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Wireless Networking

 

MRI Wireless Networking"MRI-wpa" Wireless Network Configuration for Windows XP

 

Please read ALL of these instructions before proceeding.

 

Note: these instructions are for Windows XP based laptops only. Earlier versions of Windows may work, but are not supported.

 

Step 1: Ensure that you have a supported wireless (802.11b/g) network card.

 

Wireless cards that have been tested by MRI Information Technology (IT) Staff and are known to work:

 

 

Any wireless card that advertises WPA2 capability should work. If you have success in using a card other than those listed, please let someone in Information Technology (IT) Staff know.

 

Step 2: Download Penn State's pre-packaged version of the SecureW2 client (WebAccess authentication required). The client is located under "Connecting to Penn State" and is called "dot1x - dot1x Supplicant." This version has a pre-configuration script included that will handle most of the configuration work for you. You should not try to use the "regular" SecureW2 installer with these instructions. Remember where you saved this file (we recommend saving to the Desktop) because you'll need it later on.

 

Wireless networks currently supported by the SecureW2 Universal Installer

 

 

Step 3: Disable any manufacturer-provided wireless configuration utility that may be installed on your laptop. If you have an IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad, you cannot use these instructions. Please contact IT for instructions on how to configure IBM Access Connections to work with the "MRI-wpa" wireless Network.

 

Step 4: Important Note: Most wireless card vendors' drivers include some sort of built in configuration utility. Some are better than others; a few even support EAP-TTLS-PAP (the core authentication mechanism used on the "MRI-wpa" network) on their own. These manufacturer-provided utilities usually turn off Wireless Zero Configuration and will cause frustrating problems with SecureW2. You must disable them before SecureW2 will work reliably!

 

These instructions require that the Windows "Wireless Zero configuration" service is running and any manufacturer supplied config utility is turned off!

 

Step 4.1: To Check this, open the Network Connections folder by clicking Start, then Run, entering "ncpa.cpl" and clicking OK. (Show Me)

 

Step 4.2: Then right-click your Wireless Network Connection and choose Properties: (Show Me)

 

Step 4.3: Click the Wireless Networks tab: (Show Me)

 

Step 4.4: The checkbox "Use Windows to configure my network settings" at the top of the window must be checked, as shown below: (Show Me)

 

Step 5: Before we can continue, you must verify that your wireless card and its drivers will support WPA.

 

Step 5.1: Click on the "Add" button in the middle of the "Wireless Network Connection Properties window". (Show Me)

 

Step 5.2: Click on the "Network Authentication" dropdown and select "WPA". (Show Me)

 

Step 5.3: Click on the "data encryption" dropdown box and look for "TKIP" and/or "AES". (Show Me)

 

Step 5.4: If either of these 2 drop-down boxes do not have the listed options (WPA in the first and TKIP or AES in the second), your drivers and/or card will not work with our 802.1x network. STOP NOW! You will have to upgrade your drivers or purchase a supported wireless card before you can continue.

 

Step 6: At this point you are ready to install the SecureW2 client. Click the "Cancel" button to close both wireless connection properties windows. Close any applications you may be running, you will have to reboot at the end of the SecureW2 installation process.

 

Step 7: Log into your laptop as a user that has administrative rights -- don't worry, if you don't know, the installer will provide you with an helpful error message. Run the PSU_SecureW2_Universal_vX.YZ.exe installer that you downloaded earlier. Take the defaults for all options -- Click "Next", then "I Agree", then "Install." When the installation completes, it will ask you to reboot, click "Finish" to do so and then continue.

 

Step 8.1: Log back into your laptop and locate the wireless network icon in your taskbar. It should look like this: (Show Me)

 

It may have a red "X" on it, that's OK at this point.

 

Step 8.2: Right click on the wireless network icon and select "View Available Wireless Networks". (Show Me)

 

Step 9: You will then see a list of wireless networks within range of your laptop. One of those networks is called "MRI-wpa", which is our WPA/802.11x network. Double click the "MRI-wpa" bar. If you are prompted about disconnecting, answer "Yes". (Show Me)

 

Step 10: Next, a balloon will appear in the lower right of your screen asking you to select credentials. (Show Me)

 

Step 11: Click this balloon to bring up the login box. Enter your Penn State Access Account UserID and Password in the apropriate places. Leave the "Domain" box empty and click OK. You may click the "Save user credentials" to prevent being pormpted for future connections; however, you should not do this if you are not the only user of the computer and understand that the password will be stored in a weakly encrypted form on the computer.(Show Me)

 

Step 12: Assuming your password and username are correct, the connection will completed and you will be logged in. Click the image below to play an animation that illustrates this process. Please be patient as authentication can sometimes take up to a minute to complete. Your computer is negotiating a secured connection at this point. When the balloon pops up indicating that your are now connected, you may go about your business as usual. (Show Me)

 

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