Can I use my wireless router to network my laptop to my PC?

Question

My PC has a wireless PCI adapter installed. My laptop came with wireless already installed. Both computers are connected to the internet via the router and cable modem. How do I access the PC from my laptop?

Answer 1

You need to run the Windows Network Setup Wizard. This is the final step of setting up your network. Once you do this you can share files and printers between the laptop and the PC.

I am assumming you have the router and both computers adapters completely configured and the security set up. Either WEP or WPA.

Click-Start-All Programs-Accessories, then make sure you are in classic view and select Network Setup. Open by double clicking or right clicking and then choose Open. The Wizard will open. I suggest you do this first on your PC, then the laptop.

Follow the setup wizards directions. Two main issues: 1. One page will show one or two "network cables disconnected" warnings. One is the Ethernet card the other would be a firewire card. The firwire, if you have one, shows up as a network connection with disconnected cables. Put a check box in the lower box "Ignore disconnected cables". Click OK or continue or whatever gets you to the next page.

Now, the second thing is you need to put a different computer name for each computer but the SAME workgroup or network name for each computer. This is VERY important. If you do not have the same workgroup name your computers will not be able to talk to each other.

Oh, I nearly forgot. When you do the wizard, make sure any printers or other devices you wish to share between the laptop and the PC are all turned on. When you finish the wizard all the devices will then be shared and you can use them right away. You may need to install drivers to use one on the host computer but it will prompt you and you just follow the instructions.

You will come to a page which summerizes your settings. Look them over and then click OK. You are now set up as a home network. You can put shared files into your network places and you can access them from either computer as long as the comptuers are both turned on.

If you wish to access files without having both computers turned on all the time, or have the printer run without the PC being on all the time, you can get a Print Server and hook it up to the Network. You can look them up on the net, and make sure it is compatable with your router and you will need the MAC address to put into the router configuration setup page, but then if wait to do the network setup wizard after it will be on the network too as soon as you finsh it. I like using print servers so I don't have to have the host computer turned on to use which ever one I need at a given time.

Anything else you wish to add to your network later on will require the MAC address which is just the Media Access Control Adress better known as the MAC Adress of each hardware device you hook up to the network. Again, each needs to be compatable to the router and use the exact same type of encryption either WEP or WPA.

Good luck finishing your network hookup.

Listen, shares won't do you a bit of good until you do the Network Setup Wizard as I instructed. If all these answers are confusing you get this book: "Absolute Beginners Guide to Home Networking". By Mark Edward Soper. It has everything you need to know and is an easy to understand and follow book. I reccommend it to all I know who need a bit of assistance. Again, good luck! :-)

Answer 2

The answers above are providing information on sharing a folder, which ofcourse pretty simple, just rightclick a folder and share it.

But what you may want to do is completely take over your pc from your laptop so that you have the desktop from the pc on your laptop and you basically never need to go to the pc again. For this inside Windows is a program called Terminal Services (RDP). http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/terminalservices/default.mspx
it is in most Windows versions available.

Then again, you might want to have multiple environments installed on your pc e.g. several linux environemnts, several windows environments (e.g. one for developing C#, one for gaming, one for surfing the internet). Microsoft now releases Virtual PC 2004 as a free download, if you install this on the pc you will have multiple environment to connect to. If you combine it with your laptop remote access you can run multiple environments from your laptop and directly switch between them. In this way your laptop could be a clean os and you just connect to several virtual environments, where your pc is attached to a larger storage area where multiple virtual images are present.

Answer 3

Right Click on My Computer, Manage Computer. There is an option for shares, you can share out a specific folder from here, or setup the same user you login with on your laptop and give it permissions to the desktop. then connect using the desktop name \\desktop\c$ (c$=admin share) and you should have full access to your hard drive.

Answer 4

yes, but you don't have a DNS server to do name resolutions so you will need to network them using ip addresses. Go to start then run and type cmd then at the command prompt type ipconfig and that will tell you the ip of each machine and map accordingly, make sure firewalls are off

Answer 5

You can use Windows Explorer, ftp, telnet, remote desktop to access your PC from laptop when they are connected.
You need to know the hostname/IP of PC you are going to connect.

Answer 6

Set up a network share on your PC.
Find the network name or ip address of your computer.
Go to start>run type //ipaddress or
//computer name
then push ok
to get the ip address go to
start>run type in ipconfig

Answer 7

http://larve.net/people/hugo/2000/10/wireless-lan
Yes, you can. Its very simple, the link above will show you a step-by-step process and some nice and explanatory pictures.