MacOS – Connection timeout when sharing internet with password

internet-sharingmacosNetworkwifi

I have a MacBook Pro with Mountain Lion 10.8. I am connecting to the Internet via a USB Internet Key. I enabled internet sharing via WiFi.

My friend has a MacBook Pro with Lion 10.7.

When I enable WPA2 Personal with a password, he gets "connection timeout" when clicking on my network name (even before entering the passcode). When I select "none" for security (no passcode), he has no issues connecting.

By request, I've added a screenshot showing that my only options are WPA2 or 'None':
enter image description here

Best Answer

To try to make things clear let's say you have 2 Mac named:

  • Alex
  • Bob

Here is the scheme of your small home network :

Internet --- USB --- Alex --- WLAN --- Bob

If when Bob try to join the wireless network (AirPort or WI-Fi or better WLAN) initiated from Alex, it gets an immediate rejection, this may be due to a network access with the wrong security setting.

To check this hypothesis, on Bob, simply go within:

System Preferences… > Network > WiFi > Advanced…

and look at the column Security.

If it is anything else than WPA2 Personal, double click on this network setting to fix it.

If it is already WPA2 Personal, double click on this network setting to check if the registered password is OK.

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