Ivan said:
hi,
I just bought a Vista Acer Laptop its got a network card also a 802.11b/g
Wlan
i also have another Benq laptop with similar card.. but running Xp on
it... i just need to know how to link them together??? DO i use a network
cable or cross over cable and then??
Or if i buy wireless network not sure how that works
Im pretty good with computers just networking not my thing i appreciate
your help
The best and easiest solution is to purchase a wireless router. That way you
get Internet connectivity to both machines and the added benefit of some
more security between you and the Internet. Then you set up your wireless
network securely, and then you set up file/printer sharing. Below is
information about setting up a router and also doing networking. It looks
lengthy but don't be daunted. Setting up a router and Local Area Network
sharing between two computers takes approximately 15 minutes.
A. Router configuration
Setting up a router is quite simple. Normally you run the CD that came with
the router and follow the instructions. If you're running Vista perhaps the
CD that came with the router won't work; I don't know this. But you can set
up the router without a CD. Note that if you have cable Internet, for the
connection you just set the router to do DHCP (or there may even be a
choice of cable for you to select). If you have DSL Internet, you usually
select PPoe and enter the username and password which you chose when
originally setting up the DSL connection. So:
1. Turn off the power to your cable modem.
2. Attach a cat5e ethernet cable (usually provided with the router) going
from the router's Internet/WAN port to the cable modem's ethernet port.
3. Attach a cat5e ethernet cable going from your computer's network adapter
to one of the ports on the router. If you don't have an ethernet cable
(because you were using USB), you will need to go to the store and buy one.
4. Turn on the cable modem. After all the lights are on, turn on the router.
To configure the router:
Have a computer connected to the router with an ethernet cable. Examples
given are for a Linksys router. Refer to your router manual or the router
mftr.'s website for default settings if you don't have a Linksys. Open a
browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox and in the addressbar type:
http://192.168.1.1 [enter] (this is the router's default IP address, which
varies from router to router so check your manual)
This will bring you to router's login screen. The default username is left
blank and the Linksys default password is "admin" without the quotes. Enter
that information. You are now in the router's configuration utility. Your
configuration utility may differ slightly from mine.
Click on the Administration link at the top of the page. Enter your new
password. WRITE IT DOWN SOMEWHERE YOU WILL NOT LOSE IT. Re-enter the
password to confirm it and click the Save Settings button at the bottom of
the page. The router will restart and present you with the login box again.
Leave the username blank and put in your new password to get back into the
configuration utility.
Now click on the Wireless link at the top of the page. Change the Wireless
Network Name (SSID) from the default to something you will recognize. I
suggest that my clients not use their family name as the SSID. For example,
you might wish to name your wireless network "CastleAnthrax" or the
like. ;-)
Click the Save Settings and when you get the prompt that your changes were
successful, click on the Wireless Security link which is right next to the
Basic Wireless Settings link (where you changed your SSID). If you have a
newish computer, you will be able to set the Security Mode to
WPA2-Personal. Do that and enter a passphrase. The passphrase is what you
will enter on any computers that are allowed to connect to the wireless
network. WRITE IT DOWN SOMEWHERE YOU WILL NOT LOSE IT.
At this point, your router is configured and if the computer you were using
to configure the router is normally going to connect wirelessly, disconnect
the ethernet cable and the computer's wireless feature should see your new
network. Enter the passphrase you created to join the network and start
surfing.
*****
B. File/printer sharing
Excellent, thorough, yet easy to understand article about File/Printer
Sharing in Vista. Includes details about sharing printers as well as files
and folders:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx
For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see
caveat in Item A below).
Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused
by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including a stateful
firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the
built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having
identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying
to create shares where the operating system does not permit it.
A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN)
traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing File/Printer
Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network Setup Wizard on
XP will take care of this for those machines.The only "gotcha" is that this
will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a
third-party firewall or have an antivirus with "Internet Worm
Protection" (like Norton 2006/07) which acts as a firewall, then you're
fine. With third-party firewalls, I usually configure the LAN allowance
with an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you
would substitute your correct subnet. Do not run more than one firewall. DO
NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY.
B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This
is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.
C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not
need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords
assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just
need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE
PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES. If you wish a machine to boot directly
to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you
can do this. The instructions at this link work for both XP and Vista:
Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm
D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab).
E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users' home
directories or Program Files, but you can share folders inside those
directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents folder.
See the first link above for details about Vista sharing.
F. After you have file sharing working (and have tested this by exchanging a
file between all machines), if you want to share a printer connected
locally to one of your computers, share it out from that machine. Then go
to the printer mftr.'s website and download the latest drivers for the
correct operating system(s). Install them on the target machine(s). The
printer should be seen during the installation routine. If it is not,
install the drivers and then use the Add Printer Wizard. In some instances,
certain printers need to be installed as Local printers but that is outside
of this response.
*****
Malke
