Lab recovery shows the correct municipal guest passphrase, yet the assessor's station still fails to associate. What should be checked first among common mismatches?

When lab recovery shows the correct municipal guest passphrase yet the assessor's station still fails to associate, check first for client configuration mismatches: confirm the client is joining the intended SSID with matching band and security mode settings. Wrong SSID twins, 2.4 versus 5 GHz confusion, and WPA2 versus WPA3 mode mismatches commonly block proof-of-join. Civic validation failures are often operational, not proof the crack lied.

'Assume the cracked passphrase is wrong whenever association fails once' fails because a single failed association does not prove the cracked passphrase is wrong—verify target settings first. 'Disable encryption on the AP so any passphrase will associate for validation' fails because disabling encryption on the AP is not an acceptable validation shortcut for municipal networks. 'Replace the capture file with beacon-only frames before retrying the connect' fails because replacing the capture with beacon-only frames does not help retrying the connect with a recovered PSK.

Exam caveat: proof-of-join troubleshooting is part of success criteria—not a reason to weaken production encryption. Operational check: match SSID spelling, BSSID if required, band, and WPA2-PSK settings on the assessor client; retry association; then fetch the intranet proof file. Screenshot the successful join for the civic evidence package. In municipal wireless operations, record the rationale in the engagement notes so future assessors know which control or technique class was chosen and which failure modes the rejected options would create for city services.