finishing setting up a network

  • Thread starter Thread starter DAZ
  • Start date Start date
D

DAZ

I am not real technical so if you answer please do so in
laymans terms.
I have a router and have two computers set up on it for
DSL access. The first computer set up on it is a
windows xp computer. The second computer has
windows 2000 professional on it.

Now what I am trying to do is set them up to share the
hard drives and printer and I am having no luck at all.

If someone can give me specific instructions I would
greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

DAZ
 
I will give you some links to read. A common problem is that the XP built in ICF
firewall [or any software firewalls] needs to be disabled for file sharing in
it's default setting. One of the first steps to troubleshoot a network is to
establish network connectivity. One way to do that is to use the ping command to
ping the other computer first by ip address and then by computer name. You can
find the ip address by running ipconfig /all in the command window. --- Steve

http://www.wown.com/
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/broadbandnetworking/10_concept_workgroups.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/broadbandnetworking/10_concept_printer_share.m
spx
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/broadbandnetworking/10_concept_file_share_setu
p.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/broadbandnetworking/10_concept_file_share_work
ing.mspx
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=813936
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q258717
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;300986
 
If possible, upgrade the Windows2000 machine to XP
as the process is easier to manage with just one platform.

These instructions assume you don't need any form
of network security within the home (e.g.: you aren't afraid
of the kids getting in to your documents). If you do, you should
not do it this way.

1) In control panel, open network properties and set the
"workgroup" names on both computer to be the same
(if they aren't already "WORKGROUP"). This is
under Advanced... Network Identification.

If you have to change this you'll need to reboot the machine.

2) Enable the "guest" account with a blank password on both
computers. Under XP Pro and Win2000 Pro you get there by
right-clicking on "My Computer", selecting "Manage", and going
to Users and Groups. You don't need to reboot.

3) Right-click a printer or folder you want to share and choose
"sharing". Enable sharing.

In XP you may need to set the share "permissions" to get read/write
access from everywhere, but try it first without that and post back
if you have problems.

In most cases, the above is enough to get the computers
talking as the default Windows setup includes the sharing
service. It may take a few minutes before the computers "see"
each other in network places.

And, XP Home is somewhat different as far as enabling the
guest account -- check the built-in help for that.

Enabling the guest account does open a security hole, so it is
especially important that you be running a NAT router and/or
personal firewall, and antivirus. These things are pretty much
essential anyway.

Steve Duff, MCSE
Ergodic Systems, Inc.
 
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