setting up a lan at home - please help

[Muad'Dib]

I've never done this before, so if I ask anything stupid, remember there's no stupid questions - only stupid people.

Ok, so I've got my DSL hooked up to my router and my desktop comp works just fine that way. I can go online with that computer with which I am writing this. That comp is running win2k.

The second computer I want to hook up is my laptop which is running winxp. I basically just plugged that into my router and turned on my comp and I'm not sure what else to do with it. I can ping the two computers and the laptop is assigned an ip number, but I'm not sure at all how to get the computers to shop up in the network neighborhoods of the other computer (I hope this makes sense). I also cannot get online with the laptop through the router.

Lemme know what other information you all need.

All help is appreciated. Thanks guys.

Dimitri

[Dilitante1]

set workgroup names to the same thing and you should be able to see each other PC....as for sharing resources...that is more involved

[Gurm]

Erm, you MIGHT be able to see one another. It really depends on your router.

Some routers provide DHCP but neither WINS nor DNS passthrough. This means that the two machines won't know each others' "names".

If this happens, the EASIEST solution is to just install IPX/SPX. The BEST solution is probably to hard-wire which IP address they get in the router, and then add them to each others' hosts file.

- Gurm

[Muad'Dib]

Thanks guys. I do have DHCP I believe with this router but I'm not sure what else you guys are talkin about. Actually, I don't know what DHCP is either, I just know that I've seen it on my desktop. Haven't seen it on my laptop though.

How do I install that?

[Technoid]

1. right click on the "network" icon in the tray (besides the clock )
2. Shose "open network......"
2.5 or just go into controllpanel and open network and remoteconection(my translation might be wrong )
3. Rightclick on "Conection to local network"
4. shose "Properties"
5. Mark TCP/IP and press "Properties button"
6. click advanced.
7. Shose "Wins" tab
8. mark "activate Netbios over TCP/IP"
9. Press on "OK" buttons untill your out on the desktop again

To do the Workgroup name:
open Controllpanel
open System icon
press Network ident... tab
press Properties button and enter workgroup name in the last field!
Press OK
And its done

[luni]

You might like this article for some general tips:

http://www.overclockers.com/tips1038/

[Muad'Dib]

well, guys, I've succeeded in getting my laptop to go online, although I've yet to succeed in getting the computers to see each other. They ping each other quite nicely if I may say, but I can't get them to show up either in the network neighborhood, or using the mapping thing.

Technoid, I'm lost on what you said cause I don't have a network icon onywhere that I've found yet....

If you can offer more suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
DImitri

[Gurm]

Muad'dib:

Have you tried adding IPX/SPX to both machines?

That'll tell you right away if it's a TCP/IP issue or a configuration issue.

- Gurm

[Muad'Dib]

"Have you tried adding IPX/SPX to both machines?"

I'm not sure how to do this. I don't see the options under the different connection options from the properties of my network connections. I do see that I have something that says TCP/IP protocols as an installed component or something like that. Is that what you're talking about Gurm?

On my laptop, I do not see any of this information. It just tells me the type of NIC that is there and that's about it.

Thanks,
Dimitri

[Technoid]

If you skip 1 and 2 and open the controllpanel and make it show all icons (old mode or something)
double click on the network icon (someone with english XP, please help me with those darn name, M$ translations are funny and translating them back to english again makes a mess)
then follow the instructions from 3.

[box]

AFAIK you have to create some shares, before the computers show up in each others network neighborhood.

[R.Carter]

I think that in order to see each other you will need to be in the same workgroup first.

Once that is done you then need to share something on the machines. Of course, you also need to make sure that people on the Internet will not be able to access these things as well.

I assume your router has a firewall that prevents people outside from seeing your machines.

The first thing to do is go to a command prompt and type the following command:

C:\Documents and Settings\User>ipconfig

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection (Internal):

Connection-Specific DNS suffix . : BLAHBLAH.COM
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.16
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254

You need to make sure that the subnet mask looks the same on both machines and that the first couple of digits of the IP Address is the same as well. Basically the mask tells you which digits need to be the same, in the above example the first three (i.e. 192.168.1) is the subnet and so need to be identical for all machines on the subnet.

If they are the same, then your TCP/IP stacks are configured properly.

To verify if DHCP is being used, just use ipconfig with the switch "/all" that spits out lots of info.

To get the computes to see each other using "File and Print Sharing" you will first need to configure both systems so that they are in the same workgroup.

In Windows XP go

Start > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > System

To bring up the "System Properties" dialog. Now go over to the "Computer Name" page. This dialog should show your machines name. You can change this stuff by using the "Change" button.

Pressing the Change button brings up the "Computer Name Change" dialog. What you want to see if the "Member of" box. It should indicate what Workgroup your Windows XP machine is in.

In Windows 2000 right-click on "My Computer" to bring up the "System Properties" dialog. Then click on the "Network Identification" page. Then press the "Properties" button to bring up the "Identification Changes" dialog.

Make sure that the Workgroup on the two machines is the same. If not simply change one so they match.

I think Windows XP and Windows 2000 by default have File and Print Sharing installed so once they are in the same workgroup they should see each other. Otherwise you will need to add File and Print Sharing to the network on one or both of the systems systems.

Now to test the changes just open Windows Explorer (NOT Internet Explorer) and then type \\MYMACHINE in the Address bar and that should cause the brower to attempt to connect to the other machine called "MYMACHINE". You should see the shared folders and printers on the machine (if there are any).

Or, you can use a Command Prompt and type the command "net view". That should show you all of the machines in the browser list. A "net view \\mymachine" will show shares on a particular machine called "mymachine".

Now that you have set up File and Print Sharing you need to worry about security.

I assume your router thingie has a firewall of some king that can prevent people from being able to see your internal network. You might want to ensure that the firmware on the router is up-to date and it is configured properly to block scanning or probing. You can to to www.grc.com (or some other sites) and use the scanner to ensure that everything looks okay.

Also, you might want to go here to learn about the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer. It's fairly useful for pointing out obvious things that you might want to look at.