This update resolves the IEEE 802.1x Authentication Cannot be Enabled on Computers Running Windows 2000 issue and is discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) Article Q313664. Download now to install 802.1X authentication on your computer.

On computers that are running the versions of Windows 2000 that are listed earlier in this article, you cannot enable IEEE 802.1x. If you connect to an IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network without 802.1x authentication enabled, the data that you send is more vulnerable to attacks such as offline traffic analysis, bit flipping, and malicious packet injection. 802.1x is an IEEE standard that greatly reduces the security vulnerabilities that are associated with 802.11 by using standard security protocols, centralized user identification, authentication, dynamic key management, and accounting. You cannot enable 802.1x authentication on computers running Windows 2000 because support for 802.1x is not provided by default in Windows 2000. Therefore, the associated user interface (the Authentication tab) does not appear in the Network Connection Properties dialog box. Download Windows 2000 Patch: IEEE 802.1x Authentication Cannot Be Enabled On Computers Running Windows 2000