Setup XP to connect to WPA2 Wi-fi network

Picture 12.pngJust spent the best part of half an hour getting a buddies supposedly up to date Dell XP lappy connected to my Wi-fi network. I’m running a secure WI-FI network using the WPA2 protocol. This is lot more secure that the old WAP protocol so if you’re running a home wi-fi network then you probably want to use WPA2 instead of WAP on your router.

Problem is that XP with SP2 does not support WPA2, no biggie but if your computer can’t connect to the network or interwebs then how the bloody hell can you get the download from MicroSoft !! Out with the thumb drive and the biggie here is that you need a Validated copy of XP!! Luck I have parellels and a legit copy of XP on my mac. After copying the file I found here , I handed off the thumb drive to my pal, he installed the 1.2 meg patch, rebooted then was able to log onto my network after entering the password.

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Hey XP, Leopard called and asked you to please support WPA2 out the box and Bill, I want my 1/2 hour back! So hopefully this page will rank nicely and get all you folks sorted out who need to run WPA 2 on Windows XP over their wi fi network.

Choose a secure password will you!!

Also remember if you’re setting up a network make sure you choose a password that is long, (20 characters or more is best) and it should consist of words or phrases that are not in the dictionary. If you’ve got lots of new pals coming over often then reading off the uber long password to them will get old fast so at least choose a password that does not contains words that are in the dictionary.