Wireless network and 'sharing' problems.

[rich1068]

First things first. I've set up a wireless network at home (Netgear DG834G) and everything seems to be OK. Actually I've just set one up in the office too and after 3 days on to Tech Support I'm not suprised the one at home went smoothly. Learn from your mistakes and all that...

Anyway. A couple of questions.

1) Is the WEP encription thing enough security? Should I do more? My laptop picks up the network as a 'Security-enabled wireless network' and I have to enter the key to gain access. My laptop also picks up a couple of local Wanadoo networks and they say 'Security-enabled wireless network (WPA)' Your thoughts?

2) Can anyone point me in the direction of an easy 'how to...?' or tell me how to send documents from the wireless laptop to the wired PCs printer? I've tried some sort of wizard on the PC but it makes my head spin and so far no joy.

Your help as always would be appreciated.

BTW Both are running XP Home.

[SkodiRS]

First things first. I've set up a wireless network at home (Netgear DG834G) and everything seems to be OK. Actually I've just set one up in the office too and after 3 days on to Tech Support I'm not suprised the one at home went smoothly. Learn from your mistakes and all that...

Anyway. A couple of questions.

1) Is the WEP encription thing enough security? Should I do more? My laptop picks up the network as a 'Security-enabled wireless network' and I have to enter the key to gain access. My laptop also picks up a couple of local Wanadoo networks and they say 'Security-enabled wireless network (WPA)' Your thoughts?

2) Can anyone point me in the direction of an easy 'how to...?' or tell me how to send documents from the wireless laptop to the wired PCs printer? I've tried some sort of wizard on the PC but it makes my head spin and so far no joy.

Your help as always would be appreciated.

BTW Both are running XP Home.

Generally having WEP is enough..not many people can crack the encryption although it is possible. Use the highest bit rate as your specific home network can handle i.e. all use 64bit or higher.

WPA is much safer and WPA2 better still. Only problem with WPA2 is that it's still fairly new and various pieces of equipment may not be compatible i.e they all have WPA2.

Not a problem if you can see wireless networks.....if you don't have the access keys you can't connect...would be the same for anyone who can seeyour wireless network.

[devonutopia]

My mate was able to print like that, but it was a little more complicated. It involved him dumping the document in a folder on his laptop, and sharing that folder, then that folder would appear in my network connections and I could open it up on my PC hardwired to the printer, and print. Unless the printer is a network printer which can hardwire into the router, I don't believe there's another option?

Likewise I had a folder shared on my computer so if I wanted to send something to my mate's laptop I could. I did this with a lot of my music - Transfers quick over the network.

[rich1068]

Not a problem if you can see wireless networks.....if you don't have the access keys you can't connect...would be the same for anyone who can seeyour wireless network.

It was just that they had the '(WPA)' thing after theirs. But you reckon WEP is enough? That'll do for me then. If I can avoid delving into the router settings again I will.

My mate was able to print like that, but it was a little more complicated. It involved him dumping the document in a folder on his laptop, and sharing that folder, then that folder would appear in my network connections and I could open it up on my PC hardwired to the printer, and print. Unless the printer is a network printer which can hardwire into the router, I don't believe there's another option?

Likewise I had a folder shared on my computer so if I wanted to send something to my mate's laptop I could. I did this with a lot of my music - Transfers quick over the network.

Hmm. A little more complicated than I thought. I assumed that if you were wirelessly on the network you could 'send' a document to the printer via the wired PC ie type a document on your wireless laptop, click print and bob's your uncle.

[devonutopia]

Hmm. A little more complicated than I thought. I assumed that if you were wirelessly on the network you could 'send' a document to the printer via the wired PC ie type a document on your wireless laptop' date=' click print and bob's your uncle.[/quote']

Pretty sure you can't unfortunately, unless the printer is a networked one and you install the drivers on to the laptop. Unless its connected via ethernet I think the only PC which can print is the one its hooked up to. I wonder if using VNC viewer would mean you could tap into the hardwired PC via the viewer and find the document on your laptop and print that way? I've not used VNC or similar before so not 100% on that.

[Octygone]

it can be set to accept mac addresses only and once you have sorted out the ones on your network it should be pretty safe

[DaveH]

Eh up Rich. Turn of SSID broadcast (thereby making the network 'invisible'), limit the network by mac number for your pcs, use WPA instead of WEP - why not, its just as easy and more secure. If you get your sharing sorted correctly you'll be able to print via the laptop just as you would via the pc. The only thing is your PC with the printer attached will need to be on (unless of course you set up a real networked printer). I'd offer to come around to help but its a bit too far up to Edinbourgh!

[rich1068]

Pretty sure you can't unfortunately

I've now cracked it (with some help from Josh - have you tried turning it off and turning it on again - Murray. He also assures me my collection of donkey porn is safe with WEP.)

Basically I just wasn't letting XP do it's own thing and recognising drop down boxes when I saw them. Vague I know but

Jason,

(All XP instructions. Don't know about other OSs)

Run network setup wizard on the wired PC, let it find the other wireless PCs etc etc. Important thing is obviously making sure they are all part of the same 'Workgroup'. At the end use a USB storage device or floppy and create a copy of all the settings. Plug that into the wireless PC and run network setup wizard again from that. Find the printer attached to that work group and Robert is your sister's brother. I can now click print on a Word document on my laptop and it prints upstairs from the main PC.

Now this may not be rocket science to some of you lot but to me it's just a bit clever

[rich1068]

Turn of SSID broadcast (thereby making the network 'invisible')

OK. Stupid question time but..................

I switch my laptop between connections at work and at home. How will my laptop find a connection if it's 'invisible'?

And the weather we're having up here is terrible. I wouldn't want you turning out in this.

[DaveH]

Once the network is setup it all just works, your pc and laptop will find it because they know what to look for! You only really need the name broadcast to make setting up the connections easy.

[rich1068]

Stealth. I like it

[DaveH]

Stealth. I like it

You should know already that that is where its at for me -even my horn is stealthy.

[Josh_PoloGTi]

Rich

My reckoning is you owe me £10

50p/minute

MrJoshua's Technical Support Line

[rich1068]

to both of you.

[rich1068]

More router woes :(

Firstly, the one at work (another Netgear DG834G v2).

I can only get a stable wireless connection on the laptop if I disable IEEE 802.1x authentication in the Wireless Network Connection and Local Area Connection in 'My Network Places'. I have to disable it on the wired PC too. Why am I having to do this when I believe the default setting is for it to be on? Also, what exactly is IEEE 802.1x authentication and do I need it? Via Google I have found that this problem is fairly common and the recommended fix is to turn it off but all refer to it as an XP SP1 glitch. All the PCs I have access to are running up to date versions of SP2. Router is running the 'box' firmware, WEP and SSID is hidden.

Secondly, the one at home.

My gloating about a hassle free set up has come back to haunt me. The connection seemed to get a little flakey so in an idle moment I downloaded the latest firmware and turned off the IEEE thing mentioned above but to no avail. I think it could be a reception problem as I found out last night that if I hold the laptop about 6 inches away from the router then reception is good. Any more than a few feet and its lost. I've also tried switching the channel from 11 to 6 but this didn't make any difference either. I can't think that there is any interference from anything in the room or the house but I have wondered about the two Wannadoo signals that I still have no problem picking up even though my router is in line of sight. Apart from the new firmware, router is WEP enabled and SSID is hidden. Turning those off doesn't make any difference though.

I could go on and on but I'm hoping someone can help before I throw the router out of the window!!!

[landwomble]

Pretty sure you can't unfortunately, unless the printer is a networked one and you install the drivers on to the laptop. Unless its connected via ethernet I think the only PC which can print is the one its hooked up to. I wonder if using VNC viewer would mean you could tap into the hardwired PC via the viewer and find the document on your laptop and print that way? I've not used VNC or similar before so not 100% on that.

nope, if printer attached to a desktop pc, just share out the printer - and you can then print to it from yourlaptop. easy peasy - on XP (desktop), RH click printer, choose "sharing", give it a name.

on laptop, browse to \\desktopname and double click on printer to install drivers. takes about 2 mins.

oh, and wep isn't great for security. if you can, use WPA. also you can turn off SSID broadcast (doesn't broadcast there's a wireless network about - you need to know the network name to connect, rather than it pick it up automagically) and use MAC filtering (limit connections to particular network cards in particular PCs.

PM for details.

ric

[vindaloo]

I'm currently running XP SP2. I'd say the wifi support in it is a little flaky. Sometimes it connects immediately, other times it fails to connect to my network, then disable/enable or repair the connection and after a while, it works... weird. Once it's connected though, it seems quite stable. Same laptop on the same coffee table in the same orientation getting 'very good' signal strength.

Earlier versions of XP had problems maintaining a connection to 'secret' wifi nodes. It would drop intermittently and try to connect to a network which was SSID broadcasting. I don't think this applies to SP1 or SP2 though...

Keep at it and you should get there in the end.

J.