Need help setting up network between main computer and laptop

[kempodragon]

I finally admitted to myself that I needed a laptop and picked up a floor model that had been discontinued at Best Buy. I got it hooked up to the Internet through my wireless router without too much trouble. What I need help with is accessing my main computer's files. I want my notebook to see my system's drives and access the files and vice versa through the wireless, but I don't want those drives and files accessible through the internet connection. In other words, I want to create a LAN between my notebook and computer only, while both systems are able to use the same Internet connection. My system is hooked to the the wireless router by Ethernet cable and the router is connected to my DSL modem the same way. My notebook uses the router as an access point. Since this forum was a BIG help in showing me how create a new XP backup cd (many thanks btw!!:)), I know you should be help in this matter:p

[foxyshadis]

Open up your PC's firewall as wide as you want, as long as your wireless is secured with WPA. The router's NAT will take care of any hacking coming from the internet side even better than any software firewall, except certain (pricey) deep packet inspection ones. NAT means that the only ports accessible to the outside are specifically forwarded ones. If you're really paranoid, you can specifically enable file/printer sharing for just the local network or even just the laptop, as for how to do that it depends entirely on what software firewall you have.

[kempodragon]

Looks like I'll need someone to walk me through this start to finish. I created a workgroup with the Network Setup Wizard on my main system. At the end of the setup, it says I need to use my XP cd to setup my notebook to the same workgroup. My notebook has Vista Home Premium installed and when I tried to manually setup, it couldn't even see the workgroup I'd created. Trying to setup the wireless was also confusing. I have Linksys router and I couln't find the settings to make it create a separate connection to my notebook. A final annoyance is the wireless network wizard in Network Places insists on WEP, not WPA which is what my internet connection uses. I really need help with this.

[Blue_MiSfit]

I wouldn't trust the network setup wizard. It's overcomplicating things anyway. Let's get into a known working state.

1) Power cycle your DSL modem and Linksys router. Just to verify, the router's "Internet" port should be connected to the DSL modem's only ethernet port.
2) Reset the Linksys router using its hardware reset button
3) Connect your desktop or laptop to the router using an ethernet cable
4) Navigate to 192.168.1.1, enter the default password for the router. It's usually admin/admin *blank*/admin or admin/*blank*. Check the documentation if you're unsure.
5) Go into the Wireless Networking settings, and under Security, enable encryption, and choose WPA Personal. Pick a password etc...
6) Now fire up your laptop's wireless connection, go into the list of preferred networks, and delete all entries. This is important, as Windows' wireless settings can get pretty FUBARd, and you will need to start from scratch
7) Finally, try connecting to the wireless network through the laptop. It should ask for your password. If things connect, you should be happy. Get out on the internet, and life should be good.

Now that we have TCP/IP connectivity, we should be able to get filesharing / printer sharing working.

To test file sharing, let's put both systems on the same workgroup. On either machine:
1) Right click on my computer, go to properties.
2) Under XP you need to go to "computer name", and from here you can specify a workgroup. From Vista, you can do this right from the properties page. Pick a name. The default is "workgroup", and that should be fine.
3) Test file sharing on your XP machine. Right click on any folder, go to sharing, and then click the hyperlink that says "if you just want to enable file sharing"... tell windows that yes in fact you DO want to do such a thing. Then you can create a share point, and allow write permission if appropriate.
4) Now you can try connecting to this share on your laptop by right clicking on my computer -> map network drive, and enter a path to the share. It's formatted like this (for example)

\\quad-misfit\music

Assuming both PCs are on the same workgroup, this refers to my main PC "quad-misfit", and a share I setup for all my MP3s called "music". The \\ nomenclature is a little different, but it's very simple.

That should give you the basic idea of how to setup file sharing. You can map drives as I describe, or just enter a path directly into an Explorer window. Mapping drives is persistent - which can be a good and bad thing.

Good luck! Let us know if you continue to have problems.

~MiSfit

[kempodragon]

I'm definitely running into a problem. I had no problem setting up a shared folder on my main system. When I tried to access it from my laptop, it gave the error message that it couldn't find the network path. I was using my system's name from properties of My Computer. Since it also gave me the error message that my system's name wasn't a proper domain name, I tried the IP address assigned to it, with no luck. Both computers share the same workgroup name, and I have internet access from my laptop through the wireless router. I'm running Norton's on both systems, so it should be easy to configure the firewalls, but beyond that, I can't think of any other reason why my two computers can't see each other.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Remove Norton's :)

That software utterly sucks - take it from an I.T. professional.

Run screaming for the hills :)

~MiSfit

[kempodragon]

Well, I feel like an idiot for missing the obvious. I was checking the properties of my router's connection, when I saw that the file and print sharing was turned off. I activated it, and after a little more work, I was able to map a network drive on my main system to my laptop. I tested the connection by using MPC to open a video file on the network drive and it played perfectly with no hiccups. I still cannot access my main system with my laptop. I get as far as the logon screen, and the logon always fails. My laptop simply refuses to see my main. The only thing that I can think of is that fact the Windows Vista Home Premium won't let you logon onto a domain, because both computers are on the same workgroup. I've triple and quaddruple checked my firewall settings, and everything has full trust. Any ideas?

[dat720]

You shouldnt be using a domain for a simple file sharing setup, you should be using workgroup sharing, to log onto a domain you need a domain controller in your network, and if you don't know what that is then you don't have one.

There are a couple of things in XP that could be stopping the Vista laptop seeing the shares. First up disable the windows firewall just to make sure it's not getting in the way.
Next click start goto run and type secpol.msc and press enter, When the Local Security Policy MMC opens expand Local Policies, then click User Rights Assignments then look in here for Deny access to this computer from the network double click on this and see if anything is listed there, if guest is in there remove it, this will stop the guest account from being used for network sharing.
Next click start goto run and type lusrmgr.msc and press enter, Expand User Accounts, look for guest and make sure it's not disabled, if the guest account is disabled then you will need to enter a username and password to get to your shares.

Now these 2 steps are assuming you want to use guest access, if you want to lock it down to a Username and Password you need to create a account on each computer for the other computer.... ie on the Desktop you need to create a account for the laptop and on the laptop you need to create a account for the Desktop.

Guest sharing is by far the easiest to setup and live with, but if anyone is able to penetrate you network via the wireless your files will be completly open to them, in saying that if you use WPA security it would take a seriously knowlegdable individual to break into your network.

[dat720]

Remove Norton's :)

That software utterly sucks - take it from an I.T. professional.

Run screaming for the hills :)

~MiSfit

I second that, i too am in IT, and always had the worst hassles getting Norton to behave with file sharing.

But thankfully i now work in a controlled enviroment where every computer is setup exactly the same and never have to deal with Norton!!!!

[kempodragon]

Dat720, you were right on the money. Both items were exactly as you described them, and once I fixed the problems, I had no trouble accessing the main. Later on, I want to be able to play my games across this network, but for now I'm good to go. Thanks again everyone.

[dat720]

:) No Probs glad i could help, those 2 items are a anoying trait of XP, sometimes they are on sometimes they are off, i think it decides at install time.

They are not problems, they are default settings for Security, it's like leaving the front door to your house open, you shouldn't but you can, in saying that i use guest sharing on my own network it all depends on the content in the shares and how security conscience, i do it for convenience (saves entering passwords in heaps of devices) as i am sharing between multiple devices and OS's, there are 3 laptops in my house, 2 PC's 1 HTPC 1 XBOX 360 and 1 original xbox (between 4 people), and when i am sitting on the loo i can always fire up a video on my N95 via the upnp server :) not that i do, but i could!

You should be pretty good now for games, you just need to check firewall settings for the game's you intend to play.

[kempodragon]

I just did the update to SP1 on my laptop and now my laptop is denying access to my network drive that I created. I can see the share in Network Places on my desktop, along with the Public folder and the Users folder, but the only folders that I can access are the Public and Users. My laptop has no problem accessing the network drive on my desktop. I checked the network drive on laptop, and full permission has been given, but I still can't access it .

[dat720]

what is the full path of the share's you are trying to access, check in vista that password protected sharing i soff.

[kempodragon]

The network drive path is \\BILL-PC\Data and password protected sharing is off. The drive is the one I used to originally test my network connection to my laptop and I never changed the settings.

Just checked the security tab on both network drives. The drive on my laptop has Authenticated Users, System, Administrators, and Users while my desktop's network drive has only Everyone listed. The permissions on both network drives list Everyone with full control

[kempodragon]

Solved the problem. In the security tab, I tried adding Everyone to the list and it was accepted. I then gave Everyone full permission on my drive. My desktop can now access my laptop completely. BTW, I copied a file from my laptop to my desktop and I was only getting about 2.5 MBytes/sec which translates to 20 Mb/sec (bits/sec). My wireless router is 54Mbps and my Ethernet card can do up to 100 Mbps. Shouldn't I be getting higher transfer speeds?

[Blue_MiSfit]

Wireless sucks. No doubt about it.

I never expect more than a couple mb/s.

Hell - sometimes my laptop drops its connection speed to 1-2 megabits - even with 5 signal bars. You tell me. :)

~MiSfit

[dat720]

Wireless is not a good medium for high transfer speeds, you need to take into account distance from the router, objects in the way (walls etc), signal strength, other interference (cordless phones etc), it is never a simple matter of 802.11g should transfer at 54mbps...... i have all my media on a 500gb drive connected to a linux machine using samba and fuppes (to stream to the xbox) and get transfer speeds of upto 15 sometimes 20mb/s if i'm lucky, however using the wireless laptop to copy to/from the same shares it runs down around 3-4mb, with good signal of course.

Wireless is a picky bitch... things can look perfect and it can perform like garbage.

[Shinigami-Sama]

Solved the problem. In the security tab, I tried adding Everyone to the list and it was accepted. I then gave Everyone full permission on my drive. My desktop can now access my laptop completely. BTW, I copied a file from my laptop to my desktop and I was only getting about 2.5 MBytes/sec which translates to 20 Mb/sec (bits/sec). My wireless router is 54Mbps and my Ethernet card can do up to 100 Mbps. Shouldn't I be getting higher transfer speeds?

wireless is basicly half duplex with the forced ACKS and such

so your real 'line speed' is about 26mbps
add in protocol overhead and you get about 18-22mbps

so that's about right really