WPA and WPA2: how does client preference work?

[Flavio Boniforti]

Hello there.

I got an SSID which has following security settings:

WPA/TKIP

WPA2/AES

I'm now wondering how clients react or should react to this setup when they try to connect to this SSID. Would they try WPA2 and if it doesn't work, step down and try WPA only?

I'm asking because I'm having a strange issue of a Windows 8 client not being able to connect to this network.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

F.

[rdvorak]

I've also seen that some clients have a problem if you allow both.

So I normaly disable WPA/TKIP and only allow WPA2/AES - also because I'd like to use 802.11n rates.

[Flavio Boniforti]

Hello.

Thanks for your feedback, I may be trying out what you already did. But still, I'd like to know how clients should or would react to SSIDs with both WPA and WPA2 capabilities enabled.

Thanks so far,

F.

[rdvorak]

I'd say that the client should connect with the more secure method (AES) but it comes down to how the driver for the client adapter was programmed if both are supported.

I've found the following interesting post....

https://supportforums.cisco.com/thread/2156790