Re: Connecting computers wirelessly
- From: "Twayne" <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2008 18:34:02 -0400
Malke,
That's a good post; clear and concise. I've no intention of hijacking
this thread; I think my question may apply to the OP also, so decided
I'd just jump in. I can repost & start a new thread if you or the OP
object.
Since I'm having similar issues, one part of your post confused me so
I'm asking for clarification.
You said :
" ... and/or 3) not having identical user accounts and passwords
on all Workgroup machines; ... "
Which I don't, and never have had, over the life of my wired home LAN
(around 3 years). The Workgroup name of course is the same on all
machines, but my XP account and sign on password on each machine are
different. Which seems logical to me, especially since each machine
isn't mine - e.g. there's mine, my wife's and a workshop machine. Each
is assigned to the workgroup "HomeLan" and the wired LAN works fine.
All I'm trying to do is switch the workshop machine to wireless.
It sees the signal, but cannot connect, leaving a simple message that
maybe the signal is too weak, refresh and try again. The signal is
always strong (it's a laptop in the same room right now). No
indications I can find of firewall or 3rd party interference. I'd
expect the wired machines and wireless machine to have similar problems
if it were firewall related anyway?
So ... I either misinterpret your meaning, don't understand what you
said, or wireless seems to want something that wired doesn't need;
namely the same accounts and passwords in each machine destined to
become wireless and the machine it wirelesses to.
Assuming I've made any sense describing the situation here, does it seem
to you that I am properly interpreting your meaning/explanation? Or is
there a difference between wired/wireless that I'm maybe not aware of?
Like I said, no intention to hijack here, so if this isn't a simple
answer, I'll repost to start a new thread.
Regards,
Twayne
Bill Ridgeway wrote:===> and/or 3) not having identical user accounts and passwords
I have a desktop computer and a laptop computer. Both will connect
into the
Internet via a wireless router. Is it possible for each computer to
be able to 'see' the other computer wirelessly and, if so, would it
be possible to
connect the computers wirelessly? If so,a link to a "how to do"
would be appreciated.
Both computers have Windows XP (one Home, one Professional) SP3.
You're talking about doing file/printer sharing on a Local Area
Network. The fact that the computers connect to the LAN (through the
router) wirelessly is irrelevant. Whether they connect wired
(ethernet) or wirelessly, it's all the same LAN.
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;
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
.
- References:
- Connecting computers wirelessly
- From: Bill Ridgeway
- Re: Connecting computers wirelessly
- From: Malke
- Connecting computers wirelessly
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