Mac OSX - Use your old Airport, Airport Extreme or Time Capsule to extend your network

If you have an old Airport, Airport Extreme or Time Capsule and want to use it to extend a wireless network you already have setup (with some other brand wireless router), then you can follow these steps to get it working. It took me several weeks to figure this out, so I thought I would share to help you avoid doing what I almost did (which was take my 14 pound sledgehammer to my Time Capsule).

Step 1. Take a deep breath, and forget everything you read online about Apple wireless routers not supporting this feature.

Step 2. I will assume you are using OS X Mountain Lion or higher, if so you need an older version of the Airport Utility. Specifically you need Aiport Utility version 5.6. IMPORTANT: Do not try to install it, it won't work, just download it for now. You can get it here: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Step 3. Get Pacifist, its shareware but you can use it for free. If this helps you, be a good person and send the developer some cash. Full disclosure, I don't know the developer but did find the software a God send. You can download it here: http://www.charlessoft.com/

Step 4. Use Pacifist to open the Airport Utility you just downloaded. Drag the Aiport Utility 5.6 to your desktop.

Step 5. Close any Aiport Utility programs you have open.

Step 6. Open Airport Utility 5.6 and find your desired Time Capsule, Airport, Airport Extreme.

Step 7. When you are in the Airport Window, when you select the wireless mode, hold down the Alt/Option key and you will see "Join an existing network". Select this option and enter in the information for your network.

Step 8. Now you can save the settings and you should be good to go!