Home network setup

[bpnbm]

I have 3 computers that I would like to setup a home network. The main computer is hooked up through a cable modem/wireless router combo (verizon Fios). It runs xp 64 and is hardwired to this modem/router combo. The other 2 computers are wireless, one runs Vista and the other win xp premium. On the main computer I ran the network utility and it seem to go smooth until it asked me to make a network disk. It gave me 2 options to write to; g: removable drive and a: floppy disk. I have no Floppy drive on this computer and I can not figure out where my g: removable drive is. I stuck a usb memory stick into every usb port and all came up F: drive. The other option was to use my win xp64 disk but that just froze my machine running win xp, so i didn't try it on the vista comp. Am I doing this right and what am I doing wrong?

 

[eibgrad]

I'm not sure where your G: removable drive is either, but it's probably unnecessary anyway.

First of all, your wired PC created a wired network (seems obvious, I know). But I'm not sure that's going to help you configure WIRELESS on the other machines anyway. I mean, think about it, no utility on a wired connection is going to have information about SSID, security key, etc., anyway! Granted, I never used the network utility myself because I find it unnecessary, but on the face of it, well..., I have a sneaking suspicion it's not going to solve your problems (I could be wrong, but I'm definitely skeptical). If anything, I’d think you need to run the utility one of the wireless PCs if you expect to configure other wireless PCs based on the same configuration.

Since you’re using a wireless router, and almost all wireless routers are designed to work ”out of the box”, I’m not sure you need to do much more than install your wireless adapter and software, locate the wireless signal, and connect. It’s not all that complicated. Then once you have all your wireless clients working, you can go back and add wireless security (e.g., WPA/WPA2) to the router and the clients via their wireless configuration tools.

 

[Pro Llama]

I believe you have the same setup as my neighbor. Go into your wireless connects on one of the wireless pcs and you should be able to see the network. If you see multiple and don’t know which one is yours unplug your router, refresh your list and see which one is missing. There should be a code on the back of your router that is used as the password to get onto the wireless network. After you put in the password it should give your pc an ip and you should be able to get online fine. Then you can do the same thing for your other pc.

 

[bpnbm]

The other computers are setup for wireless connectivity, but how can I set them up so that documents and the printer can be shared off of the main computer?

 

[Guest]

Forget the Windows Network wizard. Just make sure all your computers are in the same Workgroup. Then right click on the folder you want to share and select Sharing and Security. Check Share this folder on the Network and Allow network users to change my files. You should then be able to find the Share from your other computers. You can share printers as well.

 

[bpnbm]

I have some sought of network deficiency. I can not figure this out for the life of me. I have the printer set to sharing and the firewall opened up for network sharing. There was something in the sharing menu under advanced for giving the drivers to the other computers. I did not understand how to do that . I need some real basic instructions I don't understand how this works because even after all of that, my old computer that I have hooked up with a wireless connection and has the drivers for this printer installed can not send documents to it. Do you need a special folder for sharing documents? I am really having a brain fart on this one!

 

[eibgrad]

I have some sought of network deficiency. I can not figure this out for the life of me. I have the printer set to sharing and the firewall opened up for network sharing. There was something in the sharing menu under advanced for giving the drivers to the other computers. I did not understand how to do that . I need some real basic instructions I don't understand how this works because even after all of that, my old computer that I have hooked up with a wireless connection and has the drivers for this printer installed can not send documents to it. Do you need a special folder for sharing documents? I am really having a brain fart on this one!

What's the verdict on your initial problem (because the above sounds like a new/followup problem)?

Are all these PCs now networked and accessing the Internet?

 

[bpnbm]

I never had a problem with internet access I just want the other 2 computers to be able print off of the only printer in the house and possibly view photos from the main computer. The main computer runs off of xp 64 and the other 2 are vista and xp home edition in 32 bit.

 

[eibgrad]

[strike]Btw, if you've moved the printer to a new machine, just because the old machine has the drivers is not enough. You have to install the remote printer as a printer again, from scratch. Yeah, the printer drivers will be available, but again, you have to INSTALL the remote printer as a printer.[/strike]

Which machine has the printer installed (including OS)? And which machine are you trying to printe from (including OS)?

 

[bpnbm]

The printer is a Canon pixma 6600d and is attached to a Windows xp 64 bit machine. I want to print off of an old Dell machine with Windows xp home addition as well as a Laptop with Windows vista. Three different machines 3 different OS's. What I'm looking to do is print documents off of one of these other computers while the main one is on. Can you even spool jobs to a computer that has a printer attached to it?

 

[eibgrad]

Ok. Btw, I'm even surprised Canon has Windows XP 64 bit drivers.

And you verified you can print w/ that printer ON that machine, right?

And you enabled printer sharing and named the printer, right?

And all machines are in the same workgroup, right?

And no third party firewalls (Norton, McAfee, etc.),right?

Now go to the easiest system to work with, WinXP Home. Go to Add Printer, search for the network printer, install the the drivers, and test.

If anything doesn't work, report back.

Btw, by default the printer will spool.

 

[bpnbm]

Yes Canon does have xp 64 drivers, took them a while but its been hooked up a while. I enabled print sharing and gave the fire wall the exception for home network usage. I'm not totally clear on the Workgroup portion? I went to add a printer on the other machine but it asked for the network address. There were three option on add a printer, when it asked to specify a printer 1) Browse for a printer 2) connect to this printer asks for name with eg. //server/printer and 3) Connect to a printer on the internet or home network with the eg. URL: \\server\printers\myprinter\.printer. Not sure which to choose. Please clarify the workgroup instructions. Thanks for your help.

 

[eibgrad]

For sharing to work, all computers need to be in the same Workgroup (it's just a name). You can find it under Start->Control Panel->System->Computer Name->Workgroup.

The network address can either be by Name or IP address (most ppl use the name, but if that fails, use the IP address):

\\myprinterpc\canon6600d (this is just an example, use the \\computername\printername you have assigned)

or

\\192.168.0.100\canon6600d (again, this is just an example, use the \\ipaddress\printername you have assigned)

You can also just browse the remote machine for a printer and it will return the names:

\\myprinterpc

or

\\192.168.0.100

Then select the printer, install the drivers, etc.

 

[bpnbm]

Okay I assigned the same workgroup to the computers. The remote desktop running the regular win xp browses the computers on the network and it finds the computer but says the printer anme is not valid. I went to the properties of the printer an under sharing named the printer Canon. But rh remote printer does not recognize that name. Now what?

 

[eibgrad]

I assume you rebooted any systems that you renamed the Workgroup (it normally asks you to).

The way naming works it might not show up immediately. It's done as a network broadcast and that broadcast happens only every so often. So this can happen. Might take a few minutes.

When you simply choose the Browse option in Add Printer, does it list the other machines by name? (may have to double click Workgroup name, computer names etc., to expand lists). Any printers at all?

 

[bpnbm]

This is just the way my day has been going. All the computers have been rebooted and they are listed in the workgroup it is just the printer name which is causing the problem. I made a new printer name under the sharing section under printer properties. I am was getting an error (could not find that printer name). The problem now is that I was tinkering around with my Firewall (ESET security 4) and I added my ip address to the trusted zone (thinking that maybe I hadn't given the firewall proper permission. Now I can't even get the workgroup to show up while browsing for the printer. I'll give any other suggestions one last try otherwise I'm going to call ESET tomorrow.

 

[eibgrad]

Only thing I can suggest at this point is perhaps installing the printer on THAT machine temporarily, then returning it to back to the Windows XP 64 machine, and try again. I've seen cases where that worked (I have no idea why).

Also, I know when you install the printer, it asks you if you'd like to add drivers for other OSes at that time (e.g., WinXP 32 bit). When you do, the drivers will be downloaded to the client automatically when someone try to install it remotely. So it's convenient and may be another avenue instead of the above.

Or try both.

 

[eibgrad]

FWIW, it always seems like there are far more problems w/ printer installs (or frankly anything involving sharing) when the two OSes are different (e.g., XP 32bit to XP 64bit). Everything seems to go swimmingly if they are identical (e.g., XP 32bit to XP 32bit). It’s been like that forever when it comes to Windows.

 

[bpnbm]

I never got to call ESET to ask them if I have the proper configuration. I thought at the very least the xp64 and the xp32 bit would get along and those were the ones I was first trying to hook up. I'll let you know.