Hi all, Using windows 7, I have a persistent problem connecting to the Internet. When I try to connect to my router (wifi), I get "Network Security Key Mismatch" after entering the password for my connection. I am 100% positive that I am typing the password correctly. I have tried manually creating the network connection, so I can specify the security type, etc. I get the same result. I can connect to my neighbours unprotected wifi, so I know the hardware and drivers are functional. The problem is only when I connect to my router (linksys). It works fine when using Vista. This is the only thing stopping me from using Windows 7 full time (and indeed purchasing it for my three family computers). Can anybody help me? I've trawled the Internet many times looking for an answer. Thanks in advance, Nik

Hi Filip, and thanks for your reply. I did read that thread, but I didn't think it applied to me, as my MAC address hasn't changed. If I put my HDD with Windows Vista back into the machine, it connects without difficulty. Does this imply that the thread you linked to doesn't apply to me? Forgive my ignorance! To clarify, I have a laptop, with the original HDD in, I can connect fine. When I swap the HDD to a new one which has my Windows 7 installation on it, I get asked for the security key over and over. I have seen a couple of forum threads on other forums which seem to have the same problem as me, but there hasn't been a response to these threads. Thanks again for your assistance. Nik

Let me know if you find the answer to your question about "Network Security Key Mismatch" for Windows 7 using Linksys. I'm having the same issue.

Having the same problems... have tired everything mentioned thus far with no luck. Hope someone can help.

I had this problem in Win 7 and what I had done was not correctly match up the Key # in the WEP security in my modem/router setting with the number set in the wireless network setting. Win 7 defaults to Key 1 but my used passphrase was on Key 2 on the modem settings. Not sure this is your issue, but FYI

Thanks Ray, this fixed my problem, I'm amazed that Windows doesn't determine I am using AES encryption on it's own. I had to manually add the wireless network and specify the settings. I never had to before Win 7 though...

Hello, I'm having the same issues and none of the suggested solutions have worked. In my case, what happened is my D-link router suddenly couldn't find a network connection, so I phoned them and they had me change from WEP to WPA2, and delete and recreate the name for my network. This worked fine on my Windows XP PC, but my laptop (Windows 7) will not connect to this same (new) wireless connection, and I get the same msg of Key Mismatch. When I try to add/create a new wireless connection to match the new settings, it just puts an "X" in the box showing all available connections, and says it does not match the settings of the one I just created! Very frustrating, and sorry if I'm not explaining this too well... I am not very technical. If I try a different setting (say, WEP or WPA2 with TKIP, even though I know this is not correct) it accepts it, but then I get the Key Mismatch every time I try to connect. Any assistance/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I had the same problem with my Linksys router until a few minutes ago, I tried resetting my password since the it wouldn't work..."Network Security Key Mismatch." I uninstalled Linksys on my 'old' laptop, which has XP, reinstalled the router, and got a new encryption key. I got on my new laptop (Windows 7), selected my router name, entered the new encryption key and it worked!!!! Here I am typing this wirelessly....after working on this all afternoon. I didn't have to change any settings on my new laptop. This stuff really frustrates me when it doesn't work. Hope this works for you.

Hello, Thanks for your response. I managed to the problem fixed by calling D-link and working it through with them (they are still supporting the product for free, even though I bought it several months ago, so kudos to them). For anyone else who has this problem, the main issue appears to be that my new laptop (< 1 month) does not accept the WPA2-PK setting as it is incompatile with the built-in wireless network driver. So, I changed the setting to WEP, and also re-named the security key, passwords, etc. while doing this, and all now works well. Cheers.

This was frustrating to me because i called linksys and they didnt help. told me i had to pay. so this is wat i did to fix mine using windows 7. 1.Unplug router then plug it back in. 2. right click the conection 3. left click the connection 4. it will tell u to hold the wireless button on the router do that instead of typing your phrase. The internet will conect by itself and there u go. 5.If it doesnt work repeat step 1-5 Hope this solves your problems.

I had the same problem and just found out that Windows 7 is case sensitive. The security key is case sensitive.

With Me The problem was my security WEP key, in the ROUTER was in lower case. Once I made the key UPPERCASE in BOTH the router AND the laptop everything was fine.

Had the same problem with a Toshiba notebook. It wouldn't connect to the wireless netwerk no matter what. Desperate I changed the SSID and accesskey. I made it a WEP code with 10 x 0 as password, couldn't type that wrong, right? Tried a couple devices on this network, worked just great. However, the Toshiba just would not work. What I did was putting the wireless settings of another notebook, on which the network worked fine, on a flashdrive. I then installed these on the Tosiba and it would connect just fine.

try WPA2-AES instead of WEP. you will need to reconfigure the router. On Fri, 23 Jul 2010 08:13:06 +0000, Mmore wrote: > > >Had the same problem with a Toshiba notebook. It wouldn't connect to the wireless netwerk no matter what. Desperate I changed the SSID and accesskey. I made it a WEP code with 10 x 0 as password, couldn't type that wrong, right? Tried a couple devices on this network, worked just great. However, the Toshiba just would not work. > >What I did was putting the wireless settings of another notebook, on which the network worked fine, on a flashdrive. I then installed these on the Tosiba and it would connect just fine. Barb Bowman http://www.digitalmediaphile.com

So many suggestions here! Yet none of them worked for me! lol I managed to fix my problem though. I am on Windows 7 and it works fine on ALL networks I have ever connected to except an old wireless access point I have just started using at home. It only has WEP for encryption and I used 128bit. Under this, I could use manual hex key, the routers stringed passphrase, ASCII or a normal passphrase. I tried normal passphrase first but my computer would reject the passphrase I had configured in the router! For some reason it would only accept "admin" but the result was limited connectivity. I would reset the access point after each reconfiguration (through the configuration page, not physically). I solved my problem by using ASCII and having to use a 13 character key (that's annoying!) but hey, my computer didnt reject the passphrase and it has full connectivity now =)

I was having the same problem with my father-in-law's laptop. I use logmein free to work his pc's up in Montana from here in Texas. We wrestled with it for a couple of hours trying some of the above suggestions with no success. Finally I rebooted his router and everything worked fine. Someday I will learn to try the simple stuff first.

I had the same issue. I fixed the problem by taking one of the response's advice above. I went into the Network & Sharing Center. I saw that W7 had saved the initial WEP setting with my initial passcode. I had changed my mind regarding WEP, because it disabled my Wireless N, and only gave me "good" reception instead of "excellent". But I restored factory settings on the router (one of several times as I started to figure out what I was doing), and then attempted to change to WPA2-PSK so that I could have a much quicker internet - as instructions said that it would. However, it kept the older WEP setting in memory on the "Managed Wireless Networks", and the older WEP happened to be first in line for connection. So, when I entered the WPA2-PSK passcode and saved it, when I tried to get back online, it first attempted to connect with the WEP - and that was the old passcode, not the new one that I had changed it to for the WPA2-PSK. Therefore, I "removed" the WEP connection from the list of "Managed Wireless Networks", then I went back in and entered my password (by resetting again factory settings on the router) and voilà... it worked. It worked because there was no longer a mismatch between "networks" having differing securities and passcodes. I am sure that if I had both passcodes the same, it would have connected, albeit WEP. I hope my experience has helped any others out there with the same issues. It did take me a bit of time to figure it all out - but I learned a lot in the proces and will be available to help out friends who have the same issues. I feel like I am now ahead of the curve regarding routers, and I can see that I am a minority of people in my wireless range that have WPA2-PSK on N. Many still have G, and a few even have WEP. Cheers, palermodude

Hi, PLEASE BE SURE THAT WPS PIN AND PASSPHRASE ARE NOT THE SAME THING For instance, I was able to connect my vista laptop to my router with the wps pin (all numbers) while I connected my windows 7 netbook with the passphrase which was composed of letters. Good luck!

I was entering the security key as printed on the side of my router and it didn't work. I pressed the reset button and held it for 10 seconds and it connected fine when I entered the key again... Turns out that by doing that I reset the security key to it's default (the one printed on the router). If I had remembered that my dad had changed the security key months ago I could have entered that and it would have worked fine. So Before you press and hold reset, make sure the security key/password hasn't been changed at any time since getting it because hitting reset will restore the default security key to the one printed on the router.

I have the same problem but trying to connect to a range extender. I enter the correct WEP key but it still says there's a mismatch. I went to Manage Wireless Networks. It turned out it didn't show any security for that device. I entered a WEP Key, which is the same for the original wireless router, but it still says there's a possible mismatch. Should I configure the range extender with a different key password than the router? Should I change the range ext. from WEP to WAP or whatever other options there are? It has taken me many hours just to make the range ext. work. Now that I was able to configure it correctly with my XP machine, my Windows 7 is still making things difficult. Any suggestions? Jorge

For those who are still struggling with this issue...this is how i got around it. I am using Lynksys Wireless-G, my security settings are WEP... I struggled with this for over 2 weeks, i read all manuals and googled everywhere but nothing was of help untill this morning... It looks strange but i understand now thta it is not.... step 5,6,7 and 12 are the most important connect your laptop to your wireless router with ethernet cord(ensure proxy server IP add is not set) go into the router settings normally http://192.168.1.1/ you may be required to enter your credentials go in to the wirelss security settings enter your passphrase important: click on "generate" button and about 4 security keys will be generated copy one of these generated keys. save and apply and exit this window. Goto network and sharing center select "Manage wireless networks" delete any network reference listed that may conflict with the network you are connecting to. exit the window now with that that try reconnecting and when prompted for passphrase or security key paste the generated key that you copied from step 6 above then shout bingo...you should be home and try

WEP isn't safe. This isn't a solution that anyone should consider. Most likely you need to update the firmware in your old Linksys router to properly support at least WPA (WPA2 would be best). What exact model router and what firmware? On Tue, 21 Jun 2011 10:08:27 +0000, de Goldman wrote: > > >For those who are still struggling with this issue...this is how i got around it. I am using Lynksys Wireless-G, my security settings are WEP... I struggled with this for over 2 weeks, i read all manuals and googled everywhere but nothing was of help untill this morning... It looks strange but i understand now thta it is not.... step 5,6,7 and 12 are the most important 1. connect your laptop to your wireless router with ethernet cord(ensure proxy server IP add is not set) 2. go into the router settings normally http://192.168.1.1/ you may be required to enter your credentials 3. go in to the wirelss security settings 4. enter your passphrase 5. important: click on "generate" button and about 4 security keys will be generated 6. copy one of these generated keys. 7. save and apply and exit this window. 8. Goto network and sharing center 9. select "Manage wireless networks" 10. delete any network reference listed that may conflict with the network you are connecting to. 11. exit the >window 12. now with that that try reconnecting and when prompted for passphrase or security key paste the generated key that you copied from step 6 above 13. then shout bingo...you should be home and try Barb Bowman http://www.digitalmediaphile.com

Hi Nik, I also am working with Windows 7. If your problem is the same as the one I just fixed, you are lucky this is easy-peasy to correct. My wireless was working fine, but seemed slow, so I tried to go in and improve my router security. I kind of bumbled around, not exactly sure what I was doing, and afterwards I got the security key mismatch message. Oh no! How do I fix that?? :O This is so simple I hope it will work for you. The security key you type in at the wireless connection prompt is NOT the password you use to access your router. THis drove me crazy! The correct network security key is the "WPA Shared Key" from your router's wireless settings. To find this key, log into your router's home page. I use Linksys so hopefully this will be the same for you. From the router home page, click on "Wireless" tab; click on the subtab "Wireless Security". You should see this info: Security Mode: (such as WPA2 Personal) WPA Algorithm: (such as AES) WPA Shared Key: (lots of characters that look random) I copied the string of characters in the WPA Shared Key block. Then when I went to log into the wireless connection, I pasted the string and checked the block for it to remember that entry. A little less secure, but much easier than having to look up the key every time I want to log in. You should also confirm the settings on your wireless connection match the information from the Wireless Security tab of the router (that stuff I just listed above). To check it, click on "control panel", then "Network and Internet", then "Manage Wireless Network". Right click on your wireless network, select "Properties", select the "Security" tab. "Network Security Key" must match the router's wireless "WPA Shared Key" entry. So, a simple problem, I got the router's password confused with the router's WPA Shared Key entry. I hope this is helpful, sw

This works, I have just tried it, Thanks Stephen Doherty :)

Annoyingly, the information Netcomm provide you may be wrong. Check out: http://media.netcomm.com.au/public/assets/pdf_file/0017/74150/NP202Wn_How_do_I_Find_the_Wireless_Password_v1.4.pdf The password for newer units is actually "a1b2c3d4e5", not a 64 infront of the 6 digits in the SSID. Also you can go to that website and download a utility to change the password to something better.

Hi, This is the way I treated this on a Windows 7 64 bit because this is not happen on 32 bit. I when to wireless management and remove all wireless network saved in there and the one I want. I hope this work.