How to be on different networks at home & work with same laptop?

[Neil]

I have a laptop which I use on a home network with a
cable modem, and it allocates the IP address
automatically. I also use the same laptop to join a
network in the office, which has a different workgroup
name and requires me to use a fixed IP address (no
internet connection at work ..... yet!).

Have tried to work out how to have two 'network profiles'
but cannot see how to do this - anyone got any ideas?

P.S. have tried using user profiles and hardare profiles
without any joy .....

 

[Chuck]

I have a laptop which I use on a home network with a
cable modem, and it allocates the IP address
automatically. I also use the same laptop to join a
network in the office, which has a different workgroup
name and requires me to use a fixed IP address (no
internet connection at work ..... yet!).

Have tried to work out how to have two 'network profiles'
but cannot see how to do this - anyone got any ideas?

P.S. have tried using user profiles and hardare profiles
without any joy .....

Neil,

If it's a simple matter of switching back and forth between the fixed ip address
at work, and the DHCP address at home, TCP/IP Properties - Alternate vs General
tabs let you configure a fixed ip address to use when a DHCP server isn't
available.

If you need more flexibility, these third party programs let you store multiple
network configurations and switch between them easily:

NetSwitcher
http://www.netswitcher.com

MultiNetwork Manager
http://www.globesoft.com/mnm_home.html

Mobile Net Switch
http://www.mobilenetswitch.com

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Neil]

Chuck,

thanks for the reply, and confirming that I was at least
looking in the correct area. I will try this when I go
into work tomorrow but will it still be necessary for me
to manually change the name of the workgroup I am
assigned to?

It may be that I can be part of two workgroups at the
same time (if so, how?) or will this need me to use of
the third party products? (had a quick browse and am
tempted .....)

thanks,

Neil

 

[Chuck]

Chuck,

thanks for the reply, and confirming that I was at least
looking in the correct area. I will try this when I go
into work tomorrow but will it still be necessary for me
to manually change the name of the workgroup I am
assigned to?

It may be that I can be part of two workgroups at the
same time (if so, how?) or will this need me to use of
the third party products? (had a quick browse and am
tempted .....)

thanks,

Neil

Neil,

Workgroup membership is not as meaningful as you would think - it just
determines what shares get displayed directly under My Computer / My Network
Places. If you look under Entire Network - Microsoft Windows Network, you will
see all computers in all workgroups anywhere visible to you (which comes as a
shock to new users of cable broadband internet).

With workgroup membership, you just have to setup local accounts (with matching
password) on any workgroup computer that you want to access. As opposed to
domain membership, where you authenticate thru a domain, and possibly get access
to any computer that's also a membership of that domain.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Hugh]

I haven't tried it, but I've heard good things about
NetSwitcher:
http://www.netswitcher.com/product_info.htm