^WE - Set WEP Mode

^WE enables Wired Equivalent Privacy on the wireless card and stores up to four keys, of which one is active. The guide's own warning matters most: the four key arguments are positional, so the number of commas matters more than the keys do. A missing or extra comma stores a key in the wrong slot and can disable the wireless system outright. WPA must be off before the card can use WEP.

Syntax

^WEa,b,c,d,e,f,g,h

Support

Recognised, deliberately skippedparsed: none · state: none · rendered: none

Accepted and skipped, because it configures the printer rather than the label. It cannot change the rendered output, and Labelary skips it too.

Wireless link security, settled before any format arrives. The renderer does not parse this command. It reports IGNORED_COMMAND at info severity, which does not reach X-Warnings. Labelary is also silent, so the rendered label is identical in both engines. — not pinned by a test

Labelary renders this command.

Parameters

aEncryption modeoptional · one of a set

WEP key length, or off. WEP works only when WPA is off.

Default: OFF
Invalid value: not documented, and we have not measured it. The renderer does not parse or measure this command.
Test coverage: No documented value is exercised by a test (OFF, 40, 128).

OFF: WEP disabled (default)
40: 40-bit encryption
128: 128-bit encryption

bEncryption indexoptional · one of a set

Which of the four keys below is the active one.

Default: 1
Invalid value: not documented, and we have not measured it. The renderer does not parse or measure this command.
Test coverage: No documented value is exercised by a test (1, 2, 3, 4).

1: Key 1 (default)
2: Key 2
3: Key 3
4: Key 4

cAuthentication typeoptional · one of a set

Open or shared-key authentication. The guide notes that shared key resets to open when the encryption mode is OFF.

Default: O
Invalid value: not documented, and we have not measured it. The renderer does not parse or measure this command.
Test coverage: No documented value is exercised by a test (O, S).

O: Open system (default)
S: Shared key

dEncryption key storageoptional · one of a set

Whether the keys below are hexadecimal or strings.

Default: H
Invalid value: not documented, and we have not measured it. The renderer does not parse or measure this command.
Test coverage: No documented value is exercised by a test (H, S).

H: Hexadecimal (default)
S: String

eEncryption key 1optional · text

A 40-bit key is 5 hex pairs or 10 alphanumeric characters; a 128-bit key is 13 hex pairs or 26 alphanumeric characters. Hex keys take no leading 0x. The key arguments are positional, so the number of commas matters. A missing or extra comma stores a key in the wrong slot and can disable the wireless system.

Default: the key already stored in slot 1
Invalid value: not documented, and we have not measured it. The renderer does not parse or measure this command. The guide states no default, but its worked examples omit keys deliberately and keep the stored values.
Test coverage

fEncryption key 2optional · text

As key 1. An omitted key 2 keeps its previously stored value.

Default: the key already stored in slot 2
Invalid value: not documented, and we have not measured it. The renderer does not parse or measure this command. The guide states no default, but its worked examples omit keys deliberately and keep the stored values.
Test coverage

gEncryption key 3optional · text

As key 1. An omitted key 3 keeps its previously stored value.

Default: the key already stored in slot 3
Invalid value: not documented, and we have not measured it. The renderer does not parse or measure this command. The guide states no default, but its worked examples omit keys deliberately and keep the stored values.
Test coverage

hEncryption key 4optional · text

As key 1. An omitted key 4 keeps its previously stored value.

Default: the key already stored in slot 4
Invalid value: not documented, and we have not measured it. The renderer does not parse or measure this command. The guide states no default, but its worked examples omit keys deliberately and keep the stored values.
Test coverage

Behavior

The encryption mode changes what a key can contain. A 40-bit key is five hex pairs or ten alphanumeric characters; a 128-bit key is thirteen hex pairs or twenty-six. Hex keys carry no leading 0x.

A key the command omits keeps whatever its slot already held, which is why ^WE128,1 is a complete command: it activates key 1 and touches no stored key. To set key 4 alone, the guide writes ^WE128,4,,H,,,, followed by the key, with the empty arguments that hold the position.

The guide also notes that shared-key authentication resets itself to open when the encryption mode is OFF.

WEP is long obsolete, and none of it can affect a label. The renderer ignores this command and reads no arguments, so it stores and echoes no key. It reports IGNORED_COMMAND at info severity, which does not reach the X-Warnings header. Labelary is also silent, so the rendered label is identical in both engines.

Example

The guide's own first example: 40-bit encryption with key 1 set to the string 12345, leaving the index, authentication type and key storage at their defaults with commas holding their places. The label is unchanged by it:

^XA
^WE40,,,,12345
^FO40,60^A0N,50,50^FDWEP 40-bit^FS
^XZ

Open in viewer

^WL Set LEAP ParametersEnables Cisco LEAP authentication and sets the user name and password it uses.
^WX Configure Wireless SecuritySets the wireless security mode and its credentials.
^WS Set Wireless Card ValuesSets the ESSID, operating mode and preamble length of the wireless card.
^WP Set Wireless PasswordChanges the four-digit password that protects the wireless settings on the control panel.