Can't quite figure this out...

I have a Mac mini with Airport built in. I have internet sharing turned on. I have a company issued Dell PC with built in wireless. I have VPN access.

I can see the my wireless airport connection when I open up 'view wireless networks' on my Dell. I can connect to the internet and VPN thru my Airport connection if it is unsecured. When I try to WEP/secure my wireless connection, Windows sees the secure airport wifi, but I cannot connect to it. Windows seems to go thru the process, and it asks me for a Network Key/WEP password? Now, I read somewhere that the password that Windows prompts me for is not the same as the one I initially set up for Airport, and that I'm supposed to go to the Airport Admin Utility.

I've come across things like this in my research...

'Remember that the WEP key will depend on the level on encryption been used, and if you are using 128 bit that the key will be a 26 digit hexadecimal number and not the plain text you used in the AEBS, unless the plain text password is 13 characters.

If you are using 64 bit encryption, requiring either a ten character HEX key (or 5 character plain text password) then you may want to upgrade to 128bit as there have been some reported issues with connecting a PC to a 64 bit encrypted AEBS.

If you enable WEP on the AEBS, you need to note down the Hex Airport Network Password, if you are using 128bit encryption this will be a 26 characters. If you open the Airport Admin Utility, you need to click a button called Password depending on which version of firmware you are using.'

This is all fine and dandy, but when I open up my Airport Admin Utility, there is no Password button in the window. It just has at the top 'Select Base Station' and below is 'other' and 'rescan' with 'configure' and 'multiple' both grayed out. If I try to select 'other', it just says to select the address and password of the other base station. There was also info about selecting 'Equivalent Network Password' up in the finder bar, but that's just grayed out too.

I don't know jackcrap about networking either on a Mac or a PC, but I'm not stupid. I just can't figure out where to go with this to get my secure network set up.

Can I get some help to guide me thru this?

Open Airport Admin Utility. Select your network from the list, and then hit Configure. At the top of the window that pops up is Password, click that, and it will give you your ASCII password, and your HEX password.

There's nothing in the list. There's nothing to click on.

It just has at the top 'Select Base Station'. Below that is 'configure' and 'rescan'. Below is 'name' and 'ip'. That's it.

Wait, are you using the mini as a gateway, or is there an airport base station involved too?

There's no base station. Only the mini. I'm not straight on the terminology. I have my broadband connection to the mini. Internet sharing is on in System Pref>Sharing. I'm piggybacking off my Mini's broadband connection with it's internal Airport so I can VPN with my wireless enabled Dell laptop.

Sorry for the confusion. The part about the base station above, I did not type - I just pasted what I had run across in some of my own research that seemed relevant.

Right so this is what youre doing so were on the same level on thinking here...
You have your internet directly connected to your mac mini through ethernet or usb modem
On the mac mini you selected create wireless network
Your dell then access's this network - however it wont because of the wep key

Right?

You are correct.

Here's the rundown. Cable modem/cable internet connection into ethernet port on Mac mini, with airport already internally installed, straight from the Apple store. In OSX, Sharing is turned on in Sys Pref>Sharing>Internet - Sharing connection from -built in ethernet- to computers using -airport-

I didn't select anything about 'creating a wireless network' on the Mac. I read a tutorial in Mac Addict or something that said I only needed to do what I typed directly above ^ Sys Pref>Sharing>Internet - share connex from -built in ethernet- to computers using -airport-

So -

My Dell connects wirelessly with no problem if I don't enable WEP encryption on the Mac, and I can access my work server, surf internet, etc. Dell laptop sees airport wifi signal as 'unsecured'

Once I enable WEP encryption, my Dell sees the airport wifi signal as 'secured', but when I click 'connect' in XP and it asks me for the network key, I enter in the password I chose in OSX for the WEP encryption, and the connection progress starts, but it does not connect. I did research about the password, and ran across some things that I posted above, about "equivalent network password'", "hex password", etc, but I'm unsure of what to do to resolve my problem. Some people say to go to Airport Admin Utility and click on certain things, but in my AAU, what I've been told to click on is not even there to click on.

I also found a post on here from some kid who had my exact problem, and how he ended up getting his wintel machine connected to his secured airport wifi connection, but the explanation as to what he did wasn't very elaborate.

Oh i get you, i had this problem when i set up a wep key
You are probs entering the key in to automatically sign the key box
I found that there are two box's... Manually assign box and as i just described

Its kind of hard to explain...
Just pm me or summin and il go into more detail