# changing encryption on router - help?



## lkadlec (Apr 23, 2010)

I am trying to change the encryption on the WPA2-PSK on my home wireless network.

When I first set up my router, I knew that I was supposed to use WPA2 if possible (as opposed to WEP or WPA). However, I didn't know what TKIP or AES were, so I just left the default selection, which was TKIP. This was done just using Windows (Vista SP2) to set up my network. If I go to my router's setup page by opening a browser and typing in the router's setup URL, the encryption options are "TKIP or AES" or "AES," and the current setting is "TKIP or AES."

On the computer I initially set up the router on, if I go into "Network and Sharing," then "Manage Wireless Networks," then right-click on my network and choose properties, and then the security tab, it tells me that the encryption type is "TKIP," but also has "AES" as an option in the drop down menu. The same is true of my laptop running Windows 7 (which I also connect to my home network).

Some reading I've done suggests that the "TKIP or AES" setting for my router (Linksys WRT160N) is so that you can use things that don't support AES on a network and still use AES for things that do. Is that correct? If so, I was thinking that I could change the setting on the Windows side to AES, since the router seems to be saying either is okay with it. I have discovered, however, that that is not the case. Here's what happens:

As described above, on my desktop computer I go into "Network and Sharing," then "Manage Wireless Networks," then right-click on my network and choose properties, and then the security tab. I change that setting from TKIP to AES. At this point my computer disconnects from the network. I click on the network icon on my taskbar, then select "connect or disconnect." I get the list of all of the wireless networks my computer can see, but for my own network it says the following:

"The settings saved on this computer for the network do not match the requirements of the network."

So...what am I doing wrong? Do I have to change the setting to AES on my router's page? Do I then also have to change the setting in Windows? Or do I have to remove the network on my desktop and re-add it at some point (e.g. after making a change to my router settings)? Both? Is there some specific order in which I have to do any or all of this? Is there something else entirely that I need to do and don't have a clue about?

Oh, and one other thing: I did try, IIRC, changing the setting in the Security tab of Properties for the network (via Windows), then removing the network from my list, then rejoining it, but when I went back to Properties, it had just gone back to TKIP.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Please don't post multiple posts on the same issue.

Closed.


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