I have a Dell 4600 desktop and have ordered a Dell Laptop. I would like to network the 2 computers as well as my printer, scanner and external hard drives. I am using Brighthouse cable for my internet connection

Dell 4600
2.8 GHZ processor
WIN XP SP2
2 GB mem
120GB HD
DVD reader
CD/DVD writer
Intel PRO/100 VE Network connection
No wireless card



Dell Inspiron 1705 Notebook
Intel core 2 Duo 1.73 GHZ
Vista Premium
2GB Shared Mem
120 GB HD
CD/DVD Writer
Intergrated 10/100 Network card and modem
Dell wireless 1390b/g (54mbps)


What hardware will I have to install in the 4600
and the Notebook to set up a wireless network and share everything?


Any help appreciated. Thanks.

Phil B.

If it was me, i woud get a wireless router to share the internet connection wirelessly over the 2 PCs.
The Laptop have a built in wi fi so no prob with it.
as for the Desktop u coud get a USB wi fi device or a wireless PCI device if u have an empty slot.

Now that ur wireless on the router, Desktop and laptop u could share evrything as long as u setup the right TCP/IP configuration wish i will suppose u will know how to do it, if not just tell me and i will tell u how.

cheers.

Wassim,

Thanks for your reply to my post. Will need your help to set up the right TCP/IP configuration.

Phil B.

Actually the way i told u would let u share the internet connection but i'm not really sure about sharing between computers.

Phil B.
i assume you have a router and that you can plug in both computers into the router. Setting up in wired mode is safer and easier than wirless. Do wireless last.

Begin with Start, Settings, Network Connections, Network setup wizard. Usually it does a fairly good job of what you need. Read their descriptions of what a home network is about. Make sure to not confuse ICS (internet connection sharing) with something like "every computer connects to the internet through a residential gateway", a better method in my opinion if your ISP allows. Make sure every computer has a different name, but both computers must share a "workgroup" name (default is MSHOME). Share folders. Share printers. Share drives, though I haven't done the printer nor an external drive. Sharing is setup in Windows explorer, right click, properties, and find the Share tab and follow instructions.

Finally, I bet if you search this site, you'll find a good tutorial
also wikipedia has suggestions. But you might start with these two
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial27.html
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/n...up/default.mspx

Enjoy! It'll take couple hours of mistakes but can be done