Installing Airport Express on VISTA system

Question

Have an Airport Express from 2005 that has been successfully installed and running without problems on an HP Laptop running Windows XP. Just got a new HP Laptop running VISTA. Have heard a lot of issues related to installing with VISTA. Can't imagine that the distribution CD from back in 2005 is the right place to begin. Apple store suggests that I just buy a new Airport Express but obviously I do not want to do that. Does anyone know the most efficient steps that will lead me to a successful installation of my old Airport Express on VISTA? Thanks in advance for any help.

Answer 1

The following worked for me.
Cancel any documents in the printer queue.
Open Control Panel > Printers and delete your AirPort Express Printer.
Open Control Panel\Programs > "Uninstall a program" and uninstall AirPort Utility.
Open Control Panel\Programs > "Uninstall a program" and uninstall Bonjour.
Turn off Windows Firewall. (Windows Firewall prevents Vista from printing to a USB printer connected to an AirPort Express. No amount of port-opening seems to be able to get around this. YMMV. See notes at bottom of post.)
Download ZoneAlarm Free Edition:
http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-pc-security-free-firewall.htm
Install ZoneAlarm.
Open your web browser.
When ZoneAlarm pops up, check the "Remember this setting" option and click the "Allow" button to allow your web browser to access your local network and the Internet.
Download a fresh copy of AirPort Utility from:
http://support.apple.com/downloads/AirPortUtility_Setup_5_3_2_forWindows
Download a fresh copy of Bounjour for Windows from:
http://support.apple.com/downloads/BonjourforWindows
Change the wireless security properties of your computer and LAN to WPA2 Personal AES. Why this specific security setting? Because for some reason when you use AirPort Utility in Vista to restart your AirPort Express, it will automatically reset your Vista's Internet connection to WPA2 Personal AES security. (At least it did mine.) Do yourself a favor and setup your computer and LAN this way to begin with:
For the Linksys WRT54G router, browse to 192.168.1.1 and change the settings under Wireless > Wireless Security
In Vista, use Control Panel \ Network and Sharing Center \ "Connect to a Network" > (right-click on your wireless connection) > Properties
Connect directly to the AirPort Express using an ethernet cable.
Install AirPort Utility in Vista using your fresh copy of AirPortSetup.exe. Approve any software/firmware upgrades that it finds.
Open AirPort Utility.
When ZoneAlarm pops up, check the "Remember this setting" option and click the "Allow" button to allow AirPort Utility and any related services that it starts to access your local network and the Internet.
Use AirPort Utility to configure the AirPort Express to join your existing wireless network using WPA/WPA2 Personal AES security.
After configuring your AirPort Express, click on the "Manual Setup" button (if you haven't already) of AirPort Utility, then click on the tab labeled "AirPort Express" and edit the first text box so that it displays whatever you want to name your AirPort Express (for example, "XXXXX").
Directly underneath that textbox, the hostname of the AirPort Express should also appear. It should be the name of your AirPort Express plus ".local" (for example, "XXXXX.local"). If it doesn't appear, click on the edit button and add the name.
Remember this hostname for later.
Disconnect the ethernet cable connection between your computer and the AirPort Express.
Reconnect to your wireless network (if you haven't already).
Use Airport Utility to rescan for devices to verify that it can connect to the Airport Express over your existing wireless network.
Install Bonjour using your fresh copy of BonjourSetup.exe.
After installing Bonjour, if you don't see Bonjour Printer Wizard either on your desktop or in the Bonjour program directory, then Bonjour was not completely removed before it was installed. You must use Control Panel\Programs > "Uninstall a program" to completely uninstall Bonjour, then reinstall using BonjourSetup.exe.
Open Bonjour Printer Wizard
When ZoneAlarm pops up, check the "Remember this setting" option and click the "Allow" button to allow Bonjour Printer Wizard and any related services that it starts to access your network and the Internet.
Use Bonjour Printer Wizard to set up your network printer. If you want this to be your default printer, check the box in Bonjour Printer Wizard that offers this option.
Open Zone Alarm.
Add your AirPort Express hostname (for example, XXXXX.local) to Zone Alarm's Trusted Zone.
Double-check your Zone Alarm "Program Control > Programs" settings. The programs of concern should appear as:
Program---------------------------------------------Access--------Server
AirPort Base Station Agent.................V.......V.......V.......V
AirPort Utility.......................................V.......V.......?.......?
Bonjour Printer Wizard........................V.......V.......?.......?
Bonjour Service...................................V.......V.......V.......V
Host Process for Windows Services.......V.......V.......V.......X
Spooler Subsystem app.......................V.......V.......?.......?
Open Control Panel > Printers
Left-click once on your network printer to highlight it, then right-click on your network printer and choose "Run as administrator > Use Printer Offline".
Right-click on your network printer again, except this time choose "Run as administrator > Use Printer Online". This little "Offline/Online" trick should convince Vista that, "Yes, Vista, really, I would like to have access to my network printer even after I restart Windows."
Restart Windows.
Voila! You can print.
Celebrate by hooking up a pair of powered speakers or your stereo to the AirPort Express audio jack and streaming your favorite iTunes music wirelessly while printing documents at the same time.
If printing ever fails in the future for some reason (paper jam, power failure, etc.):
Fix the immediate problem.
Use Airport Utility to restart the Airport Express.
Cancel all print jobs in the queue.
Print.
Notes:
If for some reason Windows Firewall gets turned back on (aaaggghhhh!):
It'll freeze up your of your AirPort Express printer after the first job in the queue. In this case, you'll have to turn Windows Firewall off, restart the Airport Express, cancel all print jobs in the queue, delete your old AirPort Express printer from Control Panel > Printers, use Bonjour to create a new AirPort Express printer, and do that "Offline/Online" trick again.
* In retrospect, now that Zone Alarm has revealed the settings necessary to allow AirPort printing (and AirTunes) through a firewall, one should be able to just translate the firewall settings over to Windows Firewall or another firewall. (Of course, this raises the question of why one would still want to use Windows Firewall.)
:o)
<Edited by Moderator>