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Setting up your wireless network adapter
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WPA
WPA is a new Wi-Fi standard that improves upon the security features of WEP. To use WPA
security, the drivers and software of your wireless equipment must be upgraded to support
it. These updates will be found on your wireless vendor’s Web site. There are three types of
WPA security: WPA-PSK (no server), WPA (with radius server), and WPA2.
WPA-PSK (no server) uses what is known as a pre-shared key as the network key. A network
key is a password that is between eight and 63 characters long. It can be a combination of
letters, numbers, or characters. Each client uses the same network key to access the network.
Typically, this is the mode that will be used in a home environment.
WPA (with radius server) is a system where a radius server distributes the network key to the
clients automatically. This is typically found in a business environment.
WPA2 requires Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) for encryption of data, which offers
much greater security than WPA. WPA uses both Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) and
AES for encryption.
Most Wi-Fi products ship with security turned off. So once you have your network working,
you need to activate WEP or WPA and make sure all your wireless devices are sharing the
same network key.
IMPORTANT: You must now set all wireless network cards/adapters to match these settings.
Configuring your Wireless N USB adapter to use security
You should already have your wireless router set to use WPA or WEP. To make a wireless
connection you need to set your Wireless N USB network adapter to use the same security
settings.
Changing the Wireless Security Settings
The Wireless N USB network adapter supports the latest WPA security feature as well as the
legacy WEP security standard. By default, wireless security is disabled.
Your Dynex wireless adapter is equipped with the latest security standard called Wi-Fi
Protected Access 2 (WPA2™) and the legacy security standard called Wired Equivalent Privacy
(WEP). It also supports the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) specification, which simplifies the
setup of a wireless network. WPS uses familiar methodologies, such as typing in a Personal
Identification Number (PIN) or pushing a button, to enable you to automatically configure
network names and strong WPA/WPA2 data encryption and authentication.
Using Wi-Fi protected setup:
• Encryption key if not using WPS
• Personal Identification Number (PIN) method: Your wireless adapter generates a PIN
to be entered into your router.
• Push Button Configuration (PBC) method: Your wireless adapter can also connect by
using the software pushbutton.
• Manual configuration method: This section lists the default security settings to be set
if you are not using WPS.