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WNA3100M no WPA2-Radius?

FriendlyWeasel
Aspirant

WNA3100M no WPA2-Radius?

Hi,

my WNA3100M USB WLAN stick seems not to support WPA2-Radius / Enterprise, just WPA2-PSK. Is that true?

Driver is current, 1.2.0.9 on Windows 7 (yes, I know...)

Best regards, M

Message 1 of 5

Re: WNA3100M no WPA2-Radius?


@FriendlyWeasel wrote:

Driver is current, 1.2.0.9 on Windows 7 (yes, I know...)

 


Perhaps that's the answer. This is an old (2013) USB adapter. You will find the published specifications in the official documentation.

 

Visit the support pages:

Support | NETGEAR

Feed in your model number and check the documentation for your hardware.

You may have done that already. I can't tell from your message.

I mention it because Netgear gave up on supplying paper manuals years ago and people sometimes miss the downloads.

Message 2 of 5
FriendlyWeasel
Aspirant

Re: WNA3100M no WPA2-Radius?

Thank you for your answer.

Likely it simply is not possible, regardless of the driver.

 

The WNA3100M is still sold, at least at the German site netgear.de.

Sad thing is, that the "technical specifications" there do not mention anything about supported/non-supported WPA(2) flavors. Neither does the "Data sheet" there, nor the "Product data sheet" from the support site - you need to have the knowledge that something important is missing there.

It is not before the Annex in the User Manual that you find info about encryption options. To summarize: Netgear expects you to download and scan the User Manual before you buy, but not the Technical Specification or data sheets they themselves provide.

 

Model: WNA3100M|N300 Wireless Mini USB Adapter
Message 3 of 5

Re: WNA3100M no WPA2-Radius?


@FriendlyWeasel wrote:

Sad thing is, that the "technical specifications" there do not mention anything about supported/non-supported WPA(2) flavors. Neither does the "Data sheet" there, nor the "Product data sheet" from the support site - you need to have the knowledge that something important is missing there.

 


Specification only ever list things that a device does support. Including everything not included would lead to a very long, and to most people meaningless, list.

 

If it isn't mentioned then there is a high chance that it does not support it, or that it is irrelevant.

 

None of Netgear's USB devices refers to WPA2-Radius. (Are there other brands that do?) Plenty of routers cover the topic.

 


@FriendlyWeasel wrote:

 

The WNA3100M is still sold, at least at the German site netgear.de.

Yes, and there are Windows 10 drivers for it, albeit three years old.

 

I find it a bit odd that someone worried about wifi security is running Windows 7. The general advice is that it is unwise to allow anything running Windows 7 anywhere near the Internet.

 

Message 4 of 5
FriendlyWeasel
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Re: WNA3100M no WPA2-Radius?


@michaelkenward wrote:
Specification only ever list things that a device does support. [...] If it isn't mentioned then there is a high chance that it does not support it, or that it is irrelevant.

That's the point - please read my post thoroughly: The tech specs do not list the features it supports. I am not a specialist in communications protocols, I nevertheless expect that the things that distinguish the capabilitites from those of other devices will be listed. 

That way, if I stumble about some abbreviations I am not familiar with, I can go and check back if there is more and if it is relevant to me.

 


@michaelkenward wrote:
I find it a bit odd that someone worried about wifi security is running Windows 7. The general advice is that it is unwise to allow anything running Windows 7 anywhere near the Interne

The question is not about security.

First, the device won't connect you at all (in that sense, it is perfectly secure). Second, as far as I looked it up, PSK vs. Radius (or Enterprise as it is called too) is about fixed key vs. login data sent to an authentication server. Thus, it is not about security on encryption level (though it might matter for security on an organisatorical level), but on refining access control.

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