Temporary access to the network

I just installed the new Airport Extreme and according to the help section:

"AirPort Utility enables guest accounts that expire, for temporary access to your network, so you no longer need to give up your network password to weekend visitors in your home or office."

This sounds like a great idea and I would love to learn how do you set it up? If it's already been addressed on another post or forum, it would be great if someone could direct me to that post. However, I've searched this forum and did not find anything. I've also tried searching the online help section but I just haven't found any instructions.

iMac Intel Core 2 duo, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Feb 14, 2007 9:07 PM

20 replies

amensch Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 17, 2007 10:50 AM in response to Gino Cerullo

Fantastic!

I got it to work. Thanks everyone for the help. It's too bad this feature isn't well documented.

FYI - If the temporary client disconnects (intentionaly or not), it appears that you'll need to use the network password to regain access, even if their access time hasn't expired. The alternative is to go through the "Add wireless Clients.." setting again.

Using your network password to regain access defeats the purpose of not giving up your password to a weekend visitor so, I'd recommend the latter, until it's addressed on a future upgrade/update.

Feb 17, 2007 11:02 AM in response to amensch

Can you please explain the steps involve to get it to work. I've tried and can't seem to be able to get it going. Step-by-step instructions with as much detail as possible please.

Feb 17, 2007 11:36 AM in response to Gino Cerullo

Never mind, I got it to work. I'll document it and post a how-to for others who want to use this feature since it's missing from the manuals.

amensch Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 17, 2007 3:13 PM in response to Gino Cerullo

Gino - Here's what I figured out. Hope it helps.

1) Open AirPort Utility.
2) Double click your base station to access it's configuration.
3) From the "Base Station" pull down menu, select "Add wireless clients..."
4) A drop menu called "Wireless Client Setup Assistant" appears. This gives you the option to select "Allow client by PIN" or "First attempt". This menu also has a check box to "Limit clients's access to 24 hours".

"PIN" option:

5.a.1) Selecting the PIN option and clicking the "Continue" button will open another menu where you can type in a PIN.

5.a.2) From the client computer (the computer you want to grant temporary access), select the network and a PIN will be displayed. This is the PIN you need.

5.a.3) Type the PIN in and click "Continue". The client computer is now connected to the network. If you selected "Limit client's access to 24 hours" in step 4, the access privileges will terminate after 24 hours.

If you have "Timed Access" selected in the "Access Control" setting, the temporary MAC Address will be added to the list. You can view the day and time that the temporary account will expire by selecting the temporary MAC address and clicking on the "Edit" button.

"First attempt" Option:

5.b.1) Selecting the "First attempt" option and clicking the "Continue" button will open another menu that lets you know that it's waiting for a wireless client to access the network.

5.b.2) From the client computer (the computer you want to grant temporary access), select the network and access will be granted (assuming it was the first computer to request access).

The wirless client description and MAC Address are sent to the AirPort and your done. As with the "PIN" option, if you selected "Limit client's access to 24 hours" in step 4, the access privileges will terminate after 24 hours.

Feb 17, 2007 4:33 PM in response to amensch

You're the Man!

I actually figured it out after I posted asking you to post the instructions. I was going to do a write-up myself but you beat me to it. Don't worry though, this will help a lot of other people who are interested in this great feature.

One thing I noticed that contradicts your previous post. When the client loses connection I was able to reconnect without using the password and without going through the process of connecting them again.

If you want to disconnect the guest, select their MAC address from the Access Control list and click the '-' button. If you disconnect the client this way then the only way for them to re-connect is to go through the process again or give them the password to connect the regular way.

WINDOWS CLIENTS

First of all, this does not work as smoothly with Windows but I guess that's to be expected.

Some info about my Windows test environment. I tested this in Windows XP running on my MacBook Pro using Boot Camp. To take full advantage of the Atheros chipset in the MacBook Pro I also installed the drivers for the D-link DWA-645 wireless card that uses the same chipset.

When it comes to this wireless chipset, and probably others, Windows has the ability to take over control of the card or release control to the third party driver and connection interface. This turned out to be very important when it came to trying to connect to the base station as a guest.

When Windows has control of the card, there doesn't seem to be any way of connecting to the base station as a guest. I tried every way I could think of but it kept throwing up a dialogue box asking me to enter the wireless password.

When I had Windows relinquish control of the card to the D-link driver and used the D-link provided connection wizard I was able to connect as a guest but it wasn't as smooth as with the Mac.

The D-link connect wizard would still throw-up the password dialogue box but when I dismissed the dialogue box, Windows would connect to the base station as a guest.

If I tried using the PIN number method, no PIN number was displayed. If I tried the First Attempt method, AirPort Utility would not show that the guest client had connected. Further, the guest client is not listed in the Access Control list on the base station so you have no control over how long or when the guest can connect and you can't disconnect them without restarting the base station. I didn't bother testing the 24 hr. restriction.

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Temporary access to the network