Wireless LAN USB Stick - Carte réseau / adaptateur HAMA - Free user manual and instructions

USER MANUAL Wireless LAN USB Stick HAMA

86651 Monheim/Germany

Hama Wireless LAN -> Hama Wireless LAN Utility.

1. Installing the driver and confi guration program on Windows® Page 02

2. The confi guration program – introduction and operation on Windows® Page 03

2.1 Quick confi guration Page 04

2.2 Detailed confi guration Page 04

2.2.2.2WPA/WPA2 encryptionPage 08

3. Confi guring the operating system and computer (Windows®) Page 09

4. Uninstalling the driver and confi guration program on Windows® Page 10

5. Installing the driver and confi guration program on MAC OS X Page 10

6. Confi guring the operating system and computer (MAC OS X) Page 11

7. The confi guration program – introduction and operation on MAC OS X Page 12

7.1 Quick confi guration Page 13

7.2 Detailed confi guration Page 13

7.2.1 Creating a new profi le Page 14

8. Support and contact information Page 17

1x printed operating instructions

System requirements:

• PC or laptop with free USB port

• Operating system Windows® 98SE/ME/2000/XP/XP-x64 Edition or MAC OS X 10.3.x/10.4.x

Safety instructions:

Do not operate the device in damp or extremely dusty environments. Protect the device from pressure and

impact. The device may not be opened or moved during operation.

1. Installing the driver and confi guration program on Windows®

Before installation, please save any open documents you may

be working on. Then close all running programs.

Insert the CD-ROM provided in the drive. Usually, the CD starts

automatically. If the menu does not start automatically,

double-click the corresponding CD-ROM drive icon in My

Computer. The following window opens after the program starts:

Select the required language. The following window is

displayed when you select the language.3

This installation process is suitable for

Windows® 98SE/ME/2000/XP/XP-x64 Edition.

Click Install to continue with the installation.

Click User Guide to open the operating instructions. Acrobat

Reader is required to display PDF fi les. If you have not yet

installed Acrobat Reader, you will fi nd a free version on the

enclosed driver CD. Click Download driver to download the latest

driver from the Hama website. This allows you to check whether

drivers have now been developed for previously unsupported

Click Back to return to language selection.

When you select Install, the InstallShield Wizard is loaded. This can take a few seconds. Please wait until the

InstallShield Wizard starts.

Read the license agreement and click Yes if you accept it.

For Windows® XP users only

The next screen prompts you to choose whether you want to confi gure the Wireless LAN Adapter

using the Hama Confi guration Program or the confi guration program integrated in Windows®.

We recommend that you use the Hama Confi guration Program.

To do so, select Hama Wireless Utility and click Next.

In the next screen, select Confi gure for best WiFi compatibility and click Next.

The necessary data is now installed. Connect your USB stick to a free USB port as soon as you are prompted

to do so by the installation program.

Click Finish to complete the installation. You may have to restart the operating system.

We also recommend working with a profi le on these operating systems from the beginning, i.e. using detailed

2. The confi guration program – introduction and operation on Windows®

Open the Hama Confi guration Program. To do so, click Start -> Programs -> Hama Wireless LAN -> Hama

Wireless LAN Utility.

If the program is already running in the background, you will fi nd in the task bar at the bottom right of the

Click the circled symbol to open the utility from the task bar.

The Hama Wireless LAN Utility starts with the following

screen, whereby the values in the columns may be

This screen shows all available wireless networks. The

SSID, which is used to identify WLAN devices in the

respective wireless LAN, the router MAC address (BSSID),

the signal strength, the channel used, the encryption

algorithm and the authentication and the type of network

The lower section of this window shows the connection

status (Connected / Disconnected). Click Update to search

for wireless networks again.

2.1 Quick confi guration

First, select the required network by clicking the corresponding line in the list. The network selected is

highlighted in blue in the list. Now click the Connect button.

You are connected to the network if the selected network is run without encryption and the signal is strong

enough. This is indicated by the green symbol and Connected is shown in the status window.

If the network you selected is encrypted, another window opens in which you can enter the encryption data.

The data must be identical to the router or access point settings. The authentication type and encryption are

generally already selected in accordance with the target network. Enter the code which must correspond

exactly with the code used by the router or access point.

Click Ok to confi rm after you make your entries.

If you do not have this code yourself, please contact the person responsible for confi guring the router or

For detailed information on setting encryption, please see Page 6, under the heading:

Setting the wireless LAN encryption.

If you have made these entries successfully, a green symbol is also displayed to indicate the successfully

connection in the network overview.

For further information on the connection made, open the Status tab. It contains information on the

Connection quality, Signal strength or Interference level.

2.2 Detailed confi guration

When confi guring your USB stick, it is useful to create a profi le. A profi le serves to save various settings for a

connection under a certain name. For example, if you want to connect to various wireless networks, you can

save the settings for the networks in profi les, which allows you to change the confi guration quickly.5

2.2.1 Creating a new profi le

You need the following information to create a profi le:

• SSID (network ID): This is the name of the required network.

• Encryption used in the target network

• Network type (type of network): Infrastructure or ad-hoc

There are two basic ways to create a profi le:

Version 1 : Change to the Profi le tab and click Add.

Version 2 : Open the Site Survey tab. All networks are listed in this tab. Select the

required network in the list and click Add to profi le.

For hidden networks only:

If the SSID fi eld is empty, the router or access point is set to hide the network. The SSID cannot

therefore be copied automatically.

In both cases, the following window is displayed on

This USB stick allows you to set up two different

Infrastructure: Select this type if you want to connect

this wireless LAN device to a wireless LAN router or

Ad-hoc: Select this type if you want to connect

directly to another wireless LAN client device, e.g. another

USB stick or a WLAN PCI card without a wireless LAN

router or access point. Two WLAN client devices are

2.2.1.1 Infrastructure mode

First enter a name for your profi le (Profi le name), e.g. “PROF1”.

If you have selected version 1 to create the new profi le, you must enter the network ID (SSID) of the target

network in the SSID fi eld. This is in the wireless LAN settings in your router or access point or you can ask the

person in charge. If you have selected version 2, the SSID has already been copied automatically from the

To reduce the energy consumption, you can run the stick in Power saving mode. In this mode, certain func-

tions are deactivated or run at a lower setting if they are not fully used. Select Constantly Awake Mode if you

want to work at full power all the time.

Select Infrastructure under network type. This mode facilitates connection to a wireless LAN router or access

point. The settings for TX Power, RTS Threshold and Fragment Threshold can be left at the default settings.6

If your network uses encryption, switch to the Authentication and Security tab and continue confi guration

under Setting wireless LAN encryption.

If your network is not encrypted, click OK to accept the settings. To activate the profi le created, switch to

the Profi les tab, select the profi le and then click Activate.

First enter a name for your profi le (Profi le name), e.g. “PROF1”.

If you have selected version 1 to create the profi le, you must enter the network ID (SSID) of the target

network in the SSID fi eld. This is in the wireless LAN settings in your router or access point or you can ask

the person in charge. If you have selected version 2, the SSID has already been copied automatically from

the network overview.

To reduce the energy consumption, you can run the stick in Power saving mode. In this mode, certain

functions are deactivated or run at a lower setting if they are not fully used. Select Constantly Awake Mode

if you want to work at full power all the time.

Select Ad-hoc under network type. This mode allows you to connect to other wireless LAN client devices,

e.g. USB sticks, PCI cards or cardbus.

The settings for TX Power, Preamble, RTS Threshold and Fragment Threshold can be left at the default

settings. Ad-hoc WLAN mode allows you to set the standard to be used. This depends on the other devices

used in your network. You can then select either 802.11b (11Mbps) only: Then this standard only is used;

802.11g (54Mbps) only: Then this standard only is used; or 802.11b/g: If this is selected, both standards are

supported. If you are unsure which standards your devices support, you should use the mixed mode. You

must also set the wireless LAN channel used under Channel. In Europe, there are 13 channels in the 2.4 GHz

If your network uses encryption, switch to the Authentication and Security tab and continue confi guration

under Setting wireless LAN encryption.

If your network is not encrypted, click OK to accept the settings. To activate the profi le created, switch to the

Profi les tab, select the profi le and then click Activate.

2.2.2 Setting the wireless LAN encryption

First, it is important to understand a range of terms. The next section will explain the main terms

Authentication: Authentication is a process in which the identity, e.g. of a person is determined based on a

certain characteristic. This can be done by fi ngerprint, password or any other proof of authorisation.7

Encryption: Encryption is a process in which a plain text is transformed into a coded text via an encryption

process (algorithm). One or more codes can be used for this.

It must also be mentioned that each individual encryption process offers one or more authentication options.

Please switch to the Authentication and Security tab.

This device can be used with the following encryption

64 and 128 bit WEP encryption

WPA and WPA2 encryption

Note!!! Encryption is deactivated by default.

However, for security reasons, we recommend

that you always use encryption.

2.2.2.1 WEP encryption

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a standard encryption algorithm for WLAN. It both controls the access to

the network and guarantees the integrity of the data. This method is considered vulnerable due to a range of

If you want to use WEP encryption, select WEP under

Two options are available for the Authentication type

Select Open if all clients are to be enabled for WLAN.

Now there is virtually no other authentication.

Select Shared if you want to use authentication with the

challenge response process. A shared code is used for

authentication in this method. All WLAN users must know

All other selection options under Authentication type are

meaningless under WEP.8

You can now store four codes in the lower section of the window. The selected code is always used.

64 bit or 128 bit encryption is supported. 128 bit encryption is more secure. First select whether you want to

use Hex (allows characters from 0-9 and a-f to be used) or ASCII characters (You can use any characters).

The setting and the selection of either 64 or 128 bit encryption determines the length of the code to be

WEP 64 bit ASCII requires 5 characters

WEP 64 bit HEX requires 10 characters

WEP 128 bit ASCII requires 13 characters

WEP 128 bit HEX requires 26 characters

Examples: 64 bit Hex (10 characters) = 231074a6ef

64 bit ASCII (5 characters) = j31n.

128 bit Hex (26 characters) = 231074a6b9773ce43f91a5bef3

128 bit ASCII (13 characters) = urlaub2006.+0

2.2.2.2 WPA/WPA2 encryption

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is an encryption method for WLAN. WPA contains the WEP architecture,

but offers additional protection via dynamic codes, which are based on the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol

(TKIP), and also offers pre-shared keys (PSK) or extensible authentication protocol (EAP) for user

authentication. However, a radius server is required for this. WPA2 is a development of WPA and uses a

different encryption algorithm, advanced encryption standard (AES).

WPA offers two types of authentication, either pre-shared key or authentication via special authentication

protocols, which are generally variations of EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol). An authentication

server (RADIUS server) is used for the latter authentication method, which is rarely used for private

applications. Your administrator can give you the information you require to confi gure this authentication

The pre-shared key method is more common and offers a high degree of security.

To use WPA encryption, select WPA-PSK under

Authentication type and TKIP under Encryption.

Now enter the code used in the WPA preshared key fi eld.

The code entered must be absolutely identical with that

used in the network. It must be min. 8 and max. 63 random

characters for ASCII. Letters (A-Z), numbers and

punctuation marks can be used. 64 characters are

required for HEX, whereby only characters from 0-9 and

a-f can be used. If you do not have this code, it can be

found in your router/access point or you can ask the

person responsible for these devices.

Save the settings and click OK.9

To use WPA2 encryption, select WPA2-PSK under

Authentication type and AES under Encryption.

Now enter the code used in the WPA preshared key fi eld.

The code entered must be absolutely identical with that

used in the network. It must be min. 8 and max. 63 random

characters for ASCII.Letters (A-Z), numbers and

punctuation marks can be used. 64 characters are

required for HEX, whereby only characters from 0-9 and

a-f can be used. If you do not have this code, it can be

found in your router/access point or you can ask the

person responsible for these devices.

Save the settings and click OK.

To activate the profi le created, switch to the Profi les tab, select the profi le and then click Activate.

3. Confi guring the operating system and computer (Windows®)

After you have successfully installed the network adapter, you still have to install or confi gure a protocol. This

protocol governs the data exchange between the computer and the network. TCP/IP is most common. Each

computer has to be assigned its own address for the protocol. Automatic address assignment is only reliable

if a DHCP server exists in the network, e.g. a router or access point. If you have one of these devices with a

DHCP function, you should leave the setting on “Get automatically”.

Proceed as follows to check the settings on your PC:

Start -> Settings -> Control panel -> Network connections

Select the connection (network adapter) via which your

PC is connected to the router, e.g. “LAN connection”.

When you right-click the corresponding connection, the

following screen is displayed when you select Properties.

Select the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) entry in the list and

Select Optain an IP address automatically and Optain

DNS server address automatically, if there is a DHCP

server in your network. Confi rm by clicking OK, and

again in the subsequent window.

Your PC is now confi gured such that the router assigns the

IP address automatically.

If you do not have a device with an integrated DHCP

server, you must assign the IP addresses manually. The

following example describes basic setup using manual

address assignment. For local networks, special address

ranges are provided which are not transmitted over the

internet. As an example, a range that you can use for your

network is 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254. The fi rst PC is

assigned the address 192.168.1.1, the second 192.168.1.2,

the third 192.168.1.3, etc.

Select Use the following IP address and enter your IP address

in accordance with the sample.

1.PC = IP address 192.168.1.1 Subnet mask 255.255.255.0

2.PC = IP address 192.168.1.2 Subnet mask 255.255.255.0

Click Ok to confi rm your entries.

4. Uninstalling the driver and confi guration program on Windows®

Select Start => Settings => Control Panel => Software

To do so, select Hama Wireless Utility and click Remove. At the next prompt, click Remove completely.

Remove the device from your computer when prompted to do so. Afterwards click OK.

The program is now deleted from your computer.

After the software is removed, you may have to restart the system. Save all open documents and close all

programs before restarting the PC.

5. Installing the driver and confi guration program on MAC OS X Before installation, please save any open documents you may be working on. Then close all running

programs. Ensure that you have administrator authorisations to enable you to install the driver

Connect the Hama WLAN USB stick to a free USB 2.0 port. Then start your Apple computer.11

After the operating system has loaded completely and the desktop is complete, insert the enclosed driver

CD-ROM in your drive. An icon with the CD-ROM then appears on your desktop. Double-click the icon and

select the MAC driver directory in the Finder window. This directory contains the DMG fi le required for

installation. Double click the DMG fi le to activate the image.

After you activate the image, select the correct directory for your installed MAC OS X Version and then

double click the corresponding PKG fi le. Installation is now started.

Select your hard drive on which you want to install the driver and the confi guration program. You must then

6. Confi guring the operating system and computer on MAC OS X After you have installed the driver, you must confi gure the network environment in accordance with the

new situation. To do so, proceed as follows.

Click the Apple symbol in the upper menu bar and select

the Environment menu item.

Select the “Network” setting menu item. The following

window opens. Click OK to confi rm the message.

Note: If the message shown above is not displayed, the Hama WLAN USB Stick was not correctly identifi ed

by your PowerMac. Ensure that the stick is correctly connected to a USB 2.0 port and that the

USB 2.0 interface card was correctly installed in your system.

After the Hama WLAN USB Stick has been properly

detected, the following window opens.

Select the New environment… option under Environment.

Name the new environment e.g. WLAN and click the

Select the Environment menu item again in the Network

window and select the New environment which has also

been selected, WLAN in our case. Next, select the

Show/Display menu item in the Network window and

select the Network confi gurations option.

Note: The process for selecting the connections can

vary depending on the MAC model

In our case, remove the tick for all connections except

the Ethernet connection (en2).

Then click the Activate button.

The confi guration process is now complete for

7. The confi guration program – introduction and operation on MAC OS X As the Hama WLAN USB Stick is not an offi cial Apple Airport product,

you cannot use the Airport software integrated in the system. To

confi gure the Hama WLAN USB Stick, you must open the enclosed

utility. Open the fi nder and select the hard drive where you installed the

driver and the utility earlier. The utility is installed in the Programs

directory by default. Double-click the WirelessUtilityRT73USB icon.

The following window opens:

This screen shows all available wireless networks.

The SSID, which is used to identify WLAN devices in

the respective wireless LAN, the router MAC address

(BSSID), the signal strength (signal), the channel used

(channel), the encryption algorithm (encryption) and the

authentication (authentication) and the type of network

(network type) are displayed.

The lower section of this window shows the connection

status (Connected / Disconnected). Click RESCAN to

search for wireless networks again.13

7.1 Quick confi guration

First, select the required WLAN network by clicking the corresponding line in the list. The network

selected is highlighted in blue in the list. Now click the Connect button.

You are connected to the network if the selected network is run without encryption and the signal

is strong enough. This is indicated by the green symbol and Connect is shown in the status window.

If you have activated encryption, you are asked for the code. Enter the code in the corresponding fi eld. (See

You can enter the data required for encryption here.

The data must be identical to the router or access point settings. The authentication type and

encryption are generally already selected in accordance with the target network. Enter the code which

must correspond exactly with the code used by the router or access point. Click OK to confi rm after you

If you do not have this code yourself, please contact the person responsible for confi guring the router or

For detailed information on setting encryption, please see Page 14, under the heading:

Setting the wireless LAN encryption.

For further information on the connection made, open the Link status tab. This shows information such as the

Link quality and Signal strength.

7.2 Detailed confi guration

When confi guring your Hama WLAN USB stick, it is useful to create a profi le. A profi le serves to save

various settings for a connection under a certain name. For example, if you want to connect to various wire-

less networks, you can save the settings for the networks in profi les, which allows you to change

the confi guration quickly.14

7.2.1 Creating a new profi le

You need the following information to create a profi le (Profi le):

• SSID (network ID): This is the name of the required network.

• Encryption Type: Encryption used in the target network

• (Network Type): (type of network): Infrastructure or ad-hoc

Open the Wireless Utility. Using the Network overview (Site survey) tab, you can select the required network

and then open the dialog box using the ADD PROFILE button, or open the Profi le tab and start the dialog box

by clicking the ADD button.

First enter a name for your profi le (Profi le name).

Under SSID, select the network you want to connect to

from the list of available networks.

To reduce the energy consumption, you can run the

stick in Power saving mode. In this mode, certain

functions are deactivated or run at a lower setting if

they are not fully used. Select CAM (Constantly Awake

Mode), if you want to run the stick at full power all

This Hama WLAN USB Stick allows you to set up two different network types. Select Infrastructure under

Network type, if you want to connect to a router or access point. The settings for TX Power, RTS Threshold

and Fragment Threshold can be left at the default settings.

If you want to connect to another WLAN client device without a router or access point,

select 802.11 Ad-hoc.

The settings for TX Power, Channel, RTS Threshold and Fragment Threshold can be left at the

7.2.2 Setting the wireless LAN encryption

First, it is important to understand a range of terms. The next section will explain the main terms

Authentication: Authentication is a process in which the identity, e.g. of a person is determined based on a

certain characteristic. This can be done by fi ngerprint, password or any other proof of authorisation.

Encryption: Encryption is a process in which a plain text is transformed into a coded text via an encryption

process (algorithm). One or more codes can be used for this.

It must also be mentioned that each individual encryption process offers one or more authentication

Now switch to the Advanced tab.

Wireless mode allows you to set the standard to be used. This depends on the other devices used in your

network. You can choose either 802.11 B only mode (11 Mbps): Then this standard only is used; or 802.11 B/G

mixed mode up to 54 Mbps): Both standards are then supported; If you are not sure which of the standards

your devices support, you should use the mixed mode (802.11 B/G mixed mode). Make all other settings as

shown in the image below.

Click Apply to confi rm your entries.

This device can be used with the following encryption

64 and 128 bit WEP encryption

Note!!! Encryption is deactivated by default.

However, for security reasons, we recommend

that you always use encryption.

7.2.2.1 WEP encryption

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a standard encryption algorithm for WLAN. It both controls the access to

the network and guarantees the integrity of the data. This method is considered vulnerable due to a range of

If you want to use WEP encryption, select the following

Two options are available for the Authentication type

Select Open if all clients are to be enabled for WLAN.

Now there is virtually no other authentication.

Select Shared if you want to use authentication with the

challenge response process. A shared code is used for

authentication in this method. All WLAN users must know this code.

All other selection options under Authentication type are meaningless under WEP.16

You can now store four codes in the lower section of the window. The selected code is always used.

64 bit or 128 bit encryption is supported. 128 bit encryption is more secure. First select whether you

want to use Hexadecimal (allows characters from 0-9 and a-f to be used) or ASCII (you can use any

characters). The setting and the selection of either 64 or 128 bit encryption determines the length of the

WEP 64 bit ASCII requires 5 characters

WEP 64 bit hexadecimal requires 10 characters

WEP 128 bit ASCII requires 13 characters

WEP 128 bit hexadecimal requires 26 characters

Examples: 64 bit hexadecimal (10 characters) = 231074a6ef

64 bit ASCII (5 characters) = j31n.

128 bit ASCII (13 characters) = urlaub2006.+0

7.2.2.2 WPA encryption

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is an encryption method for WLAN. WPA contains the WEP architecture,

but offers additional protection via dynamic codes, which are based on the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol

(TKIP), and also offers pre-shared keys (PSK) or extensible authentication protocol (EAP) for user authentica-

tion. However, a radius server is required for this.

WPA offers two types of authentication, either pre-shared key or authentication via special authentication

protocols, which are generally variations of EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol). An authentication

server (RADIUS server) is used for the latter authentication method, which is rarely used for private

applications. Your administrator can give you the information you require to confi gure this authentication

The pre-shared key method is more common and offers a high degree of security.

To use WPA encryption, select WPA-PSK under

Authentication type and TKIP or AES under Encryption.

Now enter the code used in the WPA preshared key fi eld.

The code entered must be absolutely identical with that used in the network. It must be min. 8 and max. 63

random characters for ASCII. Letters (A-Z), numbers and punctuation marks can be used. 64 characters are

required for HEX, whereby only characters from 0-9 and a-f can be used. If you do not have this code, it can

be found in your router/access point or you can ask the person responsible for these devices.

Save the settings and click OK.17

8. Support and contact information

If products are defective:

Please contact your dealer or Hama Product Consulting if you have any product claims.

Internet / World Wide Web:

Product support, new drivers or product information can be found at www.hama.com

Support Hotline – Hama Product Consulting:

Tel. +49 (0) 9091 / 502-115

This product may only be used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, England, Belgium, Spain, Holland,

Italy, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Portugal, Luxemburg, Ireland, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovakia

See www.hama.com for the declaration of conformity with R&TTE Directive 99/5/EC.2

(Wireless LAN) -> Utilitaire WiFi Hama (Hama Wireless LAN Utility)

WEP under Kryptering!

AES under Kryptering!

Network konfi guration.

See www.hama.com for declaration of g

conformity according to R&TTE Directive 99/5/EC

(GB) This operation of this device is only allowed in the following countries: