# A Beginner's Guide to Setting up LAN and Sharing Internet



## geekysage (Nov 15, 2005)

*A Beginner's Guide to Setting up LAN and Sharing Internet*

I have seen a lot of posts asking about setting up LAN between two computers and sharing an internet connection over the network so i decided to post this step-by-step beginner's guide.

I do realize there are hundreds of such guides already available over the internet but another one doesn't hurt anyone. Besides, I have taken the simplest approach possible to provide a working solution. And this guide is different in the way that it doesn't require the user to download any 3rd party applications -  proxy servers, to be precise. It uses the features already available under Windows XP to make things work. Of course, the included screenshots are an added plus.

No guide can be perfect and cover all the bases, nevertheless, i have tried my best to keep it as simple and exhaustive as possible. I am also providing links to screenshots for each step to make it even easier to understand. I'd like to mention here that screenshots are not directly included inside the post so that a user on dial-up connection can enjoy the guide as much as a guy on broadband.

*The Hardware Setup*

I know some people get the heebie-jeebies when it comes to handling any computer hardware but believe me, this ain't one of those situation where you'll have to get your hands dirty inside your computer cabinet. All we are going to do is plug in an ethernet cable, yep, that simple.

Buy an ethernet crossover cable from a computer store and connect both computers using the crossover cable. Voila, you are done with the hardware part!

*The Software Setup aka Windows XP configuration*

Alrite, this is the part involving majority of the work. The steps that follow involve going through a simple Network Setup Wizard, which is quite self-explanatory but just to avoid any confusions and gotchas for you, i have provided you with verbal as well as visual instructions i.e. screenshots.

It doesn't matter if you have already tried messing with the settings but couldn't get the connection working. The wizard will take care of everything for you. Alrite, before i bore you to sleep, here we go:

On the Server (i.e. the computer which is directly connected to the internet)

Open Network Connections ( Screenshot )
Right Click on the Ethernet port which is connected to your LAN and open its Properties. In this case, i clicked on "Local Area Connection". Make sure that all the boxes are checked as shown in the screenshot ( Screenshot )
Go to the "Advanced" tab and click on the network setup wizard link at the bottom of the window ( Screenshot )
Click Next on the next two windows ( Screenshot 1, Screenshot 2 )
It'll ask you to select a connection method. Select the first option that says, "This computer connects directly to the internet..." and click next ( Screenshot )
It'll ask you to select the Internet Selection and you will see a preselected connection, most likely to be the one that actually connects you to the internet i.e. Dial-up, Local Area Connection 2, etc. Click next ( Screenshot )
It'll ask you to select the connection that you are gonna use for the LAN. Again, you'll see a preselected connection, correct the wizard if it's wrong and click Next ( Screenshot )
It'll ask you to give a computer name and description. You may leave the description empty and click Next ( Screenshot )
It'll ask you for a workgroup name, leave it to the default i.e. MSHOME ( Screenshot )
It'll ask you if you wanna enable File and Print Sharing, Select "Turn on file and printer sharing" and click Next ( Screenshot )
It'll show you the settings it has configured, click Next ( Screenshot )
It'll ask you to wait while it configures the network, wait till it shows you the next window ( Screenshot  )
Click on "Just finish the wizard..." and then on Next ( Screenshot )
Click Finish ( Screenshot )
On the Client (i.e. the computer which is a part of the LAN and will share the internet connection with the server)

Open Network Connections ( Screenshot )
Right Click on the Ethernet port which is connected to your LAN and open its Properties. In this case, i clicked on "Local Area Connection 2". Make sure that all the boxes are checked as shown in the screenshot ( Screenshot )
Go to the "Advanced" tab and click on the network setup wizard link at the bottom of the window ( Screenshot )
Click Next on the next two windows ( Screenshot 1, Screenshot 2 )
It _might_ say that it found some disconnected network hardware, if it does, just click on "Ignore disconnected network hardware" and click Next ( Screenshot )
It'll ask you if you wanna use the shared connection it found on the <server_name> over the LAN. Select Yes and click Next  ( Screenshot )
It'll ask you to give a computer name and description. You may leave the description empty and click Next ( Screenshot )
It'll ask you for a workgroup name, leave it to the default i.e. MSHOME ( Screenshot )
It'll ask you if you wanna enable File and Print Sharing, Select "Turn on file and printer sharing" and click Next ( Screenshot )
It'll show you the settings it has configured, click Next ( Screenshot )
It'll ask you to wait while it configures the network, wait till it shows you the next window ( Screenshot  )
Click on "Just finish the wizard..." and then on Next ( Screenshot )
Click Finish ( Screenshot )
Don't forget to enable sharing on the hard disks you wanna access on the network. You can do so by following this ( Screenshot ):
Open My Computer
Right Click on a hard disk and click on "Sharing and Security..."
Click on "If you understand the risk....click here"
Under "Network Sharing and Security" (bottom portion) click on "Share this folder on the network"; Leave the shared name to whatever it says, or change it to whatever will make it easy for you to recognize the hdd/partition
Also click on "Allow network users to change my files"
Click OK
Now you should see a palm icon overlaying the hdd icon in the My Computer window, it signifies that the hdd/partition is shared over the LAN
Do this on both - the server and the client.

I think the wizard is self-explanatory so you should be fine if you read what it is asking and select the right connections. I think if we use a little common sense and intuition, we would be alrite with any kinda computing environment or problem.

Remember, we are not setting up any IP address, default gateway, or using any 3rd party proxy servers. Windows inbuilt internet sharing (ICS) takes care of everything. And yes, the network setup wizard is automatically settting up the ICS for you in the background. This way, you don't even have to change any IE settings either. After running the wizard on the server and the client(s), you can just open the browser on a client machine and start browsing. To transfer files from one computer to the other, use "My Network Places" the same way you use "My Computer". 

I have taken care to avoid any typos and complex sentences but if you notice some, let me know.

Hope this guide will help all the beginner's out there.


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## theraven (Nov 15, 2005)

lemme me the first to thank u !
nice 
and not to step on ur toes but i have done a lil internet connection sharing over LAN tut already 
but i missed the lan setup


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## alib_i (Nov 15, 2005)

Nice work there .... very nice

Those who're reading this thread might also find the following thread (by raven) useful
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15577


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alibi


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## drharrypotter (Nov 15, 2005)

Thank you for the network setup guide.
I followed the steps exactly as in your guide. But I am still not able to see the shared folders in either server or client. 
I have Norton Antivirus 2003 installed on the desktop and Norton Antivirus 2005 installed on the laptop.
I also installed Microsoft AntiSpyware on my laptop.
I don't have any other firewall installed.
So any other way out....?

In "My Network Places" of laptop, i am able to see only the shared folders of the laptop , but not of the desktop. And same for the desktop.
And when I type the shared folder path "\\Computer Name\Folder Name" I am getting an error message that Windows cannot find....


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## drharrypotter (Nov 15, 2005)

In the *command prompt*, I am able to *ping* the desktop using it's name as well as it's IP Address. But when I use *net view* command i am getting an error message *SYSTEM ERROR 53 has occurred. The network path is not found.*  Any help with this...?


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## geekysage (Nov 16, 2005)

@theraven and alib_i: thanks guys, appreciate your comments.

@drharrypotter: You say you followed the instructions exactly as given so I hope you put both the desktop and the laptop in the same workgroup. If you didn't, correct it now and set both computers in the same workgroup e.g. MSHOME.

Since you can ping, i can not say it's a cable problem, but different workgroups seems to be the reason here. Apart from that, you can also check to make sure that all the items in the properties for the LAN connections are selected. By items, i mean stuff inside the top box which starts with "Client for Microsoft Networks". ( Screenshot  )

Let me know if this helps.

edit: Resolutions - 1) if it is domain environment, check your WINS. 2) if it is peer-to-peer workgroup, enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP. 3) or add NetBEUI on all your workstations. ( Source )


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## geekysage (Nov 21, 2005)

*@drharrypotter:* Please let me know if you figured it out, or if you're still stuck with a non-working setup.


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## yash (Nov 21, 2005)

hey u saw my question about slow transfer speeds on the connecting laptop to desktop thread?more details,none of the hdd are the bottlenecks. my laptop has toshiba mk6026gax hdd.i dont kow the rpm and all but file transfer from cd to hdd or hdd to cd on both machines is more than 5 times faster(just a guess could be even more!)


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