Another automatic AirPort connection fix

Mar 14, '06 06:03:00AM

Contributed by: henryh

I run a closed WPA2 Airport network (not out of poor neighbourliness, but due to New Zealand's backward broadband situation, with very restrictive and expensive data caps.) This is normally not an issue, my laptop identifies the network and logs on automatically, as it should. To do that, I set the Airport configuration in Network Preferences to "By Default, Join Preferred Networks," and under the Options button, "Automatically add new networks to the preferred networks list."

After recent changes to my system, I could not get it to join the network automatically. Each time, I had to type in the name of the closed network, and the WPA2 password, in order to get access. This is both a nuisance and a slightly increased security risk, so I was keen to get back to the automatic login. Everything in the network settings was apparently as before, the network was at the top of the preferred list, and I began to wonder if a recent Airport or System update (I'm on Mac OS X 10.4.5) had broken the previous functionality.

What turned out to be the problem however, was that I had changed the Airport network while trying to get a USB wireless adapter working with it. The change in the network password to a 13 character one for improved compatibility was not updated in the preferred networks list in the Network Preference Panel. So the automatic connection was still operating on a previous password. Once I manually changed it to the new one, everything operated as before. A minor issue perhaps, but the sort of thing that can be quite infuriating until you track it down.

Two previous tips addressed this issue in terms of the Keychain. This tip identifies the password issue in Network Preferences, and provides the needed fix.

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