Cassis Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 If I've been reading it correctly elsewhere on the forum, it seems to be the case that a desktop and a laptop connected to the same router, one by cable and the other WiFi, can access each other's innards. Can anyone tell me how this is achieved, step by step? My laptop connects to the router (a Freebox V3-V4) wirelessly while the desktop is cabled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted January 25, 2007 Author Share Posted January 25, 2007 Don't bother - I've done it. Not the easiest thing to unravel with XP in French, but it worked! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Btuckey Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Well done Cassis! For others, it is very easy and well worth the effort IMHO especially if you want to share printers that are not networked. As ever, a picture is worth a thousand words so 'google' for 'file sharing'. You will get back thousands of documents and you can match up the 'English' screenshots with their 'French' cousins. The Microsoft site also has some good articles.Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted January 25, 2007 Author Share Posted January 25, 2007 Cheers, Brian. Doing this almost 'blind' I've managed to get the two machines networked. I've found that files put into the 'shared documents' folder on my desktop can be seen and manipulated on the laptop. One question - the laptop can now 'see' the printer which is attached to the desktop, the laptop has all the relevant drivers installed, and everything looks as normal (it flashes up "Printing page 1 of 1 ... etc.") when I try to print from the laptop; the documents appear in the printer queue list under User:Guest but nothing actually prints out. Any ideas? I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the printer on the laptop, reinstalling the drivers and rebooting to no avail. The printer continues to work fine off the desktop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 I would like to ask another question not unrelated to the thread.Can you run a desk top and a lap top at the same time on the web through one phone line. Both servers identical with likewise modems but on seperate phone line extensions. Advice gratefully received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted January 25, 2007 Author Share Posted January 25, 2007 Might be better to post that separately otherwise this could get confusing as the question's not to do with network connections. No offence meant. [:)]I don't think you can do what you're suggesting, totally separate connections on one line - they would have to share a router. I think. Like ours share the Freebox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoverfrog Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 [quote user="Logan"]I would like to ask another question not unrelated to the thread.Can you run a desk top and a lap top at the same time on the web through one phone line. Both servers identical with likewise modems but on seperate phone line extensions. Advice gratefully received.[/quote]we have 4 computers sharing our ADSL connection. The important bit is the livebox that acts as router and firewall. If you are on dial-up you will need to connect with one modem and turn on internet sharing (with the other machine networked to the 1st), or get yourself a router. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenniswitch Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 [quote user="Cassis"]Cheers, Brian. Doing this almost 'blind' I've managed to get the two machines networked. I've found that files put into the 'shared documents' folder on my desktop can be seen and manipulated on the laptop. One question - the laptop can now 'see' the printer which is attached to the desktop, the laptop has all the relevant drivers installed, and everything looks as normal (it flashes up "Printing page 1 of 1 ... etc.") when I try to print from the laptop; the documents appear in the printer queue list under User:Guest but nothing actually prints out. Any ideas? I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the printer on the laptop, reinstalling the drivers and rebooting to no avail. The printer continues to work fine off the desktop.[/quote]Just to clarify, the printer is physically connected to the PC? And when you were setting up your network, you went to the PC Start/Control panel/Printers and Other Hardware/View installed printers or fax printers/right-clicked the printer and selected Properties/Sharing and checked Share this printer? And then to "install" the printer on the laptop, you used the "Add Printer" wizard and made sure that the printer's name on the laptop was identical to its name on the PC? And you had the correct IP address for the PC?Generally when I've had problems getting a printer to work from my laptop (after having done all the above correctly), it's turned out to be one of two things. Either my firewall settings were blocking something or else the router was changing the IP address of my PC and laptop. The latter problem I've permanently settled by going into the router settings and telling it what addresses to use for the PC and laptop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 Hi TWThe printer and the desktop are connected by a USB port and cable. I used the XP Helpcentre Wizard to create the home network, switching on all peripherals as instructed and transferring the network information (on a "Netsetup" application using a USB memory card) from the desktop PC to the Laptop. I don't know if these are exactly the correct terms as all this was in French!The printer did not install so I used the add a printer wizard on the laptop and it found the printer. The printer name appears the same on the laptop except it is preceded by the desktop's name, like "//dvx450/epson stylus 4501". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenniswitch Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 [quote user="Cassis"]Hi TWThe printer and the desktop are connected by a USB port and cable. I used the XP Helpcentre Wizard to create the home network, switching on all peripherals as instructed and transferring the network information (on a "Nestsetup" application using a USB memory card) from the desktop PC to the Laptop. I don't know if these are exactly the correct terms as all this was in French!The printer did not install so I used the add a printer wizard on the laptop and it found the printer. The printer name appears the same on the laptop except it is preceded by the desktop's name, like "//dvx450/epson stylus 4501". [/quote]Okay. Here's something you might try. If it all seems to obvious, of course, feel free to say so. I don't have delusions of techy-ness. To check things, if you go to Start/Control Panel/Printers and Other Hardware/View installed printers or fax printers, the printer is listed as epson stylus 4501 on the desktop and as epson stylus 4501 on dvx450 on the laptop?And if, on the desktop, you go to Start/Run/cmd and type in ipconfig/all, what is the Host name? Is it dvx450? Make a note of the IP address of the desktop (I like to save or print a screenshot).On the laptop, go to the Add Printer Wizard again. This time when you get to the point where it says "specify a printer", if last time you selected "Browse", this time select "Connect to a printer on the internet or on a home or office network" and see what happens. If your printer doesn't appear automatically, or if you selected this before and it didn't work, then select "Connect to this printer" and type in "\\" , then the IP address of your desktop, then "\", then the name of your printer as it appears on your desktop (of course, don't type any quotation marks).If that doesn't work even once, then you have reached the limits of my "expertise". (If it works temporarily, chances are your router is changing your computers' IP addresses.)Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 Hi TWDid as advised - thought I was in luck when I typed in the IP and printer name manually with a slight error the first time and got an error message, then it said it had found it the second time and was I sure I wanted to install it. However, the latter was what it said when it found the printer for itself first time around - and end result was the same this time. On the face of it it has established a link to the computer - it even shows printer status as 'Ready' (or, rather, "Prêt") when the printer is switched on - but I still can't print or look at the printer condition etc. when I click its icon in the taskbar.Maybe a firewall problem? I'll continue to eexperiment with the settings (but that can wait until tomorrow - a glass beckons). Thank you for your help - it is appreciated. [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenniswitch Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Kind of you to say that, but I don't think I've been any help yet. When I first set up our network I had to do all the above and also tweak the firewall settings, both to make sure that the desktop PC firewall was allowing connections from the laptop (but that must be happening if you're sharing other files) and that the laptop firewall was allowing programs such as word to have internet access (which with my Norton firewall seems to be necessary for it to connect to the printer via the router).And even then, although I could print from the laptop, the connections were very, very slow (especially for the first connection after the daily bootup). It would take an age for the printer dialogue box to appear and another age for the printer to begin printing after I clicked okay.Recently, I got a new printer (same manufacturer, Canon) and, naturally, had to install new software on the PC. I was rather dreading adding the new printer to the laptop, but for some reason it was a breeze, the "wizard" found it immediately, no typing in necessary. And everything works much faster and better. I have no idea why.Have you checked to see if you have the latest driver for the printer? If the printer is more than a few months old and the laptop is new...? (BTW, I'm in the US at the moment, so 6 hours earlier in time.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted January 27, 2007 Author Share Posted January 27, 2007 Hi TWYour mention of installing a new printer twigged something in a longlost memory cell. I remembered that when I last got a new printer itwould not work until I had uninstalled the old, defunct printer (despite thefact that the new printer was set as the default).So this morning I uninstalled the old (failed) printer installation setups from thelaptop and started again from scratch using the printer installationwizard. Bingo, it works now. Thank you for your support!PhilPS That said, I've still no idea why the first attempt did not work - I did nothing different. And the fact that documents would appear in the print queue and show as 'printing' yet nothing would happen was SO puzzling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenniswitch Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 Hi, Cassis,Well, sometimes just batting ideas back and forth will result in a "eureka" moment (isn't that the premise behind psychotherapy?[:D]).Glad you got it working, even if the "solution" doesn't make any sense. I have long since given up trying to understand my computer- just stumble around until I find something that works or someone else tells me what to do.TW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pads Posted January 27, 2007 Share Posted January 27, 2007 So Cassis can you now tell me if that means the main computer can look in on what the other computer is doing and can it read the email s ect......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted January 28, 2007 Author Share Posted January 28, 2007 Rest easy, Pads - I am not sharing email between the two so there is no spying! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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