Airport password to WEP key conversion

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bob prohaska's usenet account - 20 Jun 2006 07:43 GMT

Hi all,

How does one figure out the WEP key correspondng to an Airport Extreme
network password? I've got an APE in a mac mini functioning as an ad-hoc
base (via internet sharing) and want to connect a Buffalo Wireless Ethernet
adapter as a client. The Buffalo sees the Airport, but can't connect, evidently
because I'm not using the correct key.

The airport evidently takes a plaintext password and converts it to a key,
the Buffalo needs the key in hex format.

Any insight appreciated!

bob prohaska

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matt neuburg - 20 Jun 2006 15:35 GMT

> Hi all,
>
> How does one figure out the WEP key correspondng to an Airport Extreme
> network password?

One uses this:

http://seriot.ch/AirportKey

m.

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bob prohaska's usenet account - 21 Jun 2006 06:33 GMT

>> How does one figure out the WEP key correspondng to an Airport Extreme
>> network password?
>
> One uses this:
>
> http://seriot.ch/AirportKey

Thanks to all, that's the sort of thing I was looking for!

bob prohaska

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Placebo - 21 Jun 2006 23:08 GMT

>> How does one figure out the WEP key correspondng to an Airport Extreme
>> network password?
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> m.

Or if you have access to the base station, you can use the "Equivalent
Network Password..." item in the Base Station menu of the AirPort Admin
Utility.

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Neill Massello - 22 Jun 2006 00:18 GMT

> Or if you have access to the base station, you can use the "Equivalent
> Network Password..." item in the Base Station menu of the AirPort Admin
> Utility.

That only works with Apple's hardware base stations. The OP is using his
mini as a software base station.

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Neill Massello - 20 Jun 2006 19:19 GMT

> The airport evidently takes a plaintext password and converts it to a key,
> the Buffalo needs the key in hex format.

Use a hexadecimal key with everything rather than a password or
passphrase. You can generate a random hex key using RPG
<http://www3.autistici.org/rpg/> and sneakernet it to the other machines
with a USB flash drive.

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Garner Miller - 21 Jun 2006 12:22 GMT

In addition to the other suggestion for converting the password to a
key, I'd like to add that you really should skip WEP entirely, and use
WPA security instead.

WEP is *easily* hacked due to a defect in its design, whereas WPA is
(at the moment) actually secure. WPA also has the advantage of using
passwords directly rather than hex keys, which will eliminate the issue
about which you originally posted.

For your home installation, WPA-PSK (Pre-shared Key, sometimes labeled
"Personal") would work fine.

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Garner R. Miller
Clifton Park, NY =USA=
http://www.garnermiller.com/

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Clark Martin - 21 Jun 2006 17:23 GMT

> In addition to the other suggestion for converting the password to a
> key, I'd like to add that you really should skip WEP entirely, and use
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> passwords directly rather than hex keys, which will eliminate the issue
> about which you originally posted.

First, they aren't passwords, they are encryption keys.

The difference between WEP and WPA is that in WPA there is an industry
standard algorithm for converting the word to a binary key. In WEP,
Apple has their way, other vendors each have their way and many only
support entering the key via hex.

> For your home installation, WPA-PSK (Pre-shared Key, sometimes labeled
> "Personal") would work fine.

Signature

Clark Martin
Redwood City, CA, USA Macintosh / Internet Consulting

"I'm a designated driver on the Information Super Highway"

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Neill Massello - 21 Jun 2006 23:23 GMT

> In addition to the other suggestion for converting the password to a
> key, I'd like to add that you really should skip WEP entirely, and use
> WPA security instead.

The "software base station" function that the OP is using on his mini
only supports WEP encryption. Yet another reason to use a real base
station.

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bob prohaska's usenet account - 22 Jun 2006 07:14 GMT

> The "software base station" function that the OP is using on his mini
> only supports WEP encryption. Yet another reason to use a real base
> station.

I'm starting to appreciate the wisdom of these words.

Using hex-only passphrases seems to have achieved a connection
between the Buffalo client and the Mac Mini ad-hoc server.
The prefix must be "0X", not "0x".

Unfortunately, the routing is trouble and a half. The Mini seems to
be handing out 10.0.2.X to peers. The Buffalo adapter defaults to
1.1.1.1 and must be rebooted to use anything else. As a bridge, I
didn't think it _needed_ an IP address and could use some automatic
protocol to join the wireless network and transparently let clients
join the Mini's wireless net using its DHCP server, which works fine..

That seems not to happen. Using the Airport Extreme base station
will introduce a new set of unknowns, I'm pondering whether the
devil I know is better or worse than the devil I don't know.

Thanks for reading!

bob prohaska

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Neill Massello - 22 Jun 2006 16:59 GMT

> Unfortunately, the routing is trouble and a half. The Mini seems to
> be handing out 10.0.2.X to peers. The Buffalo adapter defaults to
> 1.1.1.1 and must be rebooted to use anything else. As a bridge, I
> didn't think it _needed_ an IP address and could use some automatic
> protocol to join the wireless network and transparently let clients
> join the Mini's wireless net using its DHCP server, which works fine..

The adapter's only means of communication is via an Ethernet or wireless
network connection, so it needs to have an IP address of its own for
setup purposes. That address can be but doesn't have to be within the
router's subnet (10.0.2.x). Static (not DHCP-assigned) addresses are
better for network appliances. To make things easier, you can create an
additional network port configuration, with a fixed IP address of
1.1.1.2, for the Mac's Ethernet port. Just make sure that this port
configuration is listed below the other one.

> That seems not to happen. Using the Airport Extreme base station
> will introduce a new set of unknowns, I'm pondering whether the
> devil I know is better or worse than the devil I don't know.

Just about any 802.11 wireless router or access point will work with an
AirPort-equipped Mac. It doesn't have to be made by Apple. I have had no
problems using Buffalo base stations with three different Macs. Except
for an occasional need to reboot (by power cycling), you can generally
forget about your hardware router after you've set it up.

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bob prohaska's usenet account - 23 Jun 2006 07:15 GMT

> Just about any 802.11 wireless router or access point will work with an
> AirPort-equipped Mac. It doesn't have to be made by Apple. I have had no

Therein, I think, lies the rub: In my case it's the Airport-equipped Mac
that is the router, the Buffalo wireless ethernet adapter is the client.
That's exactly backwards compared to most folks' situation, and every
online help page I've found..

> problems using Buffalo base stations with three different Macs. Except
> for an occasional need to reboot (by power cycling), you can generally
> forget about your hardware router after you've set it up.

Praise be! the day I get there 8-)

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska

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Mac Forum / General / Networking / June 2006

Airport password to WEP key conversion