Making a computer be "seen" by others..?

Question

Whats the quickest way to share files/printers between computers sharing the same wireless router?

Windows xp - no a drive by the way ..

Many thanks as always guys ..

Samantha

Answer 1

Windows has built in file sharing over a local area network.

Look for windows wizards to set up file and printer sharing. In My Network Places, there should be a link on the left to "Setup a home or small office network" and that should guide you through the set up process.

The most common reason that this doesn't work is that a PC firewall is blocking access to the local network. So make sure that your firewall "trusts" the local network.

Answer 2

Dear "Sam",

Print this out so you will have a hard copy to use while you are going through the processes.

I have a 5-computer, 3 printer, 1 scanner/fax network, so I think I can help you. I use a Linksys wireless router, and 4 of my 5 computers and 2 of the 3 printers are using the wireless features, using a wireless card and antenna that I installed. My HP printer came with a wireless card already installed

My main computer in my living room is "hard-wired" into the back of the router using an ethernet cable. I have a "Secure" network that uses ENCRYPTION so that hackers can't drive down my street with their laptops and hack into my system, (or cheap neighbors that don't want to pay for their own high-speed access) and I suggest you do the same if you haven't already done it. There is a menu in your router's setup that will allow this.

Each machine that is using the wireless in your home also needs to be secured, using the same "Site ID" and password. When I setup my wireless here, I saw my site ID, along with 2 other signals from networks in the neighborhood that my wireless cards were picking up. One wasn't even secured!!! Change your default channel# and Site ID to something other than what the factory setting is. Mine WAS "linksys", and NOW it's "dadsnet". These hackers know what the default channel is and the default names are. So, please use the encryption feature to protect yourself and your brand new network!

Now, let's setup you home network...

Since you don't have an "A:" drive, it will take a little longer because Windows has a neat program that will take your settings, then write them to a Floppy disk, and you can just go to each machine in your network and copy the files right off of that Floppy. In your case, you will just have to do the setup manually on each machine in your network. No problem, it'll just take aa little longer.

Be prepared to give each machine in your network a unique name, such as "LivingRoom", or "JoesRoom", or "NetHub", and then sign into an account that has administrator priviledges.

The first thing you have to do is make sure you have the home network actually setup using the Windows Home Networking Wizard. Follow the instructions that will be given. There will be an opportunity to look at several diagrams of home networks to see which one resembles your particular setup. Look carefully at each example and then select the one that represents yours.

My guess is that going from the telephone wall socket, you have the modem connected, then it goes to the router, and then to your "main" machine.

Once you have established unique names for each, we'll setup the network printers:

Walk over to each machine where the printers are PHYSICALLY attached to a computer in the network. Sign in as a user with administrator priviledges and go into the control panel on each machine like this:

Start>Settings>Printers and Faxes

You will see a list of printer(s) attached to that particular computer. Right-click on the printer you want to share on the network, then click on the "properties" link.

A small window will open then look across the top for the tab that says "Sharing". Move the mouse down to the button that says "Share This Printer", click it, then give it a unique name, such as "Epson_LivingRoom", or "HPDeskjet". This will be the "shared-name" other users on your network will see when they go to print something.

Another thing while to do while you are in the printers menu: Each machine can choose a "default" printer to send documents to. Go here:
Start>Settings>Printers and Faxes

Go to each machine in the network and do this:
Once you are there, Left-Click on the printer that you want as your "default" printer. When the new window opens, click on the top bar where it says "Printer" and when the drop-down menu pops up, left-click the name of the printer that you want as the default printer for that particular machine. It should put a checkmark next to the line (in the drop-down menu) that says "Set As Default", and you're all set.

Now, to set the folders on each machine that you want to share:

You will have to do the following procedure for each folder that you want to share with other users on your network. And, you will have to repeat this ON EACH MACHINE that you want to share folders with in your network.

Click on "My Computer" and Click on the C: Drive and navigate your way to each folder that you want to share with the network. Right-click on the folder's name and when the small window pops up, go to the top bar and click on "Sharing". Then, select the buttons in the middle that allow sharing of that folder. The name you give that folder will appear in your "Network Places" Icon on your desktop. Use names such as "Docs in livingroom", or "Photos on Joes Computer". It sounds like a long process and pretty involved, but it is really pretty simple. It's just going to take a little while to set all of the folders the way you want them to be.

If you have any more questions, you can email me here and I will try to answer them. Man, oh man, I hope I've covered everything!

Good luck.
Mack