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No discussion of Microsoft Windows networking would be complete without a link
to the World of Windows Networking. They cover the details of network
configuration on all Microsoft operating systems. The remaining discussions on this page will illustrate the
settings on XP pro. The settings will be similar on other operating systems but the locations may differ. |
| Click image to see larger version | To reach the "Local Area Connection Properties" page open "My network places", on the
left (under network tasks) will be a link to "View Network connections". Click the link, then right click
on the connection to be configured and choose properties from the drop down menu.
The "File and print sharing for Microsoft Networks" and "Client for Microsoft Networks" must be selected to share files over the Lan. The advanced tab of this page will allow you to turn on and turn off Internet connection firewall. I would recommend a good third party firewall instead of ICF, but don't run both at once. |
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To see the TCP/IP properties, scroll down in the list box in the previous view until you reach
the Internet protocol entry. Highlight it and click the properties button. The settings shown
are the most common.
If you select "Use the following IP address" you must fill in an IP address and subnet mask for a home network to work. The default gateway must be filled in to access the internet, unless you have a static public IP address from your ISP and the computer is directly connected to the internet (no router). If you use a static IP address you must also manually enter the DNS servers. If you leave the "Obtain an IP address automatically" radio button selected you can manually enter DNS servers. You may want to do this if your home router is passing itself as the DNS server and is slow. The DNS servers from some ISP's are also unreliable, so you may want to ask around about more reliable servers. |
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The Network Card properties are reached by clicking the configure button at the top of the Connection's
property page. You can update drivers from the driver tab.
The power tab chooses whether the NIC should hibernate with the computer, this sometimes will cause problems with the lan. If the card has hibernated you may not be able to reach shared printers and drives from other computers. The advanced tab will usually let you set speed and duplex manually. More problems are caused by incorrect manual configurations than incorrect automatic configurations, so be careful with this setting. |
| Click image to see larger version | The computer naming location has been moved in XP. Right click on "My computer" and select properties. Select the Computer Name tab and use the Change button to change the computer name. Using the Network ID wizard is likely to change things that you don't want changed. |
