Home Networking
"We just purchased a second computer and now we'd like to share the printer and Internet connection between them. How do I set up a simple home network?"
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Setting up Your Home Network
As society and technology change, it's becoming common for homes to have more than one computer. When an existing computer is a few years old, parents will often take advantage of today's lower prices, purchase a new computer, and pass the old one down to the kids.
Suddenly, there's a need for a home network, so all computers in the house can share an files, printers and an Internet connection.
Fortunately, setting up a basic home network is not rocket science. To start, you'll need a router which becomes the central point of your network. Most office and electronics stores offer home networking kits with a router, ethernet (network) adapters and CAT-5 networking cable.
If your computer was assembled in the past five years, it probably already has an ethernet adapter. Check the back of the system unit for a port that looks like a telephone jack, but slightly bigger.
If you don't have an ethernet adapter, you can purchase one (about $20) and install it yourself. You can also use a special ethernet adapter that plugs into a USB port, if you can't stand the thought of opening your system unit to install an ethernet adapter.
Wired or Wireless Networking?
You'll need to connect each of your computers to the router with a cable, or go wireless. If you want to use wireless connections, you'll need a wireless router and a wireless adapter for each computer. Most laptops have a wireless adapter built in, most desktop models do not. If you need a wireless adapter, you can purchase one that installs inside the system unit, or get a USB-style adapter.
Having a wireless network eliminates the need to string unsightly cables all around the house, but it can also create a security risk. Wireless networks are often configured by default to allow access to any computer that attempts to connect. So an Evil Hacker driving by with a laptop (or even your neighbor) might be able to tap into your Internet connection or poke around your hard disk.
Fortunately, wireless security encryption is easy to set up. See my article Wireless Security for step-by-step instructions.
Network Configuration
Whether the network signals travel through wires or through the air, network resources must still be shared so that other computers can access them. If you are running Windows XP or MacOS X, all you have to do is connect your computers and high-speed modem to the router, and Internet connection sharing should just work like magic. If not, restart the cable modem, router, and the computers (in that order) and see if that does the trick. If you can't access the Internet from one or more computers on the network, consult the manual that came with your router.
One nice side benefit of having a router is that they have firewalls built in to the hardware. Firewalls protect you by hiding your computers from network attacks, but still allow you to surf the web and handle email. So after installing a router, you can turn OFF the Windows firewall and any other software-based firewalls you may have running.
Sharing Files and Printers
Sharing files and printers on a Windows network is also pretty painless. To share a printer, go into the Printers section of the Control Panel, right-click the icon for the printer that needs to be shared, and choose Sharing from the resulting menu. By assigning a name to the shared printer, the owner allows other
computers on the network to access the printer by browsing using their Network Neighborhood (or My Network Places) icons. Access can be restricted to only some computers or users through the use of the Security or Permissions options on the Sharing screen.
The same concept applies for shared file and folders on a network. For example, if you want to share a collection of MP3 files on a home network, just browse to the folder using the My Computer icon, right-click the folder name and choose Sharing. After assigning a name to the shared resource and setting Permissions other computers on the network can access that resource via Network Neighborhood or My Network Places.
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Check out other articles in this category:Posted by Bob Rankin on January 12, 2006 03:56 PM
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Most recent comments on "Home Networking"
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Perfect timing Bob! Just bought a laptop as well as our desktop and as my husband and I are both completing a Masters degree this year we will be fighting over the broadband connection!! Off to the shops to get the bits...thanks for making networking so non threatening! |
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I've got the networking part down, but the printer sharing is being a real pain. The old computer is hosting the internet, while the second computer is a laptop conected via wireless. File sharing works fine, but the two USB HP Printers hosted on Windows ME does not allow sharing which I think is due to the new computer being XP Home, and requiring different drivers than the host computer of ME. I've tried installing the drivers directly on the laptop, and changing the port to the host ME computer, but the laptop still can't print. |
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I have a router and wired/wireless ethernet adapters with all of my PC's working. But... sharing my HP printer required the printer software be installed on every machine that uses it. Tourbus riders might run into that roadbump. I have tried to share "My Documents" and subfolders between XP machines with limited success. With multiple users on each XP machine, I can sometimes see the shared folders but none of the contents. And I cannot put anything into those folders without a write permission error. I end up copying files via a USB memory stick and saving myself the bother. WinXP firewalls are off and it shouldn't be so difficult to share files on my own home network. EDITOR'S NOTE: I've also noticed some flaky behavior in Windows XP networking. Works most of the time, which is sort of annoying! |
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I used to have a home network with 2 WinME pcs and everything worked OK, no problem sharing files. But since I got a new Pc with WinXP I couldn't get through to the WinME. I was getting crazy trying to find out why, until I found out it was due to the Norton Internet Security on WinXP, so I turned it OFF and then it worked fine again. So that is what I do now: when I want to access the shares on the other pc I turn it OFF and when I'm done I turn it ON again. I just wanted to let Bus Riders know about this in case someone has the same problem and can't find a solution. Thank you for all Bob and EDITOR'S NOTE: Yet another example of a software firewall causing problems... |
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Any problem networking a desktop WIN XP home wireless with a win98 laptop? EDITOR'S NOTE: In theory, no. But it seems that Windows networking is implemented with twine, bubblegum and magic spells. Your mileage may vary... |
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I followed your directions precisely to set up a wireless network printer.... but everytime I run Network Connections Wizard.... I go thru it all, but at the end, it says it could not create the network connection. What could it be from? Mcaffee? EDITOR'S NOTE: Possibly... you'll never know until you try without it. |
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does a computer need a built in modem if i have a wireless router EDITOR'S NOTE: You won't need a modem, but you WILL need a wireless adapter, either built-in, or USB pluggable. |
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I have two desktops and one laptop. The two desktops are wired, and the laptop is wireless. The wired computers share files, printers, etc. fine. The wired computers can not see the wireless, and vice versa the wireless can not see the wired. The wireless accesses the router and the internet fine, but will not see the home network even when searching for it with the network wizard. Any ideas are appreciated. EDITOR'S NOTE: Are the workgroup names all the same? |
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I have a Linksys wireless system that works fine for internet access. I have a desktop attached to the router and a an Epson printer. The desktop router is connected to a Cox cable modem. I have tried all of the recommended procedures to reach the printer from my laptop and no success. Windows wireless network setup, printer sharing, nothing. I got so far as having a name assigned to the printer (Printer3) by the laptop that also shows up on the desktop but I can't reach it. It doesn't show up on the laptops "Printers and Faxes" sheet. |
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