[Updated June 2011]
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Apple’s Time Capsule is a handy all-in-one Wireless Internet router, Networked Hard Drive, and Print Server. Primarily built to work with Apple computers, laptops, and peripherals it can work just as easily within your Windows environment. I’ll show you how.
Time Capsule can replace your small office or home router and offer additional features. The built in hard drive can be used as a backup spot or centralized shared drive. It has wireless capabilities so your laptops and visitors can attach wirelessly. Attach your USB printer and it now becomes a centralized networked printer that can be used by everyone.
If you are thinking to use Time Capsule as a backup location, you should consider an Online Backup Service which will let you backup to your Time Capsule – and put a disaster recovery copy in the Cloud at the same time.
What follows is detailed step-by-step instructions for setting up Time Capsule in your Windows environment. This is a long document and will take some time to work your way through. The instructions are the same for Windows XP, Vista or 7. [Note: These instructions are written as if you’ve just taken the Time Capsule out of the box and set it up for the first time]
Try our free one-page Quickstart Guide that provides an overview of the whole setup process. It’s the “quick and dirty” if you need to reinstall, or to get a quick overview of the whole install process. Click to view, or right-click to save.
(This guide is in Adobe PDF format for easy viewing. Your computer probably already has a reader for PDF files installed, but here’s the link to the free Adobe reader if you need it)
Step-by-step instructions1. Plug in the appropriate HDMI or RGB cables and then the Time Capsule power cable. (there is no power switch as this device is meant to be always on)
a. If you check your Wireless devices they should now see a device called “Apple Network XXXXXX“, which is the last six digits of the MAC address of your Time Capsule. (You can find the MAC address printed on the bottom of the Time Capsule)
2. Insert the CD that came with the Time Capsule and you will see the Airport setup screen that says “Welcome to the Airport Installer“. Click next.
3. Accept the License Agreement
4. Click Next at the information window that comes up.
5. Select where you want the files to be installed at the Installation Options window. C:\\Program Files\\Airport is the default and unless you have a reason to change this, simply click Next
6. When you see the Congratulation window, click Finish
7. A pop-up will appear asking if you want to connect or ignore. For now, chose Ignore.
8. Now go to Start, Programs, Airport, Airport Utility. Click OK to pass the Airport Utility information screen
9. If you receive a message to update the Airport Utility software, you should do so.
a. At the Apple Software Update window, uncheck the boxes for Mobile Me and Safari 4. You just want the update. Click Install 1 Item and click OK to the license that pops up.
b. When you receive notification that the software has been successfully installed, press OK, then press Quit when you are taken back to the Update Manager.
10. Now go back to the Airport Utility and it will search for Networks and Airport devices like your Time Capsule. If all goes well it should find the Time Capsule device
11. Notice that the IP address is 10.0.1.1, an unlikely address to be seen on Windows networks that often start with 192.168.X.X.
a. You will need to temporarily change the IP address of the computer you are using in order to communicate with this device properly until you can assign it an address that is within your subnet.
b. Go to Start, Control Panel, Network Connections and right-click on your Local Area connection
c. Click on Internet Protocol and click Properties. Most computers will be set up to obtain IP address and DNS automatically. If yours is different, write down the current settings so you can change back to them afterwards.
d. Click on Use the Following IP Address and enter 10.0.1.10 and a Mask of 255.255.255.0. You don’t need to enter anything else. Click OK, then Close at the Network Properties window.
e. NOTE: You will not be able to see any other devices or the Internet during this phase!
12. Now go back to the Airport Utility and update the Time Capsule firmware by clicking Update Firmware. You should receive a popup about services being temporarily unavailable. Select “Do not show this warning again” if you’re comfortable with knowing the Time Capsule will go offline temporarily each time you update the settings.
13. If all goes well you should now see the Airport Utility screen with a large green arrow in the center, click Continue
14. TIP: At Foreverwarm we always assign a static IP to devices other than desktops. We assign a wireless device (802.11x) using .11 as the fourth octet (eg 192.168.1.11). If you want to let the network assign the IP address automatically you can skip this section, go to Step 15.
a. Click Manual Setup.
b. Click the Internet icon at the top, then under the Internet Connection tab change Configure IPv4 to “Manually”. Enter an IP address that is unused on your network and the appropriate mask (probably 255.255.255.0). If you are not using this as your router, then add your router address and DNS server (usually either your internal server or the router IP). Then click Update
c. Change the default password to your network standard or something you can remember.
d. Click the SNMP over WAN option, and uncheck Allow SNMP over WAN
e. Click Unsecured Wireless Network and click Change Security. This will take you to the Wireless Tab. Make the appropriate changes and click Update. I would at least change the default Wireless Network Name (usually referred to as the SSID) and select a wireless security option such as WPA2 Personal.
f. This takes you back to the problems page, with the last issue being the ability to Configure the device over the WAN or Internet. If this is for a home then I would uncheck the box, however for small business with external technical support such as Foreverwarm does (and this device being used as a router) this needs to be enabled. Just make sure the administrative password has been changed and the technician knows what it is.
g. If you choose to allow Configuration over WAN then you must also check the box to Ignore this problem.
h. Now you will need to change your IP address back to what it was before, under Network Properties, in order to communicate with the Time Capsule again.
15. You should now be able to connect to the wireless portion of the Time Capsule, and the light on the front of the Time Capsule should be green. If not you need to go back to the Utility and fix whatever problems exist.
Time capsule will automatically create a Z: drive on the Windows computer(s) that the Airport Utility is installed. To map a drive on another Windows computer, follow these instructions:
1. From the Airport Utility, select the Airport Icon and the Time Capsule tab.
2. Change the Time Capsule name to something that makes sense, or follow your network standards.
3. Now move to the Disks Icon and the File Sharing tab. Change Secure Shared Disks to “With a device password” and enter the password.
4. Enter your Workgroup name, you can find this by right-clicking on My Computer, selecting properties and then the Computer Name tab. Your workgroup will show on this page.
5. Enter your WINS server name or IP address, if you have one, and click Update
6. If you are mapping a drive from the computer that is running the Airport Utility, select the Airport Base Station agent on your task bar and click the name of your Time Capsule. Under Action select Connect with Password, put in your password and click the Remember this password box. Click OK.
7. From any other computer, go to My Computer and in the address bar enter \\ (eg: \\timecapsule.local) Don’t forget to put the .local at the end or you may not be able to see the Time Capsule.
8. At the username/password prompt, enter the username “admin” and the password you used for Disks access.
9. You should now see the empty Data drive
10. If you want to map to this drive directly, right-click on it and select Map Network Drive. Be sure to select Connect using a different username and enter the username/password you used to get to the Time Capsule, in the format timecapsulename\username and your password.
If you’ve made it this far, CONGRATULATIONS!
If something didn’t go right and the Time Capsule is unavailable, go back and check the steps, or use the support options shown below.
There is no Apple Time Machine Windows backup software, however you can use any Windows based backup software such as Microsoft SyncToy. Simply select the folders you wish to back up and select the Time Capsule drive letter (eg Z:) as the destination.
You should also consider an Online Backup Service which will let you backup to your Time Capsule – and put a disaster recovery copy in the Cloud at the same time, or consider on of these options:
