WPA and TKIP missing after upgrading to Windows 8.1

Update – 2/14/15
Recently someone told me about an EAP-LEAP installation file that came bundled with a RealTek Windows 8.1 wireless driver package. Apparently, all that you need to do is download and install this EAP-LEAP MSI and install it on your Windows 8.1 device. Once this is completed, Windows 8.1 will magically recognize WPA/TKIP and will connect your device to the wireless network! If this doesn’t work, then following the manual steps below. If the MSI works, please leave a comment below letting me know. Thank you and good luck.

Recently I found myself working on installing Microsoft Windows 8.1 Enterprise on a MS Surface (haven’t been able to get a hold of the Surface Pro yet). The installation went smooth enough, however I had a heck of a time getting connected to our corporate wireless network which consists of Cisco Access Points and is configured to use WPA security and TKIP encryption. To my surprise, the Windows 8.1 upgrade seemed to have removed the ability to connect to a WPA/TKIP wireless network. This blog post explains how I was able to get my Surface running Windows 8.1 to successfully connect to a WPA secured wireless network with TKIP encryption.

The first thing I did after installing Window 8.1 was to download and install the latest Intel ProSet Wireless software. I normally download the full set of software instead of just the drivers. As of November 17, 2012, the latest version of the Intel Proset Wireless was 16.5.3.  I had to do this when I first installed Windows 8 Enterprise in order to configure the wireless configuration for Cisco LEAP, WPA/TKIP. However, installing the Intel ProSet application did not work for Windows 8.1.

After scouring the Internet for a solution, it became obvious that Microsoft had removed the capability to configure WPA security and its associated types of encryption (i.e. TKIP). While it is true that most of the world has moved on to WPA2 or better, there are still many companies who are Cisco shops that still use WPA/TKIP. While Microsoft removed this functionality from the wireless configuration UI, they apparently had not removed this capability from the operating system.  I tried several things such as exporting the wireless configuration to an XML file using NETSH and then manually editing the file to use WPA and TKIP and finaly importing it. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the syntax of the XML exactly right. That was until I found a terrific post explaining how to properly modify the XML file. Below are step-by-step instructions on how to get your MS Surface or any other device running Windows 8.1 to connect to a wireless network running WPA/TKIP.

1. Run Command Line as an Administrator

2. >netsh wlan show profiles

show_profiles

3. >delete profile name=”wireless profile x

4. Right click the connection icon in lower right corner and open Network and Sharing Center

5. Select Set up a new connection or network

6. Select Manually connect to a wireless network

7. Create a profile, and try to get as many details to correspond with your requirement such as the name and select Finish when you are complete. You will be editing the profile immediately afterwards.

8. >netsh wlan show profile <profile name you created in step 7>
without quotes this time. This should show your previous attempt at creating a profile in the GUI dialog boxes. In my case, it had WPA2 and AES but it needed to be WPA and TKIP. I also set my authMode to userOnly.

9. netsh wlan

10. netsh wlan> set profileparameter name=<profilename> authentication=wpa encryption=tkip authMode=userOnly

11. Now click the connection icon, and connect to the network. It should look a little different this time. Hopefully you will be able to connect.

12. netsh wlan> export profile name=<“profile name>
This will export the profile safely to a file and store it on a network drive or back it up for future use. You can use this profile for any other Windows 8.1 wireless devices you plan on connecting to your corporate wireless network. To import this file use the following command:

netsh wlan add profile filename=”path\profile.xml”

A big Thank You to the person who posted the solution below. Connect with me at !

References
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/290c63b4-ce04-4483-a047-e1000c7d7699/wpa-security-types-are-missing-after-upgrading-to-windows-81?forum=w8itpronetworking

George Almeida

Welcome to my little corner of the blogosphere. I'm an Information Technology Director. I specialize in Windows operating systems, applications, servers, storage, networks and also have a technical background on the IBM iSeries platform. My only purpose for this blog is the hope that it helps someone, someday, somewhere. Any meager proceeds derived from our sponsors will be donated to charity.

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Abhijith MG
Abhijith MG
10 years ago

Thanks a lot man… I tried my best connect to University Wifi from W 8.1 and failed. I wouldn’t have noticed the solution given technet page of microsoft and I almost gave up the efforts to connect. Thanks again. 🙂

Anonymous
Anonymous
10 years ago
Reply to  George Almeida

could you upload a video on youtube about that please

Alex Wiegmann
Alex Wiegmann
10 years ago

What’s the authentication commmand for WPA-Enterprise?

Paul
Paul
10 years ago

This was a huge help thanks for posting!! Would you happen to know the commands to import the XML onto another PC?

Raief
Raief
10 years ago

Thanksman

tony
tony
10 years ago

I tried all of the above and when importing the XML file it says “Error 0x4000A: 802.1x disabled when its required to be enabled”.

All I did was export my current profile (wpa2) and changed all the settings you mentioned to WPA, TKIP… why isn’t it working? WTF MICROSOFT!!!!

Stefan
Stefan
10 years ago
Reply to  tony

I had the a exact same error message. It took me a while to figure out, that the new profile (in step 7) can’t be of wpa2 type. A 802.1X or WEP profile worked just fine.

David
David
10 years ago

10. netsh wlan> set profileparameter name= authentication=wpa encryption=tkip authMode=userOnly

11. netsh wlan> set profileparameter
What is that second “set profileparameter” for? Is it necessary?

Min Wei
Min Wei
10 years ago

I have tried many times but I still stuck in step 11
Can you teach me how to work it ?

Min Wei
Min Wei
10 years ago
Reply to  Min Wei

Sorry is step 10

Min Wei
Min Wei
10 years ago
Reply to  George Almeida

I had done all the step but in my wireless properties there yet can choose WPA. I cant figure out what the problem

Anonymous
Anonymous
10 years ago

hi,

When i tape : set profileparameter name= authentication=wpa i get this error :

“Error 0x4000A: 802.1x disabled when its required to be enabled”.

Marco
Marco
10 years ago

Hi George,
Thank you so much for this tutorial, it helped me to configure some machines I have.
But I am having trouble configuring one with the Wi-Fi of my School, it has WPA-Enterprise TKIP encryption, at that point, everything is ok, but the problem is, it requires to use some a certificate with microsoft smart card auth to connect to it.
Would you be able to help me configuring this?

Troy Darko
Troy Darko
9 years ago

Thank you for this post. But I’m getting back some sort of error that says, ‘The oneX setting in profile “profilename” on interface “Wi-Fi” is not enabled. Know any sort of solution to this? Thanks in advance

Stefan Focke
Stefan Focke
9 years ago

Thank you for your instructions
I configured my WLAN configuration with Windows 8 (TKIP/TTLS) and saved it to a file (netsh wlan> export profile name=)
After that I imported this configuration in Windows 8.1 (netsh wlan add profile filename=”path\profile.xml”)
and was able to connect to my WiFi network.

Ricardo
Ricardo
9 years ago

It worked 😉 Thanks a lot!

Suzzy ayamga
Suzzy ayamga
8 years ago

Am getting this message saying: The oneX setting in profile “profilename” on interface “Wi-Fi” is not enabled.

Ana Osório
Ana Osório
8 years ago

Hello!! I have the same problem but with Windows 10. WPA and TKIP is missing after upgrading to Windows 10 Home. Can you help me!!
Thanks.

Felix
Felix
5 years ago
Reply to  Ana Osório

WPA2-Personal and TKIP works with Windows 10, I just managed to do it. However, it can be a little difficult.

I used the same instructions presented here just for wpa2p: set profileparameter name= authentication=wpa2p encryption=tkip

The command finished successfully, but it still used AES! What worked for me was setting only encryption in a separate command afterwards: set profileparameter name= encryption=tkip.

It seems really hacky, but it worked. I don’t know how it is for WPA2-Enterprise. Maybe try using the command with AES first and then set it to TKIP in a separate command.

Juan A
Juan A
7 years ago

Hi. After dealing with this issue some days I finally got the solution. I followed the guide step by step many times and always got the Error 0x4000A or that the oneX was disabled. The guide showed here is repeated in any other webs, but no one comes with the complete solution. It’s as esy as create the new profile only with the network name under a 802.1x network (not WEP, not WPA2). type this on your CMD with no quotes in “yournetwork” netsh wlan set profileparameter name=”yournetwork” authentication=wpa encryption=tkip authMode=userOnly If you prefer AES: set profileparameter name=”yournetwork” authentication=wpa encryption=aes… Read more »

Anon
Anon
7 years ago

How can you see a profile’s encryption type after you have set it. To check the changes have gone though. I don’t have access to the network the device will connect to when it is in range.

Travis Poole
Travis Poole
7 years ago

When I attempt to change authentication to WPA it says the profile is corrupted.

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