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Date: | Mon, 14 Aug 2006 16:19:56 -0400 |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
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Barbara wrote:
> I have my laptop and desktop on a wireless network. These are the only 2
> computers on the network. But when I go to map a network drive neither
> one is there. Any ideas? Maybe it's the firewall?
More likely the "browser" service is simply not communicating properly
over the wireless link. Most companies solve this issue by using a DHCP
server on their networks that automatically adds host records to the DNS
server for the network.
For home users, where the hardware firewall/router/NAT device doesn't
offer DNS resolution for DHCP-configured machines, you'll want to setup
the systems with static IP addresses (i.e. 192.168.x.y). That will
allow you to refer to each system by its IP address.
You can even add entries to the "hosts" file
(C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\Etc folder) as a short-hand for the static
IP addresses that you configure.
...
In order to figure out what your static IP settings need to be (assuming
that you're using Windows XP):
1. Open up a Command Prompt window (Start, All Programs, Accessories,
Command Prompt)
2. Type "ipconfig /all"
3. Write down your IP Address (probably 192.168.x.y), Subnet Mask
(usually 255.255.255.0), Default Gateway (probably 192.168.x.1), and
your DNS servers.
4. Go Start, Connect To, Show All Connections
5. Click on your Local Area Network (LAN) connection or the Wireless LAN
connection and choose "Properties"
6. Highlight "Internet Protocol" and click "Properties"
7. Change the radio buttons to "Use the following IP address" and enter
the values that you wrote down
8. Change the "Use the following DNS..." radio button and enter the DNS
servers that you wrote down
9. Close the TCP/IP properties dialog (using the Ok button)
10. Close the connection properties dialog (using the "Ok" button)
11. Verify that you can still browse the web
Your other machine will now be able to access the one configured with a
static IP address by putting "\\192.168.x.y" into the Windows Explorer
address bar.
The downside of a static configuration on the laptop is that you will
need to switch back to DHCP (dynamic configuration) if you want to
access other networks. It may be easier to leave the laptop as
dynamically configured and always connect from the laptop to the desktop
(rather then the other way around).
PCBUILD maintains hundreds of useful files for download
visit our download web page at:
http://freepctech.com/downloads.shtml
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