Supplicant question

[techmanblues]

Microsoft recently posted a free patch for its XP OSes. This is the supplicant for WPA. I am still not clear on what this does or exactly what is a supplicant compared to a firmware upgrade for the AP and adapter. I mean so with this patch, WinXP can understand WPA in its built-in "Zero Configuration" wireless client. But by client, what does it mean? Is it XP itself or both XP and the hardware adapter? Let's say a wireless adapter is not WPA ready but is complaint. All it needs is a firmware upgrade. Let's say I attach this adapter to XP that has this supplicant. What happens in this situation? Does the supplicant compensate the missing firmware upgrade? Or do I need both firmware upgrade and the supplicant to maximize the use of WPA?

Another question I have is which device does the encrypting/decrypting, the AP/client adapter or the PC itself?

[oshea85]

m$ posted answers to your questions; do a knowledge base search on WPA.

With most wireless hardware, the encryp/decryp is done in software; the only one (that I'm aware of) that does it in hardware is Cisco.