how do i setup a network with 2 laptops?

Question

i have got a router and both my laptops have wireless cards and i also have ethernet cables
but i prefere having a wireless network both my laptops have windows xp
can i have step by step instructions or links please
thanks

Answer 1

Have you installed the drivers for the wireless cards?
Have you got the WEP key handy?
What kind of router do you have? Make and Model?

Answer 2

Is this a wireless router? If not, get a wireless routher. Setup your wirless routher first and then install the wireless card in your laptop. Your router and card should have documentation how to install them. If you don't have them, check the website for installation guide. If you need on-hand assistant, go to http://craigslist.org Select your state and city. You will find local people who provides help like this.

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Answer 3

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2003/03/21/home_wifi.html
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810955/en-us
http://wireless-networks-only.com/

How to Setup Wireless Networking & Security in Your Home

Basic Hardware requirements:

1 Broadband connection point+broadband modem (Cable or DSL)
1 Access Point (I like the Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router)
1 Computer downstairs with wireless access capabilites
1 Computer upstairs with wireless access capabilites

When you connect your new access point for your wireless home,
you'll find almost every vendor's hardware works right out of the
box. Simple, 5 minute setup time they advertise and it's true more
often than not.

But, are you done with your wireless setup? The simple answer
is no, you're not! Let's look, though, why that answer is really
not so simple.

Depending on the hardware that you purchased, there are many
configuration changes that you could implement. Since we can't
possibly cover every piece of hardware on the wireless market
and every setting they may have, we're going to focus on wireless
networking as a whole. First thing, let's get that wireless
network some security. Now, while this won't be impregnable
security, it will add some layer of protection while we work
on the other parts.

Remember, security is like anything else, just one strategy doesn't
defend against every possible negative thing. We have to approach
this in a "multi-layered" way.

So we're ready for our first level of security. Let's log into
our wireless access point and add a WEP or WPA key (which one
depends on the hardware you bought. Some do both types of security
key, some only do WEP). We'll want to assign a 128-bit key (a 256-bit
key is preferable if your hardware supports it).

One point here though is that your wireless access point and
the wireless cards in your computers or handhelds must be able
to support the same protocol and encryption level you choose.

If they don't match, your device isn't getting connected. You
have to enter the same key on your computer's wireless card too.

Now, let's change our SSID (this is the wireless name of your
network). As an example, a Linksys brand wireless access point
(WAP) has a default SSID of LINKSYS. We don't want to leave it
this way. All the people that want to break into your WAP knows
that LINKSYS SSID has a default login of ADMIN with a password
of ADMIN.

You should think of something clever, but something not too
easy to break into. You'll also want to turn off broadcast of
SSID after you change it's name. That way sniffer programs that
look for SSID's won't be able to see your WAP is online. Some
examples of good SSID's are:

MEMBERSONLYTODAY
UCANTUSEME99
DONTLOOKNOWICAUGHTYOU38
GOAWAYYOUBOTHERME97
YOUCANKNOCKONLY66

Ok, we're on a roll. We have a few layers of security in place
(The SSID is changed, the channel we broadcast on is not default,
the SSID broadcast is turned off, we changed our WAP login/password).

Now let's get even more specific. We know we have X amount of
computers in our home (for example let's say 2, 1 desktop and 1
laptop). So in the DHCP IP section of our router, we can tell
the router to only issue 2 ip's.

That way if a third computer (one of our neighbors or someone) wants
to get on our network, they can't get an IP adress. Our last layer
is setting up the WAP to only issue IP addresses to specific MAC
addresses.

If you log into one of your computers and go to

start>run>cmd>and then type IPCONFIG /ALL into the dos window

One of the line items will be Physical address. Write down that
info, go back to your router administration screen and enter this
phsyical address. Only that MAC address can get one of your 2 IP
addresses.

Now go to your second machine (in this example) and do the same
steps. Only those 2 mac addresses will be sent one of the 2 IP
addresses.

Now, we've gone several layers deep to improve security on our
WAP and to keep intruders off the network. Most people will stop
trying if they have to defeat three layers of security, especially
for just a home network.

With this setup you have 6 layers and most likely won't see an
intruder. Keep in mind, each access point is different but these
basic settings are included in the major vendors (Linksys,
DLink, Buffalo, Netgear, Microsoft).

Enjoy your new wireless computing! Have fun but be safe!

Answer 4

you may need to buy a wireless station to attach to your router. I have a cable router for internet and my laptop is set up for wireless but I still needed to buy a wireless station to hook up to the router. My only other option was to use cables.