How to Set Up a Small Network with Windows XP Home Edition

The "Set Up a Small Network with Windows XP Home Edition" guide describes how to quickly set up a small network that is practical for home users.



In a peer-to-peer network, all the computers share their resources.

Your computers can communicate with each other only if they are physically connected. To physically connect them, you must have some hardware. Many manufacturers offer starter kits that make setting up your first network easier. However, you can also obtain all the components separately. You must have the following components to connect your computers

One network card per computer

The most frequently used network cards are PCI 10BaseT/100BaseT Fast Ethernet adapters. These Ethernet cards for the PCI bus can automatically switch between transfer rates of 10 MBit/s and 100 MBit/s.

LAN onboard

New computers typically have a LAN chip on the motherboard. If your motherboard already has a LAN chip, you do not have to install a new network card. However, you may have to activate it in BIOS. For more information, see the manual that the manufacturer supplied with your computer. If you are not sure, you can also ask your hardware manufacturer.

One network cable per computer.

Use CAT5 UTP or STP cables (category 5 unshielded or shielded twisted pair cables with RJ45 connectors on both ends).

A signal distributor.

A signal distributor connects computers with each other, controls data flow and can negotiate data transfer between 10 Mbit/s and 100 Mbit/s connections. For your small network, use either a dual-speed hub or a dual-speed switch

How to Decide Whether to Use a Hub or a Switch

The signal distributor is the central component that connects your network. The twisted pair cable connects the network cards in all the computers to the signal distributor. This forms a star structure. The term "star topology" originates from this star structure.

The signal distributor does not just connect the devices. It also guides data packets through the network. A hub and a switch differ. When a hub receives a data packet, it forwards it to all other computers. Each computer must verify whether it is the correct recipient.

A hub forwards data packets to all the ports.

A switch is more intelligent. It recognizes which computer is connected to which port based on the MAC address (the network card's hardware address assigned by the manufacturer) and saves this information in a table. When a switch receives a data packet, it determines the recipient and forwards the packet to the correct computer.

A switch forwards data packets only to the recipient. Therefore, a switch creates significantly less data traffic than a hub. The more computers that you have in your network, the more sense it makes to use a switch. Your signal distributor must have enough ports to support the number of computers in your network, and it should have extra ports in case you want to add more computers later.

Connecting the Computers.

To connect the computers, follow these steps:

Install the network card.

Install the signal distributor.

Put it near a power outlet and where all the computers can easily access it. To install the signal distributor, follow these steps:

a. Connect the network cards to the signal distributor. To do so, plug one end of the twisted pair cable into a network card and the other end into the hub or switch.
b. Plug the signal distributor into a power outlet.

Your small network is almost completely set up. You now have to prepare Windows to operate in a network environment.

Configuring TCP/IP Protocol

Now that you have successfully configured your network card, you must make sure that your computers can communicate with each other. To do so, follow these steps:

Click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, and then click Network Connections. Windows has installed a LAN connection for your small network here.

Note You can also use the Classic view in Control Panel. To switch to Classic view, click Start, click Control Panel, click Switch to Classic View (if available), and then double-click Network Connections.

If you want to establish other connections (for example, to the Internet), it is helpful to give all connections clear names. This makes it easier to differentiate the connections from each other.

Right-click the network interface, click Rename, type a different name, and then press ENTER.

To verify your LAN connection, right-click your connection, and then click Properties. The installed network components appear.

All the following key features are available:
• Client for Microsoft Networks

This service makes connections to other Windows-based computers.
• File and Printer Sharing (this feature makes network resources available).
• Quality of Service (QoS) Packet Scheduler (this feature optimizes network traffic).
• The TCP/IP protocol.

Adding Network Components

If a component is no longer available, it may have been inadvertently removed. In this case, you can reinstall it.
Client for Microsoft Networks
1. Click Install, click Client, click Add, and then click Client for Microsoft Networks.
2. Click OK, and then click Close.

File and Printer Sharing
1. Click Install, click Service, click Add, and then click File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks.
2. Click OK, and then click Close.
QoS Packet Scheduler
1. Click Install, click Service, click Add, and then click QoS Packet Scheduler.
2. Click OK, and then click Close.

You cannot remove the TCP/IP protocol. Otherwise, it is available if you click Install, click Protocol, and then click Add.

TCP/IP

Network protocols help your computers speak the same language so they can share data. Network protocols define the rules for communication. Most computers use TCP/IP protocol. After the Internet boom, this protocl became the standard protocol for small networks. You must configure two items.
IP Address and Subnet Mask
The most important item is the IP address. The IP address gives each computer a unique address where it can be accessed in the network. This address has four numbers between 0 and 255, separated by periods. All computers are numbered in a series.

The subnet mask determines the network where the computer resides. This is especially important in larger networks. Large networks are frequently divided into several subnets. In your small network, all the computers are in the same subnet.
Internet
The Internet is a large TCP/IP network that is based on IP addresses. The addresses must be unique here, too. Two computers cannot use the same IP address. If you want to access the Internet, you must make sure that your small network does not use an address that is already in use. Therefore, there are certain address ranges that you can use in your network without problems. For example, you can use address ranges such as 192.168.0.X, where X is a number between 1 and 254. Use 255.255.255.0 for your subnet mask.

To define the IP address and the subnet mask, follow these steps:
1. Right-click your LAN connection, and then click Properties.
2. Click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties.
3. Click Use the following IP address, and then type the corresponding number combination. If you use 192.168.0.1 for the first computer, use 192.168.0.2 on the second computer, and 192.168.0.3 for the third computer, and so on. The subnet mask stays the same for all the computers. Use 255.255.255.0 for this, as recommended.
4. Click OK, and then click Close.

Note : If you want to share Internet access, assign the address 192.168.0.1 to the computer that will establish the Internet connection. However, when you configure Internet Connection Sharing, this IP address is assigned to the computer automatically.

Setting the Computer Names and the Workgroups

You must assign a name and a workgroup to every computer, regardless of what protocol you use. As with the IP addresses, each computer name must be unique. Therefore, you can use a computer name only one time in your workgroup. To assign a name and a workgroup to the computer, follow these steps:

Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Performance and Maintenance.

Click See basic information about your computer.

Note If you are using Classic view in Control Panel, double-click System instead.

Click the Computer Name tab, type a description of the computer (optional), and then click OK.

To define the computer name and the workgroup, click Change on the Computer Name tab, and then click OK.

Notes
• Assign each computer a different, meaningful name.
• Make sure that you assign every computer to the same workgroup.

Click OK, click OK again, and then restart your computer.

Sharing Folders

Advantages of Sharing

When you turn on file sharing, you can determine what resources are available in the network. All the computers on the network can use the resources that you enable for sharing. For example, you can enable the following resources for sharing:
• Folders
• Drives
• Printers
• Internet access
Resources that are not set up for sharing remain private.

There are many advantages to sharing devices and files:
• You can easily copy or move files from one computer to another. You can share work on files on different computers.
• You can access a single device, such as a printer or a ZIP drive, from any computer.
• One Internet access point is sufficient for several computers to use the Internet at the same time.

Sharing Files

When a computer allocates resources, it assumes server functions. Any computer in a peer-to-peer network workgroup can do so. You must configure file and printer sharing for a computer to act as a server. You set up this functionality when you installed the network card. Therefore, you can already share a file or files that you want to use on other computers. To share a file, follow these steps:
1. Locate a folder on the computer.
2. Right-click the file that you want to share, and then click Sharing and Security to view additional settings.
 

The next two windows only appear when you are setting up your first shared item. Windows notifies you that sharing data presents a certain security risk. Therefore, remote access is turned off by default. Click the Security warning message, click Just enable file sharing, and then click OK.

Now you can share data. Click Share this folder on the network, and then type a share name. You can use this name later to access the data. The share name and the folder name do not have to be the same.

Specify whether the data that is accessed over the network can be changed, and then click OK.

The icon for the shared folder appears with a picture of a hand:

To access the shared folder, click Start, click My Computer, and then click My Network Places. You can access the shared folder in the following ways:
• Directly on the top level
• Hierarchically on the computer level
When you open My computer, the shared resources for all the computers in your small network are listed next to each other. You can find the required folder under Share_name on Computer_name.

If you entered a computer description when you assigned a computer name, you must search for Share_name on Computer_description (Computer name).

If you work your way down to a specific computer in the network, you will see only the shared resources on this one computer. Click View workgroup computers, double-click the computer names (either as Computer_name or as Computer_description [Computer name]), and then search for the name of the shared file.

If you click Allow network users to change my files, you can view, copy, move, change and delete files in this folder on any computer in this network. You can add new files and access subfolders and files.

You can use the same method to share whole drives, including the following drives:
• Hard disks or partitions
• CD ROM drives
• ZIP drives
To stop sharing, right-click the file that is shared, click Sharing and Security, and then clear the Share this folder on the network check box. When you do so, this resource no longer appears under this computer name. However, the folder link directly in the network environment remains. It is no longer available unless you set it up for sharing again. When a user tries to access the folder, they receive a "No access" message.

Your network is now fully functional. If you have already set up an Internet connection, optimize the configuration. Make sure that File and Printer Sharing and Client for Microsoft Networks are turned off in the dial-up connection (only here). and make sure that the Internet connection firewall is turned on. A dial-up connection to the Internet does not use these services, and the firewall provides some protection against malicious users. To optimize the configuration, follow these steps:

Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Network Connections.

Right-click the dial-up connection, and then click Properties.

Click the Networking tab, and then click Advanced to confirm the following settings:
• The Client for Microsoft Networks check box and the File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks check box are not selected.
• The Internet Connection Firewall check box is selected.
 

Click OK.