What type of network to setup?

[Guest k0103707]

Hi,

 

I'm not sure what type of network to setup...

 

Got 2 pc's with xp pro, connection is wired, to router, sharing an internet

connection through the router.

 

I'd like to use it to backup too and to view/use files from such as

videos/music.

 

I would need a very stable & reliable network that would handle this.

 

What are my options?

 

 

--

Man oh man!

[Guest Ron Badour]

Re: What type of network to setup?

 

Go to the Control Panel, Network Setup Wizard

 

--

Regards

 

Ron Badour

MS MVP 1997 - 2008

 

 

"k0103707" <k01007@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message

news:EDDA5FD3-7F40-4CD0-9A52-A1DF0F718D1E@microsoft.com...

> Hi,

>

> I'm not sure what type of network to setup...

>

> Got 2 pc's with xp pro, connection is wired, to router, sharing an

> internet

> connection through the router.

>

> I'd like to use it to backup too and to view/use files from such as

> videos/music.

>

> I would need a very stable & reliable network that would handle this.

>

> What are my options?

>

>

> --

> Man oh man!

[Guest Big_Al]

Re: What type of network to setup?

 

k0103707 wrote:

> Hi,

>

> I'm not sure what type of network to setup...

>

> Got 2 pc's with xp pro, connection is wired, to router, sharing an internet

> connection through the router.

>

> I'd like to use it to backup too and to view/use files from such as

> videos/music.

>

> I would need a very stable & reliable network that would handle this.

>

> What are my options?

>

>

Share a few folders (not my docs) on each PC and you can view them in

Network Neighborhood. Its a simple peer-to-peer share.

To share other folders like windows or mydocs etc you have to jump

hoops. But if you do something like create C:\share on both machines,

share it with full priv. then you can exchange between PC's. I have 3

pc's in the house and find it works quite easy.

You do have to make sure if you have a firewall, that your internal

network is open.

[Guest k0103707]

Re: What type of network to setup?

 

 

How would i go about setting this peer-to-peer network?

--

Man oh man!

 

 

"Big_Al" wrote:

> k0103707 wrote:

> > Hi,

> >

> > I'm not sure what type of network to setup...

> >

> > Got 2 pc's with xp pro, connection is wired, to router, sharing an internet

> > connection through the router.

> >

> > I'd like to use it to backup too and to view/use files from such as

> > videos/music.

> >

> > I would need a very stable & reliable network that would handle this.

> >

> > What are my options?

> >

> >

> Share a few folders (not my docs) on each PC and you can view them in

> Network Neighborhood. Its a simple peer-to-peer share.

> To share other folders like windows or mydocs etc you have to jump

> hoops. But if you do something like create C:\share on both machines,

> share it with full priv. then you can exchange between PC's. I have 3

> pc's in the house and find it works quite easy.

> You do have to make sure if you have a firewall, that your internal

> network is open.

>

[Guest Big_Al]

Re: What type of network to setup?

 

k0103707 wrote:

> How would i go about setting this peer-to-peer network?

Sorry, I just told you. But I'll repeat it with more detail maybe.

Make a folder C:\share on both PC's. Right click each and find the

'sharing and security'. You may have okay that you know what you are

doing but just say yes I know, and then get to the window that asks for

the share name. You can share folder ABC as XYZ but that's confusing.

Just take the default 'share'. Make sure you check the 'allow

updates' or whatever MS words it so others can write to your drive.

 

Now you just find it in the network neighborhood. I usually just open

network places on the start menu and in the side bar there is a view

workgroup computers task. Open that. You'll see all PC's on the

network. Pick the other pc and open it. You'll see everything shared.

You can rightclick drag the "share" folder to the desktop and make a

shortcut.

Now any time you want just click the shortcut and you have access to the

other PC. Copy files there like you do other places and they drop

across the network to the other PC.

 

You can expand on this logic but its a simple share. Nothing fancy. I

have a huge drive on my desktop and I've made several folders and shared

them, photos, software, MP3, updates, documentation, etc. Everyone

dumps stuff there and those folders are backed up to an external.

 

If you have issues, turn off your firewalls for a minute. See if that's

the issue. I have Zonealarm and had to add a entry to allow

192.168.1.1 thru 192.168.1.255 traffic. ZA lets traffic in and out of

the gateway, but blocks peer to peer by default. So it needed a tweak.

[Guest Lem]

Re: What type of network to setup?

 

k0103707 wrote:

> Hi,

>

> I'm not sure what type of network to setup...

>

> Got 2 pc's with xp pro, connection is wired, to router, sharing an internet

> connection through the router.

>

> I'd like to use it to backup too and to view/use files from such as

> videos/music.

>

> I would need a very stable & reliable network that would handle this.

>

> What are my options?

>

>

 

You already have done the hardware part by purchasing a router and

having the computers share an Internet connect. The following advice

from MVP Malke may help with the rest:

 

Here are general network troubleshooting steps. Not everything may be

applicable to your situation, so just take the bits that are. It may

look daunting, but if you follow the steps at the links and suggestions

below systematically and calmly, you will have no difficulty in setting

up your sharing.

 

For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see

caveat in Item A below).

 

Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally

caused by 1) a misconfigured firewall; or 2) inadvertently running two

firewalls such as the built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party

firewall; and/or 3) not having identical user accounts and passwords on

all Workgroup machines; 4) trying to create shares where the operating

system does not permit it.

 

For XP and Windows 2003 Server, MVP Hans-Georg Michna has an excellent

small network troubleshooter. It may also be useful with Vista.

 

http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm

 

Here are some general networking tips for home/small networks:

 

A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network

(LAN) traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing

File/Printer Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network

Setup Wizard on XP will take care of this for those machines.The only

"gotcha" is that this will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you

aren't running a third-party firewall or have an antivirus with

"Internet Worm Protection" (like Norton 2006/07) which acts as a

firewall, then you're fine. With third-party firewalls, I usually

configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be

192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct

subnet. Do not run more than one firewall.

 

B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup.

This is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.

 

C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do

not need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the

passwords assigned to each user account can be different; the

accounts/passwords just need to exist and match on all machines. If you

wish a machine to boot directly to the Desktop (into one particular

user's account) for convenience, you can do this. The instructions at

this link work for both XP and Vista:

 

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

 

D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center:

 

1. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off

Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user

accounts/passwords on all computers.

 

2. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the

Simple File Sharing enabled. Simple File Sharing means that Guest

(network) is enabled. This means that anyone without a user account on

the target system can use its resources. This is a security hole but

only you can decide if it matters in your situation.

 

E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'

home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share

folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the

Shared Documents folder.

 

 

--

Lem -- MS-MVP

 

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer

http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

[Guest k0103707]

Re: What type of network to setup?

 

Thank you for your help guys! Now lets see if i can get this thing working

well...

--

Man oh man!

 

 

"Lem" wrote:

> k0103707 wrote:

> > Hi,

> >

> > I'm not sure what type of network to setup...

> >

> > Got 2 pc's with xp pro, connection is wired, to router, sharing an internet

> > connection through the router.

> >

> > I'd like to use it to backup too and to view/use files from such as

> > videos/music.

> >

> > I would need a very stable & reliable network that would handle this.

> >

> > What are my options?

> >

> >

>

> You already have done the hardware part by purchasing a router and

> having the computers share an Internet connect. The following advice

> from MVP Malke may help with the rest:

>

> Here are general network troubleshooting steps. Not everything may be

> applicable to your situation, so just take the bits that are. It may

> look daunting, but if you follow the steps at the links and suggestions

> below systematically and calmly, you will have no difficulty in setting

> up your sharing.

>

> For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see

> caveat in Item A below).

>

> Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally

> caused by 1) a misconfigured firewall; or 2) inadvertently running two

> firewalls such as the built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party

> firewall; and/or 3) not having identical user accounts and passwords on

> all Workgroup machines; 4) trying to create shares where the operating

> system does not permit it.

>

> For XP and Windows 2003 Server, MVP Hans-Georg Michna has an excellent

> small network troubleshooter. It may also be useful with Vista.

>

> http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm

>

> Here are some general networking tips for home/small networks:

>

> A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network

> (LAN) traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing

> File/Printer Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network

> Setup Wizard on XP will take care of this for those machines.The only

> "gotcha" is that this will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you

> aren't running a third-party firewall or have an antivirus with

> "Internet Worm Protection" (like Norton 2006/07) which acts as a

> firewall, then you're fine. With third-party firewalls, I usually

> configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be

> 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct

> subnet. Do not run more than one firewall.

>

> B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup.

> This is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab.

>

> C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do

> not need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the

> passwords assigned to each user account can be different; the

> accounts/passwords just need to exist and match on all machines. If you

> wish a machine to boot directly to the Desktop (into one particular

> user's account) for convenience, you can do this. The instructions at

> this link work for both XP and Vista:

>

> Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -

> http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

>

> D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center:

>

> 1. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off

> Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user

> accounts/passwords on all computers.

>

> 2. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the

> Simple File Sharing enabled. Simple File Sharing means that Guest

> (network) is enabled. This means that anyone without a user account on

> the target system can use its resources. This is a security hole but

> only you can decide if it matters in your situation.

>

> E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'

> home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share

> folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the

> Shared Documents folder.

>

>

> --

> Lem -- MS-MVP

>

> To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer

> http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

>