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Hello.
I know this may be a "baby" question, but I am confused.
I have a wireless network, using BellSouth FastAccess. Telephone line into a
2Wire hub/box/whatever connected to my "main" pc with two usb satellites, one
connected to each of the other computers. I can connect to the Internet on
all my computers however, why do I need a physical connection to get access
to the other computers?
I was under the impression that I would not need an actual physical
connection.
Obviously, I misunderstood.

Thanks

gt1960 wrote:

> Hello.
> I know this may be a "baby" question, but I am confused.
> I have a wireless network, using BellSouth FastAccess. Telephone line
> into a 2Wire hub/box/whatever connected to my "main" pc with two usb
> satellites, one
> connected to each of the other computers. I can connect to the
> Internet on all my computers however, why do I need a physical
> connection to get access to the other computers?
> I was under the impression that I would not need an actual physical
> connection.
> Obviously, I misunderstood.
>
> Thanks

If you have XP machines, do Start>Run>cmd [enter]
ipconfig /all

If you have Win9x/ME, do Start>Run>winipcfg [enter]

In all cases, look at the IP addresses of the computer. Are they public
IP addresses or private ones? Private IP addresses can be:

192.168.x.x; 10.x.x.x; or 172.16.x.x

If you have private IP addresses, then you have a local area network and
you don't need anything else except to fix the settings. If both
machines have public IP's (and I suspect they do), then you could
physically connect the two computers together with a crossover cable
running from ethernet adapter to ethernet adapter. Otherwise, it might
be easiest to call up your ISP and see what will work with their
proprietary hardware.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Thank you.

The two computers have IP addresses that begin with 192.168.
I do have a cable connected, but it is slow.
If I can access all of the files on all three computers with having a cable
it would be so helpful. Any suggestions on how to do this?

Thanks again.
George

"Malke" wrote:

> gt1960 wrote:
>
> > Hello.
> > I know this may be a "baby" question, but I am confused.
> > I have a wireless network, using BellSouth FastAccess. Telephone line
> > into a 2Wire hub/box/whatever connected to my "main" pc with two usb
> > satellites, one
> > connected to each of the other computers. I can connect to the
> > Internet on all my computers however, why do I need a physical
> > connection to get access to the other computers?
> > I was under the impression that I would not need an actual physical
> > connection.
> > Obviously, I misunderstood.
> >
> > Thanks
>
> If you have XP machines, do Start>Run>cmd [enter]
> ipconfig /all
>
> If you have Win9x/ME, do Start>Run>winipcfg [enter]
>
> In all cases, look at the IP addresses of the computer. Are they public
> IP addresses or private ones? Private IP addresses can be:
>
> 192.168.x.x; 10.x.x.x; or 172.16.x.x
>
> If you have private IP addresses, then you have a local area network and
> you don't need anything else except to fix the settings. If both
> machines have public IP's (and I suspect they do), then you could
> physically connect the two computers together with a crossover cable
> running from ethernet adapter to ethernet adapter. Otherwise, it might
> be easiest to call up your ISP and see what will work with their
> proprietary hardware.
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
>

gt1960 wrote:

> Thank you.
>
> The two computers have IP addresses that begin with 192.168.
> I do have a cable connected, but it is slow.
> If I can access all of the files on all three computers with having a
> cable
> it would be so helpful. Any suggestions on how to do this?

Since you already have a local area network (LAN), you just need to set
up file sharing properly. You don't need anything else. You didn't say
what operating systems the machines are running, but if they are both
XP then run the Network Setup Wizard which generally does everything
for you. The only gotcha is that the Wizard will enable the XP SP2
Windows Firewall and if you are using a third-party firewall you'll
need to disable the WF from its applet in Control Panel. Configure any
third-party firewalls to allow the lan as trusted; i.e., use an IP
range of 192.168.x.0-192.168.x.254 (substitute your correct number for
"x"). Share out desired resources.

Here are links to help you set up a home network:

http://www.bcmaven.com/networking/faq.htm
http://www.bcmaven.com/networking/myths.htm
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/
http://www.ezlan.net/index.html
http://www.howtonetworking.com/default.htm

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Hey, THANKS!!!!!

Now, I will going to see what happens when I remove that cable connected to
the Ethernet cards in the pcs.


"Malke" wrote:

> gt1960 wrote:
>
> > Thank you.
> >
> > The two computers have IP addresses that begin with 192.168.
> > I do have a cable connected, but it is slow.
> > If I can access all of the files on all three computers with having a
> > cable
> > it would be so helpful. Any suggestions on how to do this?
>
> Since you already have a local area network (LAN), you just need to set
> up file sharing properly. You don't need anything else. You didn't say
> what operating systems the machines are running, but if they are both
> XP then run the Network Setup Wizard which generally does everything
> for you. The only gotcha is that the Wizard will enable the XP SP2
> Windows Firewall and if you are using a third-party firewall you'll
> need to disable the WF from its applet in Control Panel. Configure any
> third-party firewalls to allow the lan as trusted; i.e., use an IP
> range of 192.168.x.0-192.168.x.254 (substitute your correct number for
> "x"). Share out desired resources.
>
> Here are links to help you set up a home network:
>
> http://www.bcmaven.com/networking/faq.htm
> http://www.bcmaven.com/networking/myths.htm
> http://www.practicallynetworked.com/
> http://www.ezlan.net/index.html
> http://www.howtonetworking.com/default.htm
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
>