Disabling SES on the Linksys WAP54G… permanently!
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I ran into a peculiar problem at work recently: one of our Linksys WAP54G access points was resetting its SSID and passphrase for no apparent reason. It’s configured for Wireless Bridge mode, which means that it connects exclusively to another WAP54G in order to bridge two wired networks. We use this setup to provide network connectivity to a mobile industrial printer on the shop floor. The printer’s access point was the one that kept acting up, and every time it did it would no longer be able to connect to the AP mounted on the wall. This was causing a lot of headaches for the people who upload programs to the printer, and for the IT department who had to keep fixing it! I decided to start researching the issue and see if I couldn’t find a reason for the SSID and passphrase constantly changing on the printer’s AP.
I have to admit that before this problem started, I didn’t know much about the WAP54G as the system had been setup by a consultant. I found out the glowing Linksys logo on the front panel is also a button, which is used to enter SecureEasySetup mode, or SES. According to the user guide, pressing it will cause the AP to generate an SSID and WPA-Personal (WPA-PSK) passphrase. I knew the SSIDs being generated were in the format of linksys_SES_#####, so right away I figured this was the problem. But why was it happening?
It’s possible that somebody was pushing the button. I wouldn’t think that anybody would touch the AP, but I’ve worked in IT long enough to know that there are plenty of people who will randomly push buttons and flip switches for no reason whatsoever. They are the ones who will always push The Big Red Button regardless of any and all warnings not to. Still, I found it hard to believe that somebody was doing this constantly. It might explain one or two occurrences, but this was happening at least once a week. I tried to see if I could disable the button somewhere in the AP’s settings, but it appeared I couldn’t. I then decided to search the Linksys forums to see if anybody was having similar trouble, and what they were doing about it.
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