AirPort Express clients can‘t see my existing Ethernet network

Are wireless computers unable to see things on the wired Ethernet network that you connected to your AirPort Express, such as printers or other computers? It's not a issue-- you just need to know when the Ethernet port on your AirPort Express acts as a LAN port or a WAN port.
The detailed answer about LAN versus WAN is in the AirPort Express FAQ, but what it comes down to is this: The AirPort Express Ethernet port can either share your Internet connection (WAN) or bridge wireless clients to your existing Ethernet network (LAN), but not both at the same time.

Since AirPort Express is a fully functional wireless access point, it is set by default to share your Internet connection. Your existing Ethernet network probably already has a router sharing your Internet connection, so you simply need to follow these steps to switch AirPort Express into bridge mode:

  1. Be sure AirPort Express is still connected to your Ethernet network.
  2. Open the AirPort Admin Utility. On a Macintosh it's in the Utilities folder (/Applications/Utilities/). In Windows, it's saved in this path: C:\\Programs\\AirPort\\Admin.
  3. Select the base station, then click Configure to continue.
    Tip: The screen shots are from Windows. On a Mac you'll see the same choices.

  4. Select the Network tab.
  5. Deselect the checkbox for "Distribute IP addresses".

  6. Click Update.

That's it. In a minute, after the AirPort Express has time to restart, your wireless clients should be on your network.

Published Date: Feb 19, 2012