ColTom2 said:
Hi:
One of the laptops is XP Home Edition SP3 and the other is Vista SP2. I
assume the referenced D-Link Router would work in conjunction with both?
Thanks,
ColTom2
Pavel's solution, although not networked, is the cheapest and simplest.
IMO, the best solution would be to buy an inexpensive router. You can
get a wired or wireless router for as little as $30. If you don't want
the wireless capability now, you can just turn off that feature in the
router's configuration utility. I don't have any particular favorites,
but this D-Link WBR-2310 looks like a pretty good deal; read the reviews:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...etwork+-+Wireless+Routers-_-D-Link-_-33127073
Yes, and picking up on Paul Randall's comment, if you get a network
ready printer, you can connect it to the router and either computer can
use the printer without requiring that the other printer be on.
Actually, if you get a wireless network capable printer, then you can
share it between the laptops (assuming that both are themselves wireless
capable) without the need for a router.
Sharing printer with an ad hoc wireless network:
XP:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/setup/adhoc.mspx
Vista:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/293c504f-b944-4d5d-835c-f080129bd5dc1033.mspx
Note that XP only supports the now easily crackable WEP security for ad
hoc networks, but as long as you don't leave your computer running while
unattended, you should be OK.
If you elect to use an ad hoc network, you can ignore the stuff about
Internet Connection Sharing (unless, of course, you want to use this).
But all things considered, if you want to share an Internet connection
as well as a printer, then get a router.
Final note: Windows networking doesn't distinguish between sharing files
and sharing printers. The feature is called "File and Printer Sharing."
Of course, file sharing is still controlled by setting appropriate NTFS
permissions. See Malke's comments below.
General networking setup advice from MVP Malke:
<QUOTE>
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.
Excellent, thorough, yet easy to understand article about File/Printer
Sharing in Vista. Includes details about sharing printers as well as
files and folders:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx
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 overlooked firewall (including
a stateful firewall in a VPN); 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.
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. DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS;
CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY.
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. DO NOT
NEGLECT TO CREATE PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES. 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, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab).
E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'
home directories or Program Files, but you can share folders inside
those directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents
folder. See the first link above for details about Vista sharing.
F. After you have file sharing working (and have tested this by
exchanging a file between all machines), if you want to share a printer
connected locally to one of your computers, share it out from that
machine. Then go to the printer mftr.'s website and download the latest
drivers for the correct operating system(s). Install them on the target
machine(s). The printer should be seen during the installation routine.
If it is not, install the drivers and then use the Add Printer Wizard.
In some instances, certain printers need to be installed as Local
printers but that is outside of this response.
</QUOTE>
