How to build a Home Network? - Configuring the Software-Best Computer Online Store Houston Buy Discount Prices Texas-Directron.com

Part V: Configuring the Software

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How to build a Home Network? By Jerry Saeva

Now that we have all the hardware installed and configured, we have to configure the computers and other software in the network. Note: a few items in the section (such as "Setup up Internet Connection Sharing") are needed only if you do not have a router and are going to use Internet Connection Sharing.

The paragraphs in this section outline the steps to setup the software using Windows 98. Where possible, indications of the differences between Windows 98 and Windows 2000 are mentioned.

Configuring the network client:

In earlier steps of this manual, we installed the NICs in the computers and added the appropriate drivers for those cards. We now have to make sure that the appropriate network client is installed. NOTE: This section applies to all computers on the network, including the one that will run the Internet Connection Sharing (if you are not using a router).

Step 1: Installing the Network Client. the installation of network cards and their drivers almost always ensures that a network client is also installed. To be sure one is installed, however, choose Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Network to open the network window. It should look like the picture below. At the top of the list box on the Configuration tab will be the installed client (if any). If you DO NOT see "Client for Microsoft Networks", do the following:

Click the Add button
On the "Select Network Component Type" dialog, select "Client", then click Add
On "Select Network Client" dialog, choose Microsoft as the Manufacturer (left side) and "Client for Microsoft Networking" as the client (right side). Click OK.

Step 2: Choosing the "Primary Windows Logon". In Windows 98 on the Network Window (see picture), there is a field labeled "Primary Network Logon". Click on this field and choose "Windows Login" The next time the computer is rebooted, you will be prompted for a password. If you leave the field blank and click OK, you will not have to supply passwords in the future.

Step 3: Setting the computer Identification. If you want to take advantage of sharing printers and files between computers in addition to sharing the Internet connection, all the computers on the network must have a computer name and use the same "Workgroup". To set this, do the following:

If you are not already on the Network window, click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel, then double-click the network icon in the control panel window.
Click the "Identification" tab (second from left) on the Network window (see picture).
Enter a computer name (up to 15 characters) that is unique from all other computers on the network. This is the name you will use when connecting to this computer from others on the local network.
Enter a computer workgroup name (up to 15 characters) that is the SAME as all the others on the network. Use the default "WORKGROUP" if you do not have a specific preference of the name.
Optionally enter a description for this computer (up to 48 characters). This comment can be viewed by others on the network to help understand what each computer does (or where it is).
Click OK to save the changes. You may be asked to reboot.

Noteworthy differences between Win98 and Win2K. The following is a small list of differences between the setup steps described earlier and what you have to do in Windows 2000:

To see and configure network client and ID, you have to click "Start -> Settings -> Network and Dial-up Connections". You will be presented with a window with an icon for every NIC in the computer as well as for every dialup connection you have on your computer. To get the equivalent of the "Network" window in Win98, you have to double-click the "Local Area Connection" icon that corresponds to the NIC you are trying to configure.
On the Local Area Connection (LAC) window, there is a set of check boxes for the client, service and protocols that can be assigned to the SPECIFIC network card, instead of showing all cards, all protocols, and so on as Win98 does.
On the Local Area Connection window, there is an Install and Uninstall button instead of Add and Remove.
To set the computer name and workgroup, go to your desktop and right-click on the "My Computer" icon, then choose "Properties" On the System Properties window, click the "Network Identification" tab, then click the "Properties" button (see picture).

Setting up Internet Connection Sharing

Earlier in this manual, you had chosen a network setup based on whether or not you were going to use a router. If you are using a router, SKIP THIS SECTION. If you are not using a router but you want to share your internet connection with other computers on the network, you have to install and configure a component of Windows 98 Second Edition (SE) and Windows 2K called "Internet Connection Sharing" (further referred to as ICS). This component is NOT available in Windows 95, Windows 98 first edition or Windows NT 4.0. To verify if you have the second edition of Windows 98, right-click on "My Computer" on your desktop and choose properties. The operating system listed at the top of the system properties window will state "Second Edition" (version 4.10.2222).

Installing/Enabling ICS on one computer. To install ICS on the computer connected to the cable or DSL modem, follow these steps:

Click Start -> Settings -> Control panel. Double click on the "Add/Remove Programs" icon in Control Panel window.
In the "Add/Remove Program Properties" window, click on the "Windows Setup" tab.
Scroll the "Components" list until you find "Internet Tools". Click on the name of the row (not the check box), and then click the "Details" button (see picture).
At the top of the Components list on the "Internet Tools" window, you will find the "Internet Connection Sharing" component. Click on its checkbox, and then click OK. Click OK or Apply on the "Add/Remove Programs" window.
At this point, you may be asked to insert your Windows 98 SE CD. If prompted for this, insert the CD and click OK. After you do this (or if you are not prompted), the Internet Connection Sharing Wizard should be started. Click Next on the first wizard window.
The second wizard window should be displayed. It lists all the network cards you have in the computer and asks you to choose the card that will be used for the Internet connection. Choose the card that is connected to your cable or DSL modem (see picture). Click Next.
The next wizard window informs you that it will be creating a network configuration disk. Click Next. When prompted, insert a blank floppy disk into your computer and click OK. When it is finished creating the disk, remove the floppy and click OK.
The wizard is now complete. Click Finish on the last wizard window. You will be asked to reboot. Click OK to reboot (the network will not function until you do).

ICS on Windows 2000. Enabling ICS on Windows 2000 requires a different set of steps (and a smaller one at that). First, note that you will not be able to enable ICS on Windows 2000 until there is at least two network cards (or one card and one dial-up connection) in the computer (which makes sense). Follow these steps:

Click Start -> Settings -> Network and Dial-up Connections; the "Network and Dial-up Connections" window will be displayed.
Right-click on the "Local Area Connection" icon that represents the network card connected to your cable or DSL modem and choose "Properties". If you do not know which one it is, try each until the name of the proper network card is shown at the top of the window.
The window that is displayed should have a "Sharing" tab (see the picture below). Click on this tab. If the Sharing tab is not available, you do not have at least two NICs in the computer, or you do not have administrator rights on the computer.
Click on the "Enable Internet Connection Sharing for this connection" box, and then click OK.
You may see a warning about the other connection (network card) being assigned a static IP address; this is expected, since the computer supporting ICS must have a static address on the connection to the internal network it will service.

Setting up client computers

The rest of the computers on the network (referred to as the "client computers" have to be configured to access the Internet using the network card and to request the ICS computer or cable/DSL router for an automatic IP address. There are two ways of doing this:

Using disk created by installation of ICS. if you are using a computer running Internet Connection Sharing, you can use the configuration disk that was created when you installed ICS (see previous section). NOTE: this will work only on computers running Windows 95 or 98. Simply run the "icsclset.exe" file found on the floppy. Click next (or finish) on each of the three wizard windows.

Use the "Connection Wizard". If you are using a router or did not make the configuration disk when you installed ICS, you can set the configuration manually. Most installations of Windows 9x will place a "Connect to the Internet" icon on your desktop. Double-click to start the connection wizard. If this icon is not available on your desktop, do the following to start it:

Click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel
Double-click the Internet Options icon
Select the "Connections" tab, then click the "Setup" button at the top of the tab

For the Internet connection wizard, do the following:

Choose the "I want to set up my Internet connection manually?" option and click Next.
Choose "I connect through a local area network (LAN)", and then click next.
Click next again.
Choose "No" to setting up a mail account and click next
Click finish.

Wow! After all that work, you should now be completely up and running. If there are any problems, turn off ALL your hardware (computers, modems, routers, hubs, etc) and then turn them on in the following order:

Cable or DSL Modem
Router or hub
Computer running ICS, if you have one
All other "client" computers on the network.

Setting up file and printer sharing

Now that you have everything setup to share you Internet connection on your network, you may also want to take advantage of sharing other resources between computers, like printers or files There are two main parts to doing this: 1) adding the "file and print sharing" service to any computer that you want to allow other computers to share and 2) taking advantage of these shared resources on the other client computers.

Enabling file and print sharing. on all the computers where you want to share files or printers, you must first enable "file and print sharing services". To do this, follow these steps:

Click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel
Double-click the Network icon in the Control Panel window
Click the "File and Print Sharing" button
A dialog will appear with to options that you can select separately; one for sharing files and one for sharing printers. Select either or both based on your sharing needs.
Click OK. If you did not already have it installed, the OS will automatically add the "File and print sharing for Microsoft Networks" service to the network components list on the Network window. Click OK on the Network window. You may need to reboot.

Selecting directories to share. after enabling file and print sharing, you have to choose the directories and/or drives that you want to "open" to the other computers on the internal network. You can share an entire drive (even a CD or ZIP drive) or a specific subdirectory path (and all directories beneath). Follow these steps to share files:

Open the Windows Explorer (click Start -> Programs -> Windows Explorer).
Traverse to the directory or drive that you want to share. Right-click on the drive or directory and choose "Sharing" from the menu. Note that if you want to share an entire drive, select the drive letter instead of a directory.
Select "Shared As" option and enter a name in the "Share Name" field (or leave the default name).
For "Access Type", you can choose one of the following three options:

Read-Only: choose this if you want to get only read access to others on the network. They will not be able to modify or delete any files in that area. You can supply a password in the "Read-Only Password" field if you want to force users of other computers to supply a password before gaining access.
Full: if you want other computers to have both read and write capabilities, choose this option. As with the "Read-Only" option, you can supply a password in the "Full Access Password" field.
Depends on Password: choose this option if you want to give some users read-only and others read and write access. You will have to supply two separate passwords in the password fields and give out these passwords as appropriate.

Click OK to save these settings.

Selecting printers to be shared. even though you enabled printer sharing for the computer, you must also individually select and enable each printer you want to make available on the network. To enable a printer for sharing, follow these steps:

Click Start -> Settings -> Printers
Right-click on the printer icon and choose "Properties"
Click the "Sharing" tab on the printer properties window
Click the "Shared As" option and enter a name you want the printer to have on the network
If desired, you can restrict access to the printer by entering a password
Click OK to save these changes.

The printer will now be available on the internal network. Accessing shared files from other computers: to access the directories that have been setup on the "sharing computer" from any other computer on the network, do the following:

Double-click the "Network Neighborhood" icon on your windows desktop (or click on the Network Neighborhood in the Windows Explorer).
The Network Neighborhood window will display all computers on your internal network that have file and print sharing services enabled. Double-click on the name of the computer where the shared files are located.
You should now see all directories and/or drives that were enabled with sharing on the other computer. You should be able to access files in this shared directory as you would files on the local hard drive.

You can also assign a drive letter to any network directory to make it easier to access. To do this, highlight the directory that you opened in the steps above, right-click and choose "Map Network Drive" Select a drive letter that isn�t already used. If you want to have the computer reconnect this drive letter each time it reboots, check the "Reconnect at logon" box. Click OK. You should now see a new drive in your drive list in the Windows Explorer or My Computer window.

Accessing shared printers from other computers. you have to "add" a network printer to each client computer that wants to use it. It is a process very similar to installing a local printer, but instead of choosing a physical port such as a parallel port, you select the printer from a list of available shared printers on the sharing computer. Follow these steps to add the printer to a client computer:

Click Start -> Settings -> Printers
Double-click Add Printer�this will start the Add Printer Wizard
Click "Next" on the first wizard window
On the next window, choose "Network printer" and click next
If you know the name of the sharing computer and the printer name, you can enter the "Network path" of the printer directly using the syntax \\\. If you do not know the names, click the "Browse" button
Find the computer that is sharing the printer in the list and double-click on it. The list of all shared printers should appear underneath it.
Select the desired printer and click OK, then click next to go to the next window
On the next window, you can enter a name for the printer, as it will appear on the "client" computer. Note that this will NOT change the name on the sharing computer. Click next.
If you wish, you can choose to have a test page printed, or skip the test page, then click next.
A small dialog will appear showing the progress of files being copied from the sharing computer to the client computer. The sharing computer actually gives all the necessary driver files to the client so you will not need to the install the driver files separately.

BACK: | Part I. Introduction | Part II. Choosing a Network Setup | Part III. Network Cabling | Part IV. Installing and Configuring the Hardware |
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Excelent Manual - Mar 5, 2003 Reviewer: kmio This manual is vey well written and easy to follow

Great Article - Feb 21, 2003 Reviewer: John K. I just bought a router and i've never set up a network before. this article stepped me through setting up the network very easily and accurately.

how to build your home network - Dec 5, 2002
Reviewer: Rasy
Clear description, steps and guideline with photos

Great Info - Nov 26, 2002
Reviewer: Charlie Mirviss
Just what I needed, having just gotten cable modem and wanting to set up a home network. Thanks!!!!

Great Material - Oct 18, 2002
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After reading this, I wont have to bug anybody.