Wired and wireless file sharing between XP and Leopard (PC and MAC

L

lantierl

Need help with my wired/wireless network to allow me to share files between
my desktop PC and my wife's MAC laptop.

We are running a wired LAN as follows:
- wired from wall cable connection to cable modem
- wired from cable modem to Belkin wireless G + MIMO router
- wired from Belkin wireless G + MIMO router to desktop PC

We are running wireless as follows:
- wireless from Belkin wireless G + MIMO to MAC laptop
- wired from desktop to the printer through the Belkin wireless G + MIMO,
from the router to our printer we're wireless (basically, the desktop is
wired to teh router and uses teh router to communicate wirelessley to the
printer)

What we'd like to be able to do:
- flie share between PC and MAC

What works:
- We have already configure the MAC laptop to enable file sharing with the
wireless LAN (it see the network and accesses the internet through the
network)
- Our dekstop PC also is able to browse the internet
- Both the laptop and the desktop can print to our wireless printer with no
issues.

What doesn't:
- Our desktop doesn't appear to see the wireless network, although we can
print from it to our wireless printer through the wireless router. As such,
it doesn;t appear to see the MAC laptop and vice versa.
- We cannot use the Windows XP Networking Wizard, as it wants us to use a
floppy drive to create a network disk (but the MAC laptop has no floppy) or
the Windows XP disk (which wouldn't work on a MAC laptop). Thus, we cannot
share files across the network.

Can anyone help?
Do I need to go wireless on the desktop to put everything onto the wireless
network, or can I remain wired on the desktop side and wireless on the laptop
side and still file share?
 
J

John B

What is the subnet (i.e., network) address of the "wired" network, what is
that of the "wireless" network?
Don't forget to tell us what your subnet masks are.
And your "default gateways," on the host ip devices (i.e, the computers).
It seems they are different, and routing is absent.
There are ways to fix this by configuring your router.

I am not actually a regular XP user, but I know something about IP and
routers.
 
J

John B

Another theory:
Your wired net and wireless net share a common subnet, but there are
firewalls in place within each of those two computers, precluding "visits"
from other devices.
 
L

lantierl

John B,
I decided to go wireless tonight. I have installed a wireless PCI card into
the desktop and am no longer wired with the exception of between the wall and
the cable modem. Everything is now wireless.
My IP is 192.168.2.4
My Subnet mask is 255.255.255.0
My Default Gateway is 192.168.2.1

Her IP is 192.168.2.1
Her Subnet mask is 255.255.255.0
Her Default Gateway is ???? (Couldn't find on her laptop)

Does that help?
 
J

John B

OK, your INTRANET is using an appropriate, common ip subnet... The network
address of this subnet is 192.168.2.0. This is a well-beaten path.

The INTRANET address for your ROUTER is 192.168.2.1. This is also the
gateway to the INTERNET, and every host that hangs on your INTRANET must be
informed of that COMMON GATEWAY ADDRESS, in order to access the INTERNET, or
even merely the router (which implies the printer, too)...assuming your
intenet modem is not functioning.

Your description of your wife's computer's settings is suspiciously
inappropriate. The gateway setting there MUST be 192.168.2.1. The
"address" of the computer itself MUST be ON THE SAME SUBNET, and must be
otherwise UNIQUE. If your automatic processes don't accomplish this, then
you must do it manually. Since it's a MAC, I don't know the commands to
mitigate this issue. But the ip address should be something like
192.168.2.2. Beware of conflict with the address of the PRINTER, which
will also be on this subnet. I am guessing that its address is 192.168.2.3.

The appropriateness of IP addressing transcends operating systems; it must
comply with the design of the ip scheme itself. So all these numbers can be
found in your MAC, if you look properly. Otherwise, your MACs wouldn't work
on the internet, and Apple would go out of business in a heartbeat.
 
J

John B

This is a subtle point... but I retract my comment "which implies the
printer, too."

Therefore I am saying that neither computer has to know the gateway address
in order to print successfully to the printer...assuming (quite assuredly)
that said printer is addressed on the same subnet... (e.g., 192.168.2.3).
Leaf items on the same subnet can find each other without deferring to the
router's gateway address. So even if your MAC has no gateway address
specified (which is an error that must be corrected), then it might still be
able to print.

It is difficult to speculate on what would work and not work, from my
distant vantage point, based on the assumption that you have some incorrect
settings.

But I will re-iterate a philosophical point (indeed there are many others):
"Just because something WORKS, doesn't mean it is RIGHT." Life is full of
such bastardized situations. Lack of mere correctness rears its ugly head
when we stress the beast. Take buildings, for example, that lack proper
tensile strength. They seem to be OK until there is a little earthquake;
then they tumble.
 
L

lantierl

John,
I appreciate the quick responses and the information. I will attempt to
reconfigure the MAC IP address and subnet masks tonight.
Is there a good web site that you recommend me looking at to better
understand the inter-relation between IP addresses and subnet masks? Google
reveals many many hits, but that doesn't mean any of them that I have looked
at thus far have been any good.
Based on what you are telling me, it sounds as if the desktop PC and the MAC
laptop should both have an IP of 192.168.2.1 and both should have a subnet
mask of 255.255.255.0 - is that correct?
 
L

lantierl

John. Had my wife re-check and I had made a typo.

My IP is 192.168.2.4
My Subnet mask is 255.255.255.0
My Default Gateway is 192.168.2.1

Her IP is 192.168.2.3
Her Subnet mask is 255.255.255.0
Her Default Gateway is ???? (Couldn't find on her laptop)

Does this change anything?
 

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