Vista will not accept my Airport password

Question

I have installed Vista on a partition for 10.5.
Vista works great except that it will not accept my password for my Airport wireless network.
Vista sees the network, says it is available. I click to get on it, and it asks me for my Network password or phrase. I type it in, and Vista always gives me a message that what I typed in is wrong.
But it is not wrong. I have checked it on the 10.5 side, and it is what it is, and my connection does work on the 10.5 side.
So, how do I fix this?
Thanks,
B.Kabat

Answer 1

One of the problems with WEP is that the actual standard relies on a 10 character HEX key for 40bit WEP and a 26 character HEX key for 128bit WEP.
In order to make things easier for people, vendors use certain algorithms to convert simple alphanumeric passwords (or passphrases) into HEX keys, thus enabling people to use simple memorable WEP password rather than lengthy HEX keys.
The problem is that different vendors use different algorithms to generate the HEX key and therefore a ASCII password on an AEBS will be hashed differently on a Netgear client and vice versa.
One thing is a 13 character 128 bit WEP password will be hashed by all vendors in the same way (if you use 40bit WEP then a 5 character password is required).
Though sometimes not even that works and the HEX key must be used regardless.
AirPort: Joining an encrypted wireless network
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106424
Choosing a password for networks that use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=108058
WPA
"WPA Personal" on the Mac corresponds to plain WPA, with a pre-shared key (PSK) and TKIP encryption, on non-Apple wireless routers. The same alphanumeric password should work on both.
Accessing a Airport Network with a Windows Vista Business PC or laptop
http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/1100.html
Problems connecting a Vista PC to an Airport Base Station
http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/2008.html
iFelix