P r o t o l ck w fi ma a n ger User s Guide

Transcription

1 Po rtl wifi oc manager k

2 Portlock WiFi Manager Introduction New in version 5.08 of the Portlock Boot CD is Portlock WiFi Manager, a utility for connecting to wireless networks. It is located on the Portlock Boot CD s Network tab, and also at: Start Menu > WinPE Tools. Connecting to a wireless network Note: Upon loading, Portlock WiFi Manager displays the General tab. The Adaper Status is initially listed as Interface is down because the user has not yet manually connected to a wireless network. To connect to a wireless network, click on Portlock WiFi Manager s Networks tab, select the network you wish to connect to and press Connect. Click OK when you see the A connection profile needs to be created for this network message. Saying OK creates and saves a network profile. The next dialog box that appears allows you to edit that profile. To complete the wireless network s profile, click on the Security tab and type the network s password (if the network requires one) in the Network security key field. Select OK and you should be notified that you are connected to the wireless network. If you mistyped the network password, click on the Profiles tab, right-click on the desired profile and select Properties. 2

3 Troubleshooting Portlock WiFi Manager requires direct access to a physical network card. Portlock WiFi Manager will not function in a virtual machine as it requires direct access to a physical wireless networking card. The screenshot to the right illustrates Portlock WiFi Manager s behavior from a virtual machine. The no wireless adapters on this system error will also occur when a driver is missing for a wireless adapter on a machine that is physically booted from the Portlock Boot CD. Load Portlock Device Manager, found on the Portlock Boot CD s System tab, and review the devices listed in the Other Devices Without Drivers list. You can locate a driver for this device on the vendor s (e.g. Broadcom) website. Look for a Windows Vista driver and if one is not available, a Windows XP driver often works. If your device is missing a driver, please submit your device list from Portlock Device Manager and Portlock will work to add support for the device in a later release. If you are still unable to browse the Web with Mozilla Firefox or map a network drive to a computer on your local network, then you may not be connected to a wireless network. Due to bugs in wireless LAN drivers, the Successfully connected message to the right does not necessarily mean that you are currently connected. To view current wireless connections, click on the Networks tab and review the Status of each wireless network. If Connected is not listed anywhere in the status field, then a wireless network connection is not active. 3

4 Supported devices Portlock WiFi Manager supports many wireless devices. The following list contains wireless devices that Portlock has confirmed support for: Portlock Boot CD x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit): Intel Pro/Wireless 3945ABG Broadcom BC4320 Realtek RTL8178B Wireless g 54 Mbps USB 2.0 Network Adapter Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN Lite-On USB Wireless g/b Adapter (manual driver installation from Portlock Device Manager) required 4

5 Wireless terminology Portlock provides the following wireless terminology for users to reference when the meaning of an acronym or the like is not understood. SSID (Service Set Identifier) Broadcast: An SSID is a code that must be attached to all packets on a wireless network to identify them as belonging to the network. This code consists of up to 32 alphanumeric characters, and all wireless devices that attempt to communicate with one another must share a common SSID. A weak form of wireless network security involves turning off the SSID broadcast, which prevents naïve users from learning that necessary information to join the network. But the SSID remains easily available to hackers given a plethora of tools to extract it from ongoing communications. Other stronger forms of encryption and authentication, such as those provided in WPA and WPA2, are necessary to boost wireless LAN security. WAP (Wireless Access Point): A base station device that creates a link between a built-in multichannel radio transceiver and a built-in local network connection of some kind (usually 10/100Mbps Ethernet) to provide remote wireless clients with a local point through which they can access a wired network (and thus also the Internet). Clients on the same WAP can communicate with one another through the WAP. Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi is a general term for wireless networking products built around the IEEE s (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ) family of wireless networking standards, all of which are based on packet radio technologies. These include the following elements: a (ratified in 1999): Uses a maximum raw data rate of 54Mbps using OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) for maximum throughput of about 25Mbps. Operates in the less heavily used 5GHz radio frequency band, which delivers shorter range and requires more expensive base station gear (and explains why it s the least popular of the a/b/g triad) b (1999): Has a maximum raw date rate of 11Mbps but uses the CSMA/CD media access method, resulting in maximum throughput of between 5.9Mbps and 7.1Mbps. Typical indoor ranges of 100 feet (30m) for 11Mbps (raw) and 300 feet (90m) for 1Mbps (raw). Operates in the heavily used 2.4GHz radio frequency band. Originally the most popular wireless LAN technology; now largely supplanted by g g (2003): Works at the same maximum raw data rate as a (54Mbps) with the same maximum throughput of 25Mbps but operates in the more heavily used 2.4GHz radio frequency band that b also uses. Multichannel implementations can double the raw data rate to 108Mbps but tend to be proprietary and work best when client and base station equipment all come from the same vendor. 5

6 802.11n: An IEEE task force for this latest flavor of is still at work, but a final candidate specification has received draft approval. It seeks to standardize multichannel g implementations, among other things, by adding multichannel support (see MIMO) and using OFDM for all bandwidth settings. This standard will probably be ratified sometime this year x: Not a radio frequency wireless networking standard but rather a mechanism for port-based network access control, which provides authentication to devices attached to a LAN (or wireless LAN) port. If a device presents proper credentials and authenticates, it can establish a point-to-point connection; if it fails, it s denied access. This approach ensures that only authorized devices (and users) can make use of wireless access points (see also MAC address filtering). Most modern wireless equipment operates in so-called tri-mode, which means it s capable of working as a, b, or g as locally available access points allow. WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) & WPA2: Defines a class of systems designed to protect and secure wireless (Wi-Fi) computer networks. WPA implements most aspects of the IEEE i standards for wireless security mechanisms, but WPA2 implements that entire specification. Among other things, WPA2 makes use of AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), a U.S. government-backed and approved encryption standard that offers stronger encryption for wireless data streams than WPA (or its nowdiscredited predecessor, WEP, or Wired Equivalent Privacy). WPA2 also supports 802.1x for authentication and uses an RSN (robust security network). Both WPA and WPA2 must be explicitly enabled on wireless gear to work, and they require special attention to passphrases used for authentication credentials when operating in Personal mode, as is most likely for homes and small offices. 6