Router/File Share Questions

[bigaldoc]

I guess in this case, although I'm not a "sys admin" I will move the thread continuation to the Networking forum, but before I do that... Let's see if one post can answer your question. If it requires more dialogue, I'll move the thread.

If your router is setup for DHCP, it should be assigning IP address to all computers connected to it and that should enable you to share files. You can check that by running Windows Explorer and "drilling down" into the Network to see whatever shares there are available.

To see what the IP addresses of the two computers are, the easiest way (usually) is to open the router's configuration screens and you will usually find (somewhere therein) a table of currently assigned IP addresses. Otherwise, on the individual computers, if you Run CMD and enter IPCONFIG /ALL you should see a complete list of everything about that computer.

Don't hesitate if you need more info...

[IanWilson]

<hr>My wife's computer is cabled to the router; I'm connected to the router via wireless. Can we send files to each other thru the router? I'm suspecting the answer is yes but not sure (eg, how does one get the router to assign addresses to our computer, how do I find her IP address if its dynamic, how do I address things).<hr>

What I do is set the whole range of IP addresses that my router can assign to be in the trusted zone.

Ian

[jscher2000]

As a footnote to Ian's post, this presumes your home network is reasonably secure. You can be fairly certain that no one will plug an Ethernet cable in without your knowledge, but this is less true for wireless. If you only use WEP-level encryption on your wi-fi network, then you should definitely assume there is a risk of intrusion. We should all use WPA (PSK = Pre-shared key) level encryption at a minimum.

[fburg]

Al,

Thanks for the reference to ZA.

My router has the same default address (what a surprise).

But now you raise another point (and the sys admin will probably transfer this thread to yet another thread <img src=/S/devil.gif border=0 alt=devil width=15 height=15> ).

My wife's computer is cabled to the router; I'm connected to the router via wireless. Can we send files to each other thru the router? I'm suspecting the answer is yes but not sure (eg, how does one get the router to assign addresses to our computer, how do I find her IP address if its dynamic, how do I address things).

Thanks

Fred

Edited: Fred, I hope you don't mind that I altered the subject of YOUR post so Loungers searching would see something a bit more relative.

[IanWilson]

I'm using a wired router, so not an issue to me.

Ian

[bigaldoc]

I did the same thing, Ian, except I did mine all on one line, starting with the router's IP number. Just for grins, in case anyone else has this problem: My cable ISP evidently does some frequent "polling" of my connection that was giving ZA fits when I first switched to cable a year and a half ago. ZA was refusing to let my ISP "see me" (I think) so I had to enter his two DNS numbers as trusted. Then he changed earlier this year and I didn't remove the two old ones, just in case.

[fburg]

Hi Big Al,

No problem moving the thread - isn't that what they're paying you the big bucks for? <img src=/S/grin.gif border=0 alt=grin width=15 height=15>

Anyway I played around a little and got some things working. Not all but I'm leaving in a few hours for vacation so I'll get back to this in 2 weeks.

But what I did so far, maybe to get some answers for me to play with on my return:
1. Checked the modem DHCP to see the range of addrs it assigns. Plugged those into ZA as a range. After I went thru the dialogs for sharing a folder on my computer and went thru the Network Setup Wizard on my wife's computer, I kept getting ZA popups anyway saying her computer was trying to access mine. The address shown was one of the ones I had in the range per the first step. I have no idea why that would be. So for now, I turned off ZA. That seemed to move me forward. Any ideas on this? Did I have to restart my computer? I had to restart hers but I was not prompted to do that. Is the difference due to I was only sharing a folder whereas she was trying to access my computer?

2. I set up a folder on my desktop (call it FS) to be sharable (icon changed to folder with hand). I can see it on her computer. But in my WinEx, it's not listed in the Shared Documents. Is Shared Documents specifically for that "folder structure"? Is there a way to tell what folders you've set up for sharing if they're not under Shared Documents? Looking under both "Shared Documents" under "My Computer" and "SharedDocs" under "My Network Places | Shared Docs on fred's laptop", I don't see the shared FS folder.

3. From the wife's computer in WinEx, I also see two sets of shared folders. One is under her "My Computer" which only shows her "Shared Documents". I see those also under her "My Network Places" but I also see there the stuff on my computer that's shared (my "regular" "Shared Docs on fred's laptop" and the FS folder shared folder on my Desktop). What's the difference of the 2 views (shared stuff under "My Computer" vs under "My Network Places")?

Thanks for all the help. See you in a few weeks.

Fred

[DaveA]

"Shared Documents" are for share between user accounts on local machine. It would be real simple to use Windows Explore, but drill down through "Network Places", "Microsoft Windows Network", then your Workgroup Name, and then you should see the different computers on the network.