Wireless home network set up?

I have two desktops and one laptop I want to have in a wireless home network. I already share wireless internet in all of them. my main desktop computer is connected to the wireless router and the other desktop and the laptop connect to the router wirelessly. I want to share files and share the printer as well. how can I do that. every time I run the wireless home network wizard the main computer (desktop) won't see the shared folders. and the other computers wont see the printer

please help
Thanks

ars1co

cajunspike19592008-04-04T07:18:52Z

Favorite Answer

Good job on getting it all setup correctly, what you have to this point.
To setup printer sharing(assuming winxp)
1)On every computer
right click 'my computer'
properties
computer name
change button
Make sure the work group name is IDENTICAL on every computer..it doesn't matter what it is..but they all have to be identical. Reboot if you change the workgroup name.
2)On the desktop that has the printer
start
settings
printers
right click on the printer you want to share
sharing
share this printer
give it some printer share name
click ok, close the windows.
Lets say the name of the desktop pc is 'masterpc'

3)On each laptop, do
start
run
\\masterpc

You will see the shared printer on the desktop.
right click on the printer icon
connect

to setup file sharing, do the work group name verification as above
1)On the desktop pc(or whichever you want)
my computer
right click on drive c
sharing and security
share this folder
give it a share name(you pick one)
check 'allow network users to change my files' if thats
what you want.
click ok..
2)on the laptops,
start
run
\\masterpc
You'll see the shared folder
right click on the shared folder
map network drive
pick a drive letter to setup
click ok

Now other pc's disk drive shows up in my computer as a shared network drive.

w_fire2008-04-04T07:16:31Z

If they can all see the internet then you don't need to run the network wizard. Go into your Network Connections and under the properties of your connection make sure that File and Printer sharing is on. Then you can go to any folder and right click and hit share. This should make it seen by other computers on the network. You have to do the same for the printer as well. You have to right click on the printer in the Printers part of control panel and mark it share. This should take care of you problems I should think. Good Luck.

Anonymous2008-04-04T07:16:48Z

it depends on your OS but i suspect these are all windows computers.

if all of your computers go to the same router (wirelessly or otherwise) then you are already on a "network" so no further setup should be required. you're problem probably stems form firewalls or security/sharing preferences.

if you go to network places under windows explorer there should be a windows workgroup under which you should be able to see your other computers by name (meaningful or not) and under that anything that is shared (printers/files/etc)

the trick is to go to the folders you wish to share, right click, then find the tab sharing and security or otherwise; then find the button that says "share this folder" or similar.

once shared you should be able to see it from the other
PCs, if not look into your firewall settings

T2008-04-04T07:14:08Z

They all need to be on the same workgroup, this seems to be a common problem when connection several computers.

The default from windows is normally MSHOME but here is how you can check it.

Right click the my computer Icon
go to properties
In the system properties windows select the computer name tab
Look at the bottom of the window, it will say the workgroup name, if it is not the same change it and reboot. Then run the setup wizard again.

This is a good (easy) place to start.

windows_cleaning2008-04-04T07:11:27Z

Well first you need to make sure you have a Wifi card, or one is already installed on all your computers. If you want to share the printer as well, then you need to make sure the printer has the capabilities of doing so. If all is ok, then you need to go under your control panel, Internet options and look through there......Most of the time the network wizard will walk you through the entire setup process....hope I could help

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