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Networking with Windows Vista Networking issues and questions with Windows Vista. (microsoft.public.windows.vista.networking_sharing) |
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Need schooling on wireless home network
Hello,
I have Vista home prem. on Desktop Personal Computer no. 1, which has a wireless connection to the Zonet router in another room. DTPC no. 2, is connected to the router via ethernet cable and uses Windows XP SP3. The router is wired to the cable modem. I want to share files and a wired, usb printer between the two PCs. I made a floppy on the XP PC using the network wizard but it did not work when I tried to use it on the Vista PC. I searched google for setting up a wireless home "network" and found only what I already have and that is a wireless connection to a router, not what I consider a "network" setup. When I think of "network" I picture two or more PCs securely sharing data and printers. When I use the "Network" Setup Wizard in XP I wonder, does it mean "network" as in file and printer shareing between two or more PCs, or, does it mean simply establishing an internet connection? So, you see the problem I'm having and can hopefully provide some assistance. |
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Need schooling on wireless home network
*BUSY* wrote:
Hello, I have Vista home prem. on Desktop Personal Computer no. 1, which has a wireless connection to the Zonet router in another room. DTPC no. 2, is connected to the router via ethernet cable and uses Windows XP SP3. The router is wired to the cable modem. I want to share files and a wired, usb printer between the two PCs. I made a floppy on the XP PC using the network wizard but it did not work when I tried to use it on the Vista PC. I searched google for setting up a wireless home "network" and found only what I already have and that is a wireless connection to a router, not what I consider a "network" setup. When I think of "network" I picture two or more PCs securely sharing data and printers. When I use the "Network" Setup Wizard in XP I wonder, does it mean "network" as in file and printer shareing between two or more PCs, or, does it mean simply establishing an internet connection? So, you see the problem I'm having and can hopefully provide some assistance. You are making the common mistake that your wireless connection is separate from your wired Local Area Network. It is not. The fact that some devices connect to the Local Area Network wirelessly and others connect wired is irrelevant; they are all on the same Local Area Network and can therefore share resources if set up properly. Here are general network troubleshooting steps. Not everything may be applicable to your situation, so just take the bits that are. It may look daunting, but if you follow the steps at the links and suggestions below systematically and calmly, you will have no difficulty in setting up your 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/l.../bb727037.aspx For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see caveat in Item A below). You cannot run XP's Network Setup Wizard on Vista nor do you need to. 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/security program with its own firewall component, 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. Refer to any third party security program's Help or user forums for how to properly configure its firewall. 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 OptionsView 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. Malke -- MS-MVP Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic! FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ |