Setting up a wireless LAN..help needed

[Fred_Flintstone]

Hello people..

The situation is thus...

Got 3 PC's two running XP Pro the other XP Home.
Netgear DGB111G Wireless router
2 x IEEE802.11g Wireless LAN cards

What I need to do is set up a LAN between the 3 PC's and share internet access.

I have tried, and got internet on the one PC which is hardwired to the router, but I can't seem to get the other PC's to "show" in my network places.

Same thing from the remote PC, can't "see" any others.. confusing.. :confused:

This is my first foray into networking so don't know a thing about it..would appreciate some info/pointers/links etc to help me get my head around it!!.. :rolleyes:

Position at present:
I have reset the router to factory defaults in case I have inadvertantly altered some setting which has caused the problem.

I have internet access from the PC (this one) which is wired to the router.
Any thoughts on first steps I shoud take?? :D

Thanks in advance..

Fred

[Erik]

Are the wireless PCs laptops or desktops? When you turn them on have you configured and installed everything properly for the wireless cards? You see no yellow exclamation marks under network adapters in Device Manager?

Do you see your wireless network as an available network? When it was setup but not working were you ever able to get internet on all PCs involved? If you get internet connectivity on all PCs, but they don't see each other that is a good thing! It means they are in fact connected, but likely WIndows Firewall is keeping them from being able to transfer files. If not we need to do some work.

[Fred_Flintstone]

All desktops.. have only got the 2 connected at the moment. thought it best to just get the connection going between them ..then add the other afterwards!

As for configuration.. I THINK it's done ok.. but not sure.. :confused:

Network adapters in device manager seem ok..

PPPoEWin Miniport
VIA Compatible Fast Ethernet Adapter..no problems.

Can't see remote PC from this one which is hard wired to wireless router.
Got internet ok on this PC.

From remote PC..can detect the LAN, but can't connect??
No internet..no shared folder etc!

Think possibly I have completely ballsed up this installation and need to start again from scratch??.. I have reset the router to factory settings.. what do I need to do to the PC's as regards settings for sharing and access etc?
Please keep the technical stuff between the levels of "Moron and idiot".. so I can keep track!.. :D :D :D

[Erik]

Well a couple of things to try.

For now lets just forget about security all together and get the wireless working, and then secure it once it is up. This eliminates at least one potential problem area. First off change the SSID on the router. This will make it easy for you to identify your wireless network in case there are others in the area.

Then go to one of the PCs you want to connect with wirelessly. When it is on there should be a little icon in the tray near the clock for the wireless networks. Double click on that icon and it should show you all of the available networks. Your new different SSID network should be listed. You can then click the little box that sets it as the preffered network and to connect automatically when in range.

Also you can try running the wireless network setup wizard from within Windows. It will basically take you through the same steps, but for some it makes it easier to follow. The biggest thing you need to find out at this point though is if you are able to get the wireless signal at the other PCs. Without that you will be getting nowhere.

[Fred_Flintstone]

Reconfigured a bit ..
Shifted the router upstairs to obtain best signal on both PC's.
Got strong signal and shared internet on both computers now.. :D

Any thoughts now regarding best practice for security / file sharing etc??

Regards,
Fred. :cool:

[Erik]

For security it all depends on how serious you want to get. Personally I like layers of security. Disable SSID broadcast. Use MAC address filtering to allow only wireless clients you choose. Use WPA-PSK for encryption/authentication. That should do pretty good at keeping people out of your network.

Security from within is another story. XP Home has a lot less options for security than Pro, but is still pretty good. I would just setup a shared folder or two on each PC, and share those across the network. Don't share a whole drive or any important folders. If you like you could also go and share out folders that each limits which user has access to them if you want to. It gets more complicated, and really wouldn't work with XP Home.

[Fred_Flintstone]

Will do as you suggest..
Any ideas on how to limit internet access to specific usernames?
I have young(ish) children who I don't allow internet access to (not unsupervised that is)..they have their own user account, but when I log on in their name..I can connect!

seems that anyone who logs on to the pc's automatically get on the internet as it is set at present??..just open a browser and away to go!!.

Regards,
Fred. :cool:

[Fred_Flintstone]

This is odd!
As I write this.. the icons by the clock show: "Wireless connection = Not Connected"
and "Local Area connection = A Network cable is unplugged".. :confused:

Question: How the hell am I online typing this post if I am "disconnected"???

I am confused... :confused: :confused:

[jlreich]

Well the LAN not being connected is normal if you don't have a wired connection present. Regardless of a wireless connection.

Is the wireless connection showing as not being connected "windows wireless zero configuration"? I am not sure if that is disable automatically by windows if there is another wireless driver detected or not since I always disable that in administrative services since I use the specific driver for the wireless adapter anyway.

Do you have another icon showing a wireless connection in your taskbar?

Just a thought. :)

[Fred_Flintstone]

Think you hit the nail there...
Just disabled "Wireless Zero config.." in admin services and the disabled icon disappeared.. :o :o

Now got "Wireless Configuration Utility"..must be the one I loaded when installing the wireless card.

Still got the LAN icon showing "A network cable is unplugged" though??

Regards,
Fred

[jlreich]

Great! :)

About the LAN being disconnected, like I said if you do not have a wired connection that is normal. That icon is tied to your wired NIC card. If you were to plug in an ethernet cable it would disappear.

[Fred_Flintstone]

Top job..thanks for the above info :D

So how do I go about connecting to the LAN wirelessly??
Got internet access from both PC's on my LAN, but...

Just tried "pinging", and get reply from the router (of course)..and can ping the router from the other PC....but can't ping the other PC on my LAN(PC to PC so to speak)??

[Erik]

At this point it is most likely a Windows Firewall issue. Is file and printer sharing enabled in the network? Are you able to see shared folders from each PC?

If it otherwise works then it is likely a normal behavior of the Windows Firewall.

[Fred_Flintstone]

On th upstairs PC, I can see the shared folders on the downstairs PC.
But downstairs..cannot see the upstairs PC..quite odd!! :confused:

Have checked and seems to be same file settings etc on both, no probs from either with access to internet and so on, so as you say..probably a settings issue or firewall.

Only difference I can note.. downstairs PC is XP Pro, the other XP Home, any thoughts on whether this could make a difference?? :D

Will try it with the firewall disabled on both PC's that will rule that issue out at least!

[mjc]

Don't forget to check the computer and workgroup names...I'm not entirely sure, but case sensitivity may matter to Pro.

[Fred_Flintstone]

Seems to be working ok now...not quite sure what I did but... have created a restore point to this grand occasion in case it goes "bosoms up" later... :confused:

Thanks for the help.. :D :D

Regards,
Fred