Configuring a Linksys WPC11 LAN Card

College of Engineering Computing Services

Linksys Instant Wireless Network PC Card (WPC11):

Note:

If you plan to purchase a wireless card, we recommend careful consideration of alternatives before purchasing the LinkSys WPC 11. This card will work properly in our environment at this time, but it is not supported by CNS. It also has somewhat poorer performance in fringe reception areas, and has been difficult for some people to initially configure.

Installation instructions for Windows 2000:

Make sure that you are logged into your Windows 2000 computer as Administrator (or an account with equivalent rights). A non-Administrator account will not be able to install the hardware drivers for your new card.
Insert the LinkSys CD that came with your card into your computer.
Insert the Linksys card into your computer. Windows 2000 should detect the card and begin the driver installation. The Found New Hardware Wizard will start up. Select Next. Then select Search for a suitable driver. Select Specify a location. Click Browse, and then browse to your CD drive. Browse to WPC11-WDT11\Win2000 and click OK.
Windows will search for the driver. After it acknowledges that there is a driver, click Next to continue.
The Digital Signature Not Found window will pop up claiming that the driver has not been tested with Windows 2000. Click Yes anyway.
Windows will now install the driver. Click Finish when it is done.
Next, you will need to install the Utility software. Go to Start -> Run, browse to your CD drive. Then go to the WPC11-WDT11\Utility directory and select Setup.exe. Click OK.
Accept all of the default options in the setup utility. If you get a message regarding a read-only file C:\WinNT\system32\drivers\ndcprtns.sys being found, click Yes to over-write it.
Click Yes, I want to restart my computer now. Click Finish
After logging back in as Administrator, click on the Configuration Utility icon. On the Configuration tab, change the SSID to k-state.net. Click on the Apply Changes button.
On the Encryption tab, change the select box to read 40 bit. Select Manual Entry in the middle of the window, and then enter the 40 bit encryption key (currently available only from on-campus computers) into the Key 1 field. Click the Apply button.
Click OK.

After installing the software, you should be able to access the campus network/Internet after rebooting (or by obtaining an IP address manually with


ipconfig /renew

from a command prompt).

NOTE: If this is not a new card (if you are just reconfiguring an existing card for use with our network), you may need to set up your card to use DHCP in order to access the Internet.