Trying to setup network so I can share printer

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Guest

Not sure if this is the right place to ask - I have just purchased a laptop.
I already have a desktop with printer attached. I wanted to setup a network
that will allow my laptop to get on the internet and be able to print via the
desktop.

I have an internet connection through Bigpond ADSL. I have just purchased an
D-Link ADSL router that will allow both my desktop and laptop to access the
internet. This seems to be working correctly as I can access the net on both.

I have gone to the printer section on my desktop and selected sharing. There
is a hand under my printer so i thought that had been done correctly. Is
there anything more I need to do to this printer?

I have tried to setup the host computer (desktop) using the network setup
wizard but keep on getting a message at the end saying it is "Unable to
complete wizard" and "error configuring network". I have gone to the Help and
Support audio tutorial for Networking and have tried what it has suggested. I
have found the following differences on my desktop - when it says to select
internet connection and to select "msn internet access" from the list I don't
have that option on my desktop. My only options are "Local area connection"
and "1394 connection". How do I get the "msn internet access"?

I also thought I better add - in the help and support section I have tried
Network Diagnostics and scanned my system. It has said WMI error for Internet
Explorer web proxy, all of the subheadings under Computer Information and
Modems and Network Adaptors. "Unable to connect to WMI service "\root\cimv2'
Could this be the reason why I can't finish the network setup wizard? How do
I fix this?

The network setup works correctly on the laptop. When I go to see what other
computers are in that workgroupI have found two folders - one for the laptop
and one for the desktop. How could that be if there was an error setting up
the desktop?! I'm a little confused.

I have also tried to join these two computers by Incoming Connections. I
thought I had done it correctly on my desktop but when I go to do the same
"advanced connection" setup on my laptop and wanted to select the option of
"connecting to another computer" the section is grayed out. The only option I
have is to "allow connections to my computer". I thought that option was only
available if you wanted to use the laptop as the host.

I hope I haven't confused you all. All I wanted to do was to connect my
laptop up to the other computer so I could share the printer. I feel very
stupid and frustrated as I don't seem to be getting anywhere. If I have
created several "networks" as a result of me doing the network wizard too
many times how can I delete them from both computers and start from scratch?

Thankyou in advance for any help.
 
Thanks for the link - it looks as if that's the way I want to go but I still
have a query.

I decided after all my meddling tryng to setup networks that my best bet was
to restore laptop to factory settings so it has a clean slate and then system
restore my desktop to the day before I bought the laptop just so that that
was on a clean slate too. I then thought I would run Network Diagnostics from
the help section to check if maybe what I did had it had fixed the WMI error
on my desktop that it had shown before - but it hadn't. Could I have had
this problem with my system and networking before I even started trying to
setup my laptop? Or did I create it with all my meddling?
I think I will need to address this error before I even consider trying
what the link suugested and connecting without the internet. I'm guessing
that if i go to setup new home network now to try and setup a new home
network (so I can share workgroup as outlined in the link), I will get the
same error message until the WMI error is fixed.

Also, the link you gave me had advice that made sense and outlined steps to
follow but how do I do it? I feel really stupid here as I don't know where to
go. Help!
- Where do I get IP settings for both computers and find out if they use
same static IP address and common subnet mask?
- How do i check that both wireless network cards are in ad-hoc mode. Is the
wireless network card in my desktop the 1394 net adaptor?
- How do I check that the wireless cards are configured using the same
settings?

Can I get all this info that the link outlines from the page that I went to
when first configuring my desktop to my D-Link ADSL router? That seemed to
have these types of numbers on it but I thought that the router had only
been setup so I could access interent for both desktop and laptop. Can I use
it for non-internet connections too?

Please help. I would welcome any assistance. I am keen to learn how to do
this and feel quite embarrased by my lack of knowledge on this.

Thanks
 
Wow.... I'm probably about to show my networking in-capability here, as I've
never tried to persuade anyone that I'm the expert but...

The TCP/IP addresses for both PCs should be assigned by the router. There
is no need to use static IPs for each unless you really want to. If you
enable DHCP for the router, then it will assign the TCP/IP address to each
computer.

The IEEE1394 entry in your notebook is firewire and although is can be used
for networking, it is far more usually used for connecting external drives
or a digital camcorder.

The Router can be used with or without internet connection. The internet is
not compulsory for any home or office, and although I wouldn't like to be
without it, I'm sure there are some places out there that are perfectly
happy not being connected!!!

When you have a moment online, you can start at:
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/networking/

And the MVPs in the networking newsgroup can assist with any queries, they
are real gurus!
 
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