Changes to the 802.1X-based wired network connection settings in Windows XP Service Pack 3

This article discusses the changes that have been made to the 802.1X-based wired network connection settings in Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3). This article also includes information about how Windows XP SP3 stores the wired network connection profile information.

In versions of Windows XP that are earlier than Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), the built-in 802.1X-based wired network connection uses the AuthMode and SupplicantMode registry entries to determine the following:

• The type of authentication that must be used.
• How the computer must behave upon authentication.

However, in Windows XP SP3, the wired network connection settings are defined as a separate service from the wireless network connection service. In this new service, all the wired network connection profile information is stored in XML files. Therefore, the AuthMode and SupplicantMode registry entries are no longer used in Windows XP SP3. The settings that these registry keys define must now be added directly to the profile.

The default value for the supplicant mode in Windows XP SP3 for a client that uses a wired network connection is 3. In this setting value, the client sends an Extensible Authentication Protocol over LAN (EAPOL)-Start message for each change in user context.

The default value for the authentication mode in Windows XP SP3 for a client that uses a wired network connection is 1. In this setting value, the client uses a combination of computer and user credentials for authentication. To enable computer-only authentication, you must add the appropriate settings to the XML file for the wired network connection profile.

For more information how to enable computer only authentication for an 802.1X-based wired network connection in Windows Vista, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about the AuthMode and SupplicantMode registry entries, visit the following Microsoft Web site: