-the-old-airport-utility/


Of course, with a MacBook Air 2013 with wireless a/c or whatever that is, I suppose I should get a new Airport Express! 🙂 I think my AE is 8-9 years old...


--------

Need to give credit where credit is due--- it was this thread here that led me to the blog


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5072394?start=0&tstart=0

AirPort Utility for old Airport Express

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