We have many laptops in our House that we want to print our primary computer. How to create a network?

Four laptops and a main computer

You have left out a lot of information, like how you get to the Internet and what systems of operation or Service Pack levels different computers are running, and if the printer is connected locally to a particular computer. So I'll give you some general tips and then if you have any questions you can come back with the lack of details and I can be more specific.

General steps:

1. do you have a router (or a combination modem/router). This will create the Local ("LAN") network. If all the computers are connected to wireless local area network, make sure that you configure the network wireless safely. See below for more details.

2. best solution - to have a printer real network which is connected by cable (wireless only if it is not close to the router) to the router. Then all computers on the local network can print to it without the need of a particular computer to be turned on.

3. If your printer can be connected locally (directly to a computer via a USB cable), then:

a. set up the file/printer sharing on all computers (see below for more details);
b. install the printer on every computer.

Configuration of the router wireless safely:

Have a computer connected to the router with an ethernet cable. Examples given are for a Linksys router. See the manual of your router or the router mftr's Web site. for the parameters by default if you don't have a Linksys. Open a browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox and in the address bar type:

http://192.168.1.1 [Enter] (it is default IP address of the router, which varies from router to router then check your manual)

This will bring you to the login screen of the router. The default username is blank and the Linksys default password is "admin" without the quotes. Enter this information. You are now in the configuration of the router utility. Your configuration utility may be slightly different from mine. The first thing to do is to change the default password because * all * known default passwords for different routers.

Click the Administration link at the top of the page. Enter your new password. MAKE A NOTE SOMEWHERE THAT YOU WILL NOT LOSE. Re-enter the password to confirm it, and then click Save settings at the bottom of the page. The router will reboot and show you the box of connection again. Do not fill in the user name and put it in your new password to enter the configuration utility.

Now, click on the link wireless at the top of the page. Change the network name (SSID) wireless by default to something, you'll recognize. I suggest that my clients not use their surname as the SSID. For example, you might want to name your network wireless network "CastleAnthrax" or similar. ;-)

Click on save settings and when you get the prompt that your changes were successful, click the wireless security link which is just beside the Basic Wireless Settings link (where you changed your SSID). Most computers purchased during the last 4 years have the wireless hardware that will support WPA2-Personal (also known as WPA2-PSK). This is the desired encryption level. If your wireless hardware is older, use WPA. Don't use WEP, because who is easily broken within minutes. So go ahead and set the Security Mode WPA2-Personal. Do this and enter a password. For example, you could use the password ' here be dragons, beware you scurvy dogs! The password is what you enter on all computers that are allowed to connect to the wireless network. MAKE A NOTE SOMEWHERE THAT YOU WILL NOT LOSE.

At this point, your router is set up and if the computer that you use to configure the router will normally connect wireless, disconnect the ethernet cable and wireless of the computer should see your new network. Enter the password that you have created (exactly as you wrote it with all capital letters and punctuation) to join the network and start surfing.

Network:

Here are the steps of general network troubleshooting. Just cannot apply to your situation, so just take the bits that are. It may seem daunting, but if you follow the steps in the links and suggestions below calmly and consistently, you will have no difficulty to implement your sharing.

Excellent, comprehensive, but easy to understand article on sharing files/printer under Vista. Contains information about sharing printers and files, and the folders:

http://TechNet.Microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx
For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard the on all machines (see warning in section A below).

Problems sharing files between computers on a network are usually caused by 1) a misconfigured firewall or a firewall neglected (including a dynamic firewall in a virtual private network); or (2) inadvertently run two firewalls such as the firewall of Windows and a third-party firewall. and/or (3) do not have accounts to the same users and passwords on all computers in the workgroup. (4) tries to create actions where the operating system does not.

A. configure the firewall on all machines to allow traffic to local area network (LAN) as being approved. With the Windows Firewall, it means which allows file sharing / print on the Exceptions tab normally run the XP Network Setup Wizard will take care of this for these machines. The only "witch hunt", it will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you are not running a third-party firewall or you have an antivirus/security with its own firewall component program, then you're fine.  With a third-party firewall, I usually set up the allocation of LAN with an IP address range. E.g. would be 192.168.1.0 - 192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct subnet. Refer to the safety of any third party program or the user forums for how to correctly configure its firewall. Do not run more than one firewall. DON'T STOP FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY.

(B) to facilitate the Organization, put all computers in the same workgroup. This is done from the System applet in Control Panel, the computer name tab.

(C) in Vista, turn on password protected sharing. Create accounts of users and corresponding passwords on all machines. You do not need to be logged into the same account on all machines and assigned to each user account passwords can be different; accounts/passwords just need to exist and to match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY OF SIMPLE. If you want a machine to boot directly to the desktop (a particular user account) for convenience, you can do this:

XP - set up Windows to automatically connect (MVP Ramesh) - http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

Vista - Start ORB > Search > type: netplwiz [Enter]
Click continue (or provide an administrator password) when you are prompted by UAC

Uncheck "users must enter a user name and password to use this computer". Select a user account to connect automatically by clicking on the account you want to highlight and press OK. Enter the password for this user account (when it exists) when you are prompted. Leave blank if there is no password (null).

D. Si one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off Simple file sharing (Folder Options > view tab).

E. create share as you wish. XP Home does not share the users directory or the Program Files, but you can share folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents folder. See the first link above for more information on Vista sharing.

F. you have the job of file sharing (and tested by exchanging a file between machines), if you want to share a printer connected locally to one of your computers, share of this machine. Then go to the printer mftr Web site. and download the latest drivers for the correct system. Install them on the target machines. The printer must be collected during the installation procedure. If this isn't the case, install the drivers and then use the Add Printer Wizard. In some cases, printers must be installed as local printers, but it is outside this response.
MS - MVP - Elephant Boy computers - don't panic!

Tags: Windows

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