Connect 2 PC in a HOME Lan

I am trying to connect to 2 PCs in a home lan, but failed:

a) I have 2 notebooks, nd 1 wifi router (the routher connects to internet, and the two pcs have good internet connection)

I would like to link the the two PCs with each other, so that I can for example get some files from the other PC or send messages to the other PC

c) I already put woth PCs into one working group which I called WG

What do do next? If I go to networkplaces, I found the working group WG there, but when I sellect it, windows will write that the WG working group can not be accessed or connected.

Thanks for advice.

Hi Patbox,

The first thing to do is to enable "file and printer sharing" in the firewall for both computers.

I will need your operating system info to be able to give you more details

Dave

I have two PCs and one wifi router:

PC1: Windows XP Home SP3
PC2. Windows XP Professional SP3

Where do I enable files and priter sharing? (Of course I would like to do that, but I only want to share files between the two PCs I dont want to run a risk, that someone outside of my working group or lan will access my files )

Thanks.

On each of your computers, is:
1. Windows firewall enabled or disabled? (if enabled, goto STEP 1A below)
2. If disabled, are you using a third-party firewall software such as Mcafee, Norton, Avast, etc?


STEP 1A
How to configure "File and Printer Sharing" in Windows XP Home SP3

If you have windows firewall Enabled, then perform the following steps:
Note: The following steps require administrator permissions.

1. Open Windows Firewall
Start>Control Panel>Classic View(if not already)>Windows Firewall
2. Verify "On (recommended)" is checked, if not, ignore these steps.
3. There should be an "Exceptions" tab, if so click it.
4. Scroll down if needed, and make sure "File and Printer Sharing" is checked.
If its not checked, then click the empty box beside it to check it.
5. Click "Ok"
6. Repeat steps 1-5 on the other notebook.
7. Proceed to Step 1B


STEP 1B
How to configure a folder for sharing across a LAN
Note1:Performing the following steps could allow your files to compromised accross a "LAN" network without setting proper permissions.
Note2:You will only need to apply these steps on the notebook you wish to access files from (Host).

1. We will create a test folder. On the host notebook, open Start>My Computer>Local Disk (C:)
2. Create a new folder, name it Test Only.
3. Left click the folder, click Properties in the menu.
4. Click the "Sharing" tab. Once there, click inside the empty circle beside "Share this folder".
5. Give it a name, in our case, name it Test Only. (If you wish to configure proper permissions, click permissions button.)
6.Click Apply, then click OK.

After performing the above steps, perform the following on your client notebook to view the folder you create above:
7. Goto Start>My Computer
8. Click inside the Address bar, scroll down and select My Network Places.
9. Look for the folder with the name we created earlier, Test Only. Click it.
Since we didnt put any files in this folder, it should be empty. You may also delete this folder, as it was used for testing purposes only.

Repeat steps 1-6 for the folders you wish to access on your host notebook.
I hope this guide helped you. Let me know of your results

Dear all, dear phoenix and dera Design: My PCs now can share folders :-) Thanks!!!

Now, I have this question: I have two PCs in my LAN:
- PC1 has CD ROM, and PC two has no CD ROM.
- I decided to share the CD ROM from PC1 and now PC2 can access it.
- Do you think I could install games on PC2 (whit no CD ROM) while actually having the CD inserted into PC2?

Yes, just insert the CD into the CD drive, and run it from your other computer. It wont show up on your other computer unless you manually open the shared CD drive folder.

Lol, this is awesome. I wanted to buy an external CD-DVD ROM for 80 dollars, but now (if i understood correctly) I could use my second PC as a sort of LAN CD-DVD ROM ... this will be great if it works =)

It may be a bit slower transfering the files from the remote computers drive to yours, since its a network drive and not locally connected. So it may be a bit laggy, i haven't really tried it, but i know it can work. ;P

Thanks, appreciate your knowledge!!!

Glad you got your lan working Patbox.

If you experience troubles with the CD drive while using it over the network, can I suggest a program like powerISO. Basically what it does (if your not familiar with it) is create a virtual CD drive on a machine. So basically you install it on both machines, then on the machine with the CD-drive you make an ISO image (you can do this using powerISO). Then you transfer the ISO over the network and you can mount it on the virtual drive of the other machine

You might want to read up on this elsewhere since its off topic, but if you need help you can e-mail me

Dave

I heard of PowerIso. But from you description this seems more complicated, than just running the installation disk over network. When I get my Civilization IV installation disk back, I will let you know if the installation via lan-connected CD-DVD drive actually worked

Yeah its definately more complicated. It shouldn't be necessary as long as the network connection is stable between the machines and the router the CD-ROM sharing option will work like a charm

Dave

But the question is, if you SHARE your DVD-ROM with me. Could I install a game from your CD-DVD ROM?

You got any cool games (apart from that malware)?