User guide

C HAPTER 3 | Windows 2000/XP Configuration
Wireless Utility Configuration
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Figure 16: Profile - Authentication and Encryption
The displayed items on this page can be described as follows:
◆ Authentication – Select the authentication mode. For an
infrastructure network, six modes are supported by the Wireless USB
Adapter, including Open, Shared, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK, WPA and
WPA2. For an ad hoc network, Open and Shared modes are supported.
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Open – Open-system authentication accepts any client attempting
to connect to the access point without verifying its identity.
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Shared – The shared-key approach uses Wired Equivalent Privacy
(WEP) to verify client identity by distributing a shared key to clients
before attempting authentication.
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WPA / WPA-PSK – Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) employs a
combination of technologies to provide an enhanced security
solution for wireless networks. The WPA Pre-shared Key (WPA-PSK)
mode for small networks uses a common password phrase that
must be manually distributed to all clients that want to connect to
the network.
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WPA2 / WPA2-PSK – WPA2 is a further security enhancement
that includes the now ratified IEEE 802.11i wireless security
standard.
◆ Encryption – Configure the encryption. For open and shared
authentication mode, the selection options are None and WEP. For WPA,
WPA2, WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK authentication mode, the encryption
type supports both TKIP and AES.
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None – No encryption is used.