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2012-04-22

Airport Utility 6.0 WDS broken?

My WDS setup (a wireless daisy-chain to extend the range of my WiFi network) stopped working with the Airport Utility 6.0 update. Airport Utility 6.0 only has options to "Create a Wireless Network" and "Extend a Wireless Network", and my 3-node daisy chain was no longer working, however many times I tried resetting and restarting.

Finally, I found that Airport Utility 5.6 still has the manual WDS option, hidden from view. To configure an Airport for your WDS network in Airport Utility 5.6, open (double-click) the base station(s) you want to configure, select the Airport icon (top left) and click on the "wireless" tab. Now, while holding down the option key, select "Participate in a WDS network" Wireless Mode (this option only appears when you hold down the option key).

A "WDS" tab now appears, and you can follow Apple's instructions for setting up a WDS (if you haven't done this before, read these first).