Setting up LAN, ICS Firewall, & Printer Sharing Problems

[Ken Brown-Gratchev]

Hi,

Already used up my no-charge support options for incidents.

My system consists of 3 PC's: my Windows XP Pro Desktop, my wife's XP Home
Desktop, and her XP Home Laptop (all with most current updates/patches,
etc.). All 3 are Ethernet-cabled into a Linksys 4-Port router (router has
no firewall within it, it's simply a plain router). The router is
Ethernet-cabled into a Cable Modem. Our internet connection by Cable Modem
is actually a single internet connection, assigned to us by the cable
company, that allows for multiple email accounts. None of our 3 PC's have
the Windows XP internal (ICS) Firewall enabled, for now. We are attempting
to share a single hardware device, an HP PSC All-in-one 2410 printer (we
know from HP that only the print function can be LAN shared), that is
USB-cabled directly into my Desktop.

How can I most successfully setup a functioning home LAN that will allow for
print sharing, and ideally, allow Windows XP internal Firewalls to be
enabled on all 3 units? Thanks! Step-by-step guidance really works with me,
and yes, I have looked at FAQ sheets and Help sections, but still am
somewhat lost.

Thanks!


--
Dr. Ken Brown-Gratchev
Brown-Gratchev & Associates Counseling
Website: http://home.comcast.net/~solutioncounselor/
Phone: Ken (Cell with Voice Mail) 503-866-0758 / Fax 503-246-9316
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[Bob Willard]

Hi,

Already used up my no-charge support options for incidents.

My system consists of 3 PC's: my Windows XP Pro Desktop, my wife's XP Home
Desktop, and her XP Home Laptop (all with most current updates/patches,
etc.). All 3 are Ethernet-cabled into a Linksys 4-Port router (router has
no firewall within it, it's simply a plain router). The router is
Ethernet-cabled into a Cable Modem. Our internet connection by Cable Modem
is actually a single internet connection, assigned to us by the cable
company, that allows for multiple email accounts. None of our 3 PC's have
the Windows XP internal (ICS) Firewall enabled, for now. We are attempting
to share a single hardware device, an HP PSC All-in-one 2410 printer (we
know from HP that only the print function can be LAN shared), that is
USB-cabled directly into my Desktop.

How can I most successfully setup a functioning home LAN that will allow for
print sharing, and ideally, allow Windows XP internal Firewalls to be
enabled on all 3 units? Thanks! Step-by-step guidance really works with me,
and yes, I have looked at FAQ sheets and Help sections, but still am
somewhat lost.

Thanks!

ICS is not helpful. ICS is XP's software routing capability, which is
not needed since you have a hardware router; hardware routing is
better than ICS.

You cannot use XP's built-in firewall, ICF, since that will inhibit
file and printer sharing on your LAN. The Linksys router uses NAT, which
guards against common attacks from the outside world. I recommend
that you supplement the router's firewall with a firewall app running on
each PC, to guard against outbound attacks; ZoneAlarm is a popular and
good firewall; the free version is probably enough for your SOHO LAN, but
the non-free version is more capable. With ZoneAlarm, you can easily
define a trusted zone that will include all of your PCs and your router;
then you can safely share files and printers on your LAN.

 

[Jonathan]

OK go onto the computer that has the printer attached to it and do the
following:

= = Set up for File/Printer Sharing = =
Click start. Point to My Network Places. Right-Click it and click
Properties. In the Left-Hand-Side pane, click "Set up a home or small office
network" under Network Tasks.

= = Step by step instructions = =
On the "Welcome to the Network Setup Wizard" screen, click next. Click next
again. Click "Other" then click next. Click the first option (It should
describe your computers' setup). Click next. Ignore the warning, and click
next. Type in your computer's description, It can be anything you want,
(i.e. "Desktop Computer 1"), and a computer name, which can also be anything
you want (i.e. "XPCOMP1"). Click next. Choose a Workgroup name, it can be
anything you want, but all of the computers on your network must have the
same Workgroup name. Click next. On the next screen, it should show you an
overview of what it has done. The last sentence should say that it has
automatically shared your printer. Click next and wait. When it is done,
click "Just finish the wizard; I don't need to run the wizard on other
computers". Click next. Remember to do the same thing on all of your other
computers. Click finish. Click yes to restart the computer.

= = Setting up the printer on other computers = =
Click Start, then Control Panel. Make sure it is in Category View. If it is
not, change it to Category View by selecting "Switch to Category View" in
the Left-Hand-Side pane under Control Panel. Click "Printers and other
hardware". Click "Add a printer". On the "Welcome to the Add Printer Wizard"
screen, click next. Select "A network printer, or a printer attached to
another computer". Click next. Click "Browse for a printer". Click next.
Select the printer to use. Click next. Follow the rest of the on-screen
instructions.

I hope my information helped.