Connecting computers in your home should not be a hassle – and it shouldn’t be something you are afraid of! This could be a very useful thing to do since there are benefits to having your computers on a network. Among these benefits three I would like to point out are:
- The ability to set up file shares on various computers in the network (or just setting up one on a designated computer that acts as a file server for other computers on the network)
- The ability to set up a shared printer on a computer so other computers on the network can print to it
- The ability to set up Internet access through a single computer for other computers on the network
Let me start by saying this is not at all complex – at least not as complex as it was before Windows XP hit the market a while back. That does not mean it may not take a phone call from a trusted techie friend at times, but for the most part you can do this all yourself.
Review Hardware Needs
It is pretty common for all computers over the last few years to come with a NIC (Network Interface Controller). This is the area that a network cable plugs into. If your main computer has a NIC card, you may want to consider purchasing a wireless router
for other computers (either desktop or laptop), or you could do that from the start for all computers in your network! That is especially helpful for those folks that have broadband or high speed Internet access.
If you don’t have a NIC card, then you may need to open your computer, see if you have any available slots for additional PC cards. If you do have a slot, you may need to order a card that fits your slot (it will be either a PCI card slot or a ISA card slot – or for more slots you can learn about them here). There are loads of cards you can order, but make sure you have the right one for your computer! (PCI cards
or ISA card
)
Set All Computers To The Same Workgroup
This is the first step to networking your computers. This isn’t hard to do at all, and will need to be done to all computers on the same network (actually, the same workgroup). So how do you do it?
Find your My Computer icon (it’s either on your desktop or under the Start menu items) and right-click on it. Select ‘Properties’ from the menu that appears, and you will be presented with a screen that allows you to select from multiple tabs. Click on the Computer Name tab (as seen below).

Workgroup Naming
Notice that the workgroup above is named OUR-HOUSE. You will want to select a name for your workgroup and enter it by selecting the Change… button. After you do this, you will need to reboot your computer. That was easy!
Review Firewall Settings
While I do not know what firewall you may be using, it is my hope you are using some firewall! Windows XP, with Service Pack 2 applied, places the Windows security center in your control panel along with the Windows firewall. While that would not be my recommended one (if you have a personal computer being used for non-business purposes, I’d look into Zone Alarm or Comodo), it may be the one you are using.
Here, you will need to make sure you allow network traffic over the IP address range you are using – especially if you are sharing files across other computers in your home that have other IP addresses. While I won’t go into detail on this, basically you go to your computer run area and type in CMD then hit enter. That will open up a black command prompt window. You type in ipconfig and find the IP address for your machine. Since you are probably set up on your network for your machine or router to dole out addresses using DHCP, you will want to write down the address so you can set up each firewall (on each computer on the network) to allow traffic across the range of potential IP addresses.
So, if you have an IP address of 192.168.1.101, you probably want to allow traffic over the range of 192.168.1.1 – 192.168.1.255. That opens up the range for communication. If you are unsure how to do this, please consult the firewall help files for the firewall you are using.
Set up Network & File / Printer Sharing
This is 2 separate things that could easily tak a whole post each! But here’s the quick and dirty look at this. Find your My Network Places icon (it’s either on your desktop or under the Start menu items) and right-click on it. Select ‘Properties’ from the menu that appears, and you will be presented with a screen that shows you your Network Connections. I then selected the LAN connection (but could have selected the wireless one as well) and right-clicked this and then selected ‘Properties’ from the menu that appears. Make sure that you have the File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks is there (as seen below), if it’s not there, install it.

File & Printer Sharing Screen
That will enable you to get to other items (like a printer installed and shared on your computer) across the network so you can use them. It will also be needed to share out file folders. This can be useful when putting pictures or other files in a single folder so you can share them with others on your home network.
To start this, you need to have a folder created on the machine you will be sharing it from. Below, I chose to put the folder on the root of the C drive, but you could place it in other places if needed. Note that I called the folder MySharedFolder. I then right-clicked on it and selected Properties from the menu that appears. From there, select the Sharing tab (as seen below).

Enable File Sharing - Step 1
I want to avoid the wizard (you can run through it if you’d like), so I picked ‘If you understand the security risks but want to share files without running the wizard’ option. What you’ll get is seen below.

File Sharing - Step 2
Here, I select ‘Just enable sharing’ since Windows insists on being helpful. Once that is done, you should reach the screen seen below.

File Sharing - Step 3
As you can see from the image above, I then selected Share this folder on the network and allow others to change my files (since that is what suited my needs). Select these item as appropriate for your situation and needs!

File Sharing - Step 4
Once it is all said and done, you will notice the folder icon has changed from the regular icon, to one with the hand under it (as seen in the screen shot above).
From this point, you could reach this folder from other computers on your workgroup by navigating there (using your My Network Places navigation through Windows Explorer). Convenient!
There are many other places you can review, here are but a few of the links you may want to review:
http://www.duxcw.com/faq/network/xpnet.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/default.mspx
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/437471/windows_xp_how_to_network_your_home.html
As always, I look forward to your comments. This doesn’t cover every possible step, but will head you in the correct area! Take care.
Tags:
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windows xp,
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