Wireless Access to the USC Network - Windows NT
You can gain wireless access to the USC Network from most outdoor common areas, libraries, auditoriums, on campus eateries and the University Village Food Court. See a list of wireless locations.
What You'll Need before Connecting
To gain wireless access to the USC Network, you'll need the following:
- USC username and password
- An Enterasys Wireless PCMCIA card with its current drivers installed in your computer.
- A computer with access to the USC Network to register for a wireless account
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0, with Service Pack 4 or later service pack
If Your Computer Doesn't Meet these Requirements
If your computer does not meet these requirements, you may still gain wireless access to the USC Network, however the instructions on this web page may not work with your computer. If you have a problem with an unsupported wireless card, contact the manufacturer or reseller of your equipment and ask for assistance in connecting your computer to a WEP IEEE 802.11 TCP/IP network using DHCP. ITS does not support configuration of any third party PCMCIA cards. See the USC Wireless Support web page for details.
Installing the Enterasys Wireless Ethernet Adapter
Installing the RoamAbout Client Utility
Determining Your MAC Address/Physical Address
Registering Your MAC Address/Physical Address
Configuring the Client Software
VPN Download and Configuration
Getting Help
Installing the Enterasys Wireless Ethernet Adapter
To gain wireless access to the USC Network, you must first install the Enterasys Wireless Ethernet adapter:
- Insert the RoamAbout PC Card in the PCMCIA slot of your computer.
- In the Control Panel, click the Network icon.
- Click the Adapters tab, then Add.
Result: The Select Network Adapter window appears. - Click the Have Disk button.
Result: The Insert Disk window appears. - Specify the path of the RoamAbout driver.
- If you downloaded the driver from the vendor website, type in the path to the folder where the extracted files reside. Or, if you have the RoamAbout PC Card CD-ROM, specify the path
e:\Drivers\WinNT. (This path assumes your CD-ROM is on the "e" drive. Change the letter to match whichever drive your CD-ROM is on.)
Result: The Select OEM Option window appears with the RoamAbout 802.11 PC Card option. - Click the OK button.
Result: The driver installs and the system displays the RoamAbout Add/Edit Configuration profile window. - Enter the specific values from the Configuration of the Client Software section.
- Click OK to close the window. If the Configuration window does not appear during the driver installation, restart your computer then double-click the Wireless Network icon in the Control Panel.
- Restart your computer to complete the installation process.
Installing the RoamAbout Client Utility
To access USC's wireless network, you must also install the RoamAbout Client Utility. The Client Utility can be installed through an installation wizard. To start the installation wizard:
- Start the installation by double-clicking the Setup executable file from the RoamAbout CD-ROM disk. The file is located via the path
e:\Drivers\WinNT\Client Utility\, where "e" is the letter of your CD-ROM drive. If you downloaded the drivers from the vendor website, locate the executable file from the directory you specified. - Restart your computer.
Determining Your MAC Address/Physical Address
You must register the Media Access Control (MAC) address/physical address of your Ethernet card before you will be able to gain wireless access to the USC Network. Every Ethernet card has a unique number assigned when it is manufactured.
- From the Start menu, select Programs then Command Prompt.
- In the Command Prompt window at the prompt, type
ipconfig /all. - Press Enter.
Result: A list of information will appear on the screen. Your MAC address is on the line labeled physical address. For example:
Physical address: 00-C0-4F-AD-13-EB - Write this number down. You will need it to register.
Some computers may have more than one Ethernet card/adapter, usually a wireless as well as a wired Ethernet card. If this is the case, use the MAC address/physical address listed under the Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection.
Registering Your MAC Address/Physical Address
You can register your MAC address/physical address online using the Registering for Wireless Access to the USC Network form. You may access the registration form from any public computing center on campus or any computer already connected to the USC Network.
Configuring the Client Software
- Use the instructions above to install the RoamAbout Windows NT driver.
Result: The RoamAbout properties Add/Edit Configuration Profile window appears (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Add/Edit Configuration Profile Window - Under Select Profile, select USC. Select Access Point from the drop-down menu
- Click Edit Profile.
Result: The Edit Configuration [USC] window appears (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Edit Configuration [USC] Window - In the Network Name box, type
USC. Click the Encryption tab.
Result: The Encryption screen appears (see Figure 3).
Figure 3: Encryption Screen - Check Enable Data Security.
- In the Key 1 field, type
GOUSC. Click the Advanced tab.
Result: The Advanced tab view appears (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Advanced Tab View - Under Interference Robustness, select On.
- Under RTS/CTS Medium Reservation, select On.
- Click the Admin tab.
Result: The Admin tab view appears (see Figure 5).
Figure 5: Admin Tab View - Under Distance between Access Points, select Small.
- Under MAC address, make sure that Default is selected.
- Click OK to exit the client configuration.
VPN Download and Configuration
You are now ready to continue to the next step, VPN Download and Configuration. In this step, you will download, configure and connect with the Cisco VPN client. This will give you access to USC web resources and internet content.
Getting Help
To get help with wireless access to the USC Network, contact the Customer Support Center at (213) 740-5555 or consult@usc.edu.
Last updated: Wednesday, June 29, 2005, 08:01AM PDT