How do I set up old AirPort Express on Mavericks?

If you have the A1084 or A1088 model of the Express, Apple has shut off support for these older AirPorts in Mavericks.

You can use another Mac that is running Leopard or Snow Leopard to administer the older Express, or a PC.

To clarify, a Mac running on Mavericks will never be able to use the A1084 Airport Express (e.g. to print a document)?

Or are you saying that if I have another Mac with Snow Leopard on it, I can use it to configure the Mavericks driven computer to recognize the A1084?

If so, how?

Or are you saying that if I have another Mac with Snow Leopard on it, I can use it to configure the Mavericks driven computer to recognize the A1084?

Correct.

Use the Snow Leopard Mac to set up and configure the A1084 Express. Once the Express is on the network, the Mavericks Mac will see it as another device on the network.

In other words, you can use the A1084 Express on a network with a Mavericks Mac, but the Mavericks Mac cannot be used to set up or make any configuration changes on the older Express.

Yeah totally crap if you ask me. One of the many reason why the latest Airport Utility is near worthless. terrible software apple. What happened to being able to control my devices?

Thank you, Bob.

Are there directions for setting this up so the Mavericks computer can recognize the A1084?

Do you think that once I make the configuration I can convert all computers on the network over to Mavericks, or should I keep one available on Snow Leopard 'just in case'?

Are there directions for setting this up so the Mavericks computer can recognize the A1084?

Hmmm. Not sure why you marked your question as a solution.

Unfortunately, Apple dropped all support of the older AirPort models in Mavericks.

If you need to administer an older AirPort, you need to have a Mac running Leopard, Snow Leopard or a PC....or borrow one for 5-10 minutes.

My opinion.....Snow Leopard is a much more reliable operating system than Mavericks, so I would hold off on "updating" any Macs to Mavericks until we at least get another update or two to fix some of the bugs in Mavericks.

I appreciate the advice about holding off on Mavericks for now. Both my laptop and my iMac are currently on Snow Leopard.

The initial question was solved, but the 'how' of administration wasn't...

When the time comes, is there a written procedure or setup utility for using the Snow Leopard computer to administer the old Airport so it is seen by the Mavericks computer?

is there a written procedure or setup utility for using the Snow Leopard computer to administer the old Airport so it is seen by the Mavericks computer?

Not sure what you are asking here. The Mavericks Mac will be able to "see" the Express...and will be able to connect to it on a network normally.

But, the Mavericks Mac cannot make any configuration changes to the older Express.

Another example would be your iPhone or iPad, if you have one of these devices. If the Express is providing a wireless signal, the iOS devices will be able to connect to the wireless network. But, an iPhone or iPad cannot be used to change any of the settings on the old Express......change the name of the network, change the password, etc.

Thank you, again. That last analogy with the ipad helped me understand fully.

This is totally unacceptable, Apple. I still have old Airport Express devices that I need to configure from time to time and I DON'T have another mac that I keep around just for doing that. I didn't see any blinking warning signs that upgrading to Mavericks would remove important support. It's not like the configuration support would be hard -- it's just a wire protocol that you created and own the rights to. So really rethink this strategy, please. Steve Jobs would not have pulled this crap.

Directing your post at T.Bird will do nothing for you, unless you want to vent at another user, just like you.

You are on a user-to-user webite for users with technical questions.

Apple is not here. They will not see your post.

If you want to whine to Apple, do it here:

Apple - Mac OS X - Feedback

i did sent in an email... i doubt it will change anything, but at least i tried...

I was able to reconfigure my A1084 Airport Express using a Windows PC running XP and the Airport Admin Utility for Windows v4.2. Now my Mac Air running Mavericks 10,9.1 will show the older Airport Express when I select its specfic Wi-fi network. The graphic appears under the "internet" globe but this Base Station seems incompatible with Mavericks and the following is desplayed:

This version of AirPort Utility doesn’t support this base station. Go to AirPort Service and Support for more information.

I was just attempting make this older airport express work as an client to send itunes (v11.1.0.126) on Windows PC to other parts of my home. Unfortunately I could not select the airport express device from the iTunes airplay icon even though it is listed with caution triangle prefix. I have the same propblem with MacAir running itunes 11.1.4, which cannot select this listed device. Mavericks just does not communicate correctly. I may look for an older version of itunes download to reload on PC to see if I can get any use from this older device.

Hi,

You can use an older OS and older version of AirPort Utility (AU) to configure the Airport Express (AE), as you have done.

Once it's configured and on the same network as the Mavericks Mac (or iPad or iPhone or iPod Touch for that matter) then you will be able to use AirPlay (previously known as AirTunes) from iTunes on your Mac or the music app on your iOS device as normal/usual/expected. This also applies to AirPrint (from your iOS devices) or network printing from your Mac should you have a printer plugged in to the USB port of the AE.

However you must remember to enable the AirTunes/Network Printing service(s) under the relevant tabs within the old version of AU when configuring your AE.

The message you are reporting just means that the Mavericks computer can't configure the AE (as its version of AU isn't compatible) so don't worry about it.

The warning triangle may mean the communication ports required for AirTunes are blocked by your firewall. Port 3689 should be open for TCP protocol traffic.

Trust me, Mavericks works fine streaming to my old Airport Express, so once you have the AE configured you'll be fine.

Hope that helps.

Robin

I joined the ranks of folks in this problem today. Upgrading to a Time Capsule and setting it up as a default base station. The plan to use the existing Airport Express 1084 units for music streaming was thwarted by no ability to re-set them up and connect them to the new base station. Unbelievable to not have backward compatibility of such a simple piece of hardware that clearly still works---and it's hard to imagine any issues of running other than the most current speed. . .

So, very angry and after spending a couple of hours in the forums trying various things, even with an old machine running 10.4, i went to the apple store here in Philadelphia to buy a new airport express for our music --- ready to throw the two old ones through the plate glass windows of the store.

Fortunately, the intake person said i should talk to someone about the existing units before buying a new one. Tehre was a bit of wait, and then movement through a few people to get to a guy who was both keen for the challenge and deep done was unwilling to accept the fact that we were screwed by upgrading part of our home infrastructure. So after three hours i walked out of there with a $18 solution -- a thumb drive with a version of OS 10.7 on it. From a not so new computer i option booted off the thumb drive --- it's crazy slow on account of running off USB throughput speeds -- however it booted. Also, before i left the apple store we downloaded version 5.6 of the Airport Utility and reset the Express units back to factory defaults. When i got home i was able to configure them through the thumb boot and have them join the existing (new Time Capsule/Extreme) network. The both work fine now and are visible to machines running Mavericks.

The week link of course is that any configuration changes to this will require rebooting from the 10.7 thumbdrive. Mavericks can see and play to these old devices if they are configured properly. Just takes a crazy work around to get them connected to an updated network.

Big thanks to the folks at the Philly apple store and their willingness to find a work around. Crazy as it is. . .