Wireless Home Networking Help..
 

I"ve been stumped as to how to network thru the wireless router so I can access the other computers within the house.. I"ve tried evertyhing that good ol windows recommend.. including a flash disk method to each computer..

I was able to access one of girlfriends friends computer once.. but that was it.

HELP !!!!

It really works exactly the same as a wired network.

Make sure all the computer are in the same workgroup (name wise)... and u'll be able to see each other.

Then depending on what is shared and rights given, you'll be able to see the shares on either computer.

There's no secret behind a home network just because u'r going over a wireless connection. :thumbsup:

drifter:
tell me what kind of Router (Linksys, Netgear, etc.) and what operating systems, and I should be able to get you up and running in no time.

it was super simple to make a network at home when it was wired but now i can't...

also, i have a desktop on the wireless connection, and a laptop. the laptop is disgustingly slow? reason?

a slow computer could be any number of reasons

if the computer it self is slow then it could be a corrupt file, or some other hardware issue. Try a Defrag to see if that clears things up.

Or it may be too many programs running in the background. Use CTRL+ALT+DEL and select Task manager to see what is running.

Try uninstalling unused programs that could be taking up system resources.

Sometimes a slow computer is an indicator of a failing piece of hardware, possibly hard drive, RAM, or CPU.

If it is the wireless network that is slow then it could be a couple of things as well.
It could be that the network is running WPA128/256 Encryption which can slow a network to a crawl if the computer cannot unencrypt the packets fast enough, Try changing to WEP 64/128. This should help improve performance and still be secure.

Check to make sure the computer is connected to the wireless network at it's highest possible speed. If you have an 802.11g router and card in your laptop make sure it is connecting at that speed and not 802.11a/b which are slower connections.

If you have a lot of traffic on the network (another computer downloading a tonne of stuff at the same time) the network will be slow as you only have a finite amount of bandwidth available to you.

XP home edition on desktop and laptop.. running netgear wireless router.. desktop is connected directly to router via cable.

I was able to have them see shared folders now.. but not sure how to access the rest of each computer ( and havent tested shared printer )

How do I ensure it's runnin on 802.11G and not a/b?

to check the settings on the netgear, open a browser and go to routerlogin.net
the default username is admin and the password is password.

Under Settings on the Left hand side, Click on Wireless Settings.
-Type in an SSID, something that is easy to remember, but hard to guess.
-Check to ensure the region is set correctly, and make a mental note of the Channel in case you need it.
-Check to ensure mode is set to G and B, that way if you cannot connect with the faster 802.11g, you will still be able to connect with the 802.11a/b

-Under Security options, select WEP, and Set Authentication type to Automatic.
-Type in a passphrase, again something easy to remember but hard to guess.

on the left hand side under Advanced, Click on Wireless Settings
Make sure Enable Wireless Router Radio is checked, and for the sake of security, make sure Broadcast SSID is unchecked. (This will help prevent people from getting into your network illegally.

Hopefully this should all you need to do on the router (assuming the router is already plugged in, and running on your network)

for the laptop, it is as easy as going to the Wireless card settings, turning on the wireless, and then typing in the SSID of the network. Automatic discovery will not work as we turned that off on the router.
when it finds the network, it will ask for the passphrase, and once entered with authenticate you to the network, and voila, you are online wirelessly.

If you have any other problems, let me know.

K.. I can't get the wirless card portion to enter SSID :hitwithro :loser:

ok, check the Broadcast SSID on the router, and then try to automatically detect the network.
Once it has detected the network, and you have everything running, uncheck the Broadcast SSID box again to secure the network.

wow... i think u just confused the poor guy even more....

wayy too many unnecessary steps.... from what I gathered he was connected to his wireless network already on his laptop...

WPA even on a slow ass laptop shouldn't make that much of a difference. Regardless, if the signal strength and speed are good and solid, it's the computer it'self thats slow... and nothing w/ the connection.

As for the windows networking aspect...

Like I said.. the workgroup (the name) need to be the same to make things as simple as possible.

What do you see when you goto My Network Places? You "should" see, Entire Network and/or possibly Microsoft Windows Network... go in there, and you'll see the names of the workgroup(s) currently attached to your "network", from there IF you have the proper user account(s)/rights setup you'll be able to see the computer name within the workgroup.

And you'll be able to access the shares on that computer as well (folder/files, printer, drives, etc.)

I don't think he was connected at all.
from what I gathered he has a desktop wired to the router that is working fine, but the wireless was not working for his laptop.

and in that case then the steps are not unnecessary. I deal too much with big networks to remember all the little things, so my steps tend to be in great detail.

and the difference between WEP and WPA can be light and day on a slow network/computer.

and as VR said, once the laptop connects to the wireless network, make sure the workgroup is the same, and share the folders, and you should be good.

Sorry.. my bad:retard:

I do have net connection.. I'm able to see shared folders of each computer.. but not anything else on it.. but meh.. :lol_hitti good enough... IF I want to really share things.. I"ll just take the extra steps of moving it to shared folders :retard: :hypnotize :veryhappy

ok, my Bad.

Well if anyone wants to know how to set up a wireless network with a Netgear router, there you go.

as for seeing everything else. The only way you can do it without putting everything into a shared folder is to use the administrative share.

when you go to the Computer and go to the network and see the shared folders, type in <Drive Letter>$ after the Computer name to see the root of that drive on the computer.
IE.) if you type \\Desktop Name\C$ you will see the Desktops C Drive, or from the Desktop \\Laptop\D$ to see the D drive of the laptop (if it has one)

Wow Jess, we're going to have to start paying you. :smilie_da

Wrong... he could always just create a new share with the Users/Groups he wants to give access to. Which is what I would recommend, as using an administrative share (C$, D$, etc...) is asking for problems.

Just right click on the folder that contains the files you want to share > Sharing and Security (for most users), and then select the Share this folder radio button.

Then click permissions and add the user(s)/group(s) you want to have access to that share, and click ok... that's it your done.

Also Administrator groups don't work unless you're logged into the other computer w/ the Administrator account AND password (and a password HAS to be set for shares - blank passwords don't allow you to see shares if your logged in or not)