Using Old Airport Utility 5.6.1 with New MacOS (mavericks & newer)

Attempting to use my Apple products just cost me two hours of my life only to find that they don't work.

Not because they're broken. They don't work because Apple simply doesn't want them work.

Because Apple wants my money and they are going to see to it that they get it. Even if they have to strong-arm me.

So to recap, Apple intentionally prevents us from using our Apple products in order to force us to buy more Apple products.

It's an obscene display of contempt for their consumer.

Thanks! Helpful!

Thank you for your post. This was super helpful!!

-R-

thank you for signposting me to this. works for me in El Capitan

Thank you!!! Very helpful 🙂

This doesn't seem to work on sierra - anyone any ideas?

I wrote a brief step by step tutorial about the subject.

This worked. I have searched all over the web for why the new version of Airport Utility won't display the option to "Join a wireless network) for my Time Capsule. I used to be able to join my network and thereby extend my range by creating another access point. Well, Apple has apparently dumbed down the Airport Utility enough that by some strange logic they think no one should use the Time Capsule to extend their wireless coverage. To solve the problem of the missing "Join a wireless network" selection, you search for the person's name above in Randy's original post and you'll find a download for the the old utility. You must launch it using the launcher program that he delivers with it. Finally! The old version of Airport Utility loaded just fine, and guess what? There's the "Join a wireless network" selection, and I was able to connect the Time Capsule to my network. Now I can use it to extend coverage in my house as well as use it for backups. I connect to the router using ethernet over a Netgear PowerLine system. Apple yet again has some kind of disconnected elitism and dumbs down excellent utilities like the old Airport Utility.

There's the "Join a wireless network" selection, and I was able to connect the Time Capsule to my network. Now I can use it to extend coverage in my house as well as use it for backups.

If you configured the Time Capsule to "Join a wireless network", then it is not extending the network wireless signal at all.....it can't do this unless the setting on the Time Capsule is "Extend a wireless network". It provides no additional wireless coverage when it "joins" a network.

But, you won't be able to configure the Time Capsule to "Extend a wireless network" unless it is connecting to a wireless signal that is being provided by another Apple router.

If you really did set up the Time Capsule to "Join a wireless network", you have set up a situation known as "double hop" wireless. The time that it takes backups to occur is now doubled, and the chances of an error occurring in the process is now doubled as well.

But, you might be OK with this.

Thank you so much! And that would explain why my backups are suddenly so slow. You saved me a huge headache for a problem I didn't even know I had yet. It also explains why I wasn't connecting to a strong wireless signal while next to the Time Capsule (I used the same name for the Time Capsule access point as for the main router AP and couldn't see that I didn't even have an access point to connect to). Yes, I actually did set up this condition: my Time Capsule is connected via Ethernet to the main Xfinity router, and Time Capsule is set to "Join a wireless network" and this setup is active, operational, and working with no errors indicated and no "orange blinking light" errors overridden. I was able to do this using the old version of Airport Utility. I assume now that the correct use of "Join a wireless network" is to connect wirelessly to the router and then use an Ethernet port to connect to a device. Thank you very much for explaining this. I've now set it up with "Create a wireless network" and it works as a second access point on the same subnet. Apologies to Apple for my rant about dumbing down Airport Utility. They improved it so that ignorant people wouldn't mess up their networks.

(I used the same name for the Time Capsule access point as for the main router AP and couldn't see that I didn't even have an access point to connect to).

The Time Capsule is not an access point when it "joins" a network......it is a client, just like any other wireless device like a Mac or PC.

I assume now that the correct use of "Join a wireless network" is to connect wirelessly to the router and then use an Ethernet port to connect to a device

Not quite. If you try this, you will see that the Ethernet ports are not enabled on the Time Capsule when it "joins" a wireless network.

I've now set it up with "Create a wireless network" and it works as a second access point on the same subnet.

That's the correct setup. The Time Capsule is configured in what is known as Bridge Mode.....which Apple calls "Off (Bridge Mode)". The "Off" means that the routing functions on the Time Capsule are "off", so it acts simply as a wireless access point....and....the Ethernet ports are also enabled in this setup.

If you have the Time Capsule configured to provide a wireless network that uses the same wireless network name, same wireless security and same password as your "main" router, you have setup what is known as a "roaming network". In theory, wireless devices will connect to the access point with the strongest signal.

Unfortunately, things don't always work as well as the theory might suggest, so you may need to manually turn off the WiFi on a wireless device when you move it from one area near one access point to another area near another access point, then turn the WiFi back on and the device should pick up the stronger WiFi signal from the closest access point.