making Lan connection with windows XP Pro

[inoesomestuff]

can someone walk me throught the steps to do this? i currently have them both connected to a router throught a network card and the rounter connected to the DSL hub. i was wondering if i could send information from computer to computer instead of computer=> Internet => computer throught a DC program

[kieran]

If your router or your modem is DHCP enabled your PC's should be able to talk to another straight away. Have a read of both manuals and see whats available. Do not have both pieces of kit giving out IPs by DHCP though or you will get problems. As for file sharing between the PC's get them talking to each other first then go to the properties of the folders you want to share then select the sharing tab piece of cake. any problems just yell.

[inoesomestuff]

in my router settings it says: DHCP Server Enabled
i know how to get the computers to share files, im having problems with the computers detecting each other on the network.

[kieran]

Right OK. Have you run IPCONFIG on the comps what are the IPs? and have you used PING to see if they can hit each other. Make sure that the DSL router is not DHCP enabled also, this could cause conflicts. Ensure no software firewalls are in place.

[inoesomestuff]

i can't run IPconfig on the XP computer. a box just appears and then disappeaprs before i can do anything. how do i ping the computers? this is what my router says (setup is 2 computers [xp pro and win2k] connected to router thats connected to hub)

router
LAN
IP Address 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
DHCP Server Enabled
Firewall Enabled
Gateway acts as DHCP Server: Enabled
IP Pool Starting Address 192. 168. 1. 2
IP Pool Ending Address 192. 168. 1. 254

DHCP Client List

IP Address |Host Name |MAC Address
192.168.1.3|xxxnamexx |00-00-00-00-00-00

[kieran]

OK so we know the PC's should be on the IP 192.168.1.x. to run IPCONFIG go to the start menu > Run and type "cmd" without the quotes this should open a DOS command prompt type thing. at the prompt type IPCONFIG /ALL this will bring up the IP address and several other useful bits. You should do this on both computers. Both IP addresses should start with 192.168.1 and the DHCP Server address should be 192.168.1.1. to ping a computer stay in the command prompt and type PING xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx where the x's are the IP of the other computer (which you would have obtained from IP config). This tells us that the PC can (or can't as the case may be) send packets to the other PC through the router. Try this and post back results.

Im a bit sceptical about the firewall and only one DHCP client but we shall address that after the IP results etc.

I'm going to bed in 30 mins so if i dont reply i will in the morning.

[inoesomestuff]

i pinged on each computer. they can send and recieve from each other. ty for all the help. plez help when u have time tomorrow
nite

[kieran]

It all seems fine to me now, just in case post the two IPs of the computers for me. You should be able to do whatever you wanted to do if not just yell

[inoesomestuff]

the XP computer's IP is 192.168.1.3 and the 2k computer's IP is 192.168.1.8 DHCP Server is 192.168.1.1

what do i do now if i want to share files or play games on LAN? how do i get the two computers to somehow detect each other? is there a program that will set all this up?

[kieran]

right ok this is good now you should be able to share a folder on computer1 and from computer2 go to the run command and type "\\computer1\sharename" (without the quotes) obviously replacing the names i put with the actual names. As for LAN games im afraid somebody else will have to fill you in that cos thats not my bag. Hope i was of help mate and enjoy your home network.

[inoesomestuff]

nvm about the game then...
ok the win2k system i went to My Networked Places=> add network \\Kingstar\sharedDoc (kingstar is the what shows up as hostname for the XP computer under ipconfig and SharedDoc is the share name of the file) i get a error, network path was not found

on the winXP Pro computer i went to Network Connections and did the same thing but instead used \\Family-dbxv1zj4\myDoc (the family one being the win2k computer and myDoc being the folder shared) and i get a error, the folder you have chosen does not seem to be valid. please choose another

on both systems when i press the browse button there isn't the other computer to choose from

[kieran]

to test the validity of the shares enter them into the run command ie \\kingstar\shareddoc if this link is then valid then it will open the folder. Check the share permissions on the shared folders in the properties box.

If youre struggling with this just open up a run command and type \\kingstar ( this should open up a window with all the shares from kingstar) this will tell you you can see the other comp and its the share that is the problem. just create an empty folder and share it, test it and play with it if it doesnt work at least your minimalising any hurt caused to your present folders.

Good Luck

[inoesomestuff]

when i type in \\kingstar into the winXP computer it does open up a window with my shares but i can't od that on the 2k computer.

[kieran]

hi,

are all the share permissions set up correctly? using the ping command again ping the computer name ie "ping kingstar" and sam e for other comp. if this works OK unshare and reshare the folders checking carefully what options and names you are using there doesnt seem to be any reasons why this shouldnt work but we will troubleshoot all in sequence.

[inoesomestuff]

interesting... when i used PING (name) instead of ping(IP) it worked on the XP (kingstar) computer to 2k(family) computer but it did not work on the 2k computer to XP computer. i disabled software firewall but it made no difference. the 2k computer could still ping the XP computer using the command PING 192.168.1.3 when i put in kingstar instead of the #s it says "unknown host Kingstar" also on the XP computer when i go to run=> \\Family-dbxv1zj4 it still says the network path is not found. should i redo the sharing on the 2k computer?