How to set up a Home Network?

Question

How do I set up a Home Network and transfer files through it?

Answer 1

Assuming that you already have broadband internet service, you need to buy a router (a Linksys WRT54G is a good one that doesn't cost too much), wireless adapters (only for computers that you will connect wirelessly; most laptops already have wireless adapters built in), and ethernet cables. Plug the modem into the router's WAN or Internet port, and connect the computers into the LAN ports (1-4) using ethernet cables.

Open the browser on one of the computers connected through ethernet. Type http://192.168.1.1 into the address bar and hit Enter (assuming that you have a Linksys router). When prompted for a username and password, leave the username blank and enter "admin" for the password. Go to the Wireless tab and set up your wireless connection.

Now, to share files: on every computer on the network that is running Windows Vista, open Network and Sharing Center, enable file sharing, print sharing, and network discovery, and disable password-protected sharing. On every computer running XP, make sure that file and print sharing is enabled; also, open the ports for file and print sharing by going to Control Panel > Windows Firewall, clicking the Exceptions tab, and selecting "File and Printer Sharing".

Go into System Properties (Start > Run > sysdm.cpl), go to the Computer Name tab, and give each computer a unique name to identify it on the network. Also, make sure all computers are on the same workgroup (by default, MSHOME or WORKGROUP).

You also need to set up shares (which are visible to all computers on the network). Right-click on a folder you want to share (for example, c:\shared), click Properties, click the Sharing tab, and enable sharing for that folder. If you are running Windows XP Professional or Windows Vista, you can also set permissions for access to your shares using the Security tab (for example, to allow network users to open files in a shared folder, but prevent them from modifying or deleting them).

To access other computers via their UNC paths, click Start > Run and type \\computername (replacing computername with the name you gave each computer). This will open a window that should display all of the shares on that computer, allowing you to drag and drop files between shares. Alternately, you can open My Network Places (XP) or Network (Vista) to view all shares on the workgroup at once.

Answer 2

you can buy or make your own cross-over lan cable, connect both PC through their lan connectors. Then use the network wizard. Here's a link on how to make a cross-over cable.

http://www.duxcw.com/digest/Howto/networ...