belkin wireless router file sharing

Desktop does not show up on laptop with wireless networking?!?

I have a desktop running Windows Vista and a laptop running XP. I have a Belkin wireless G 802.11 router. I setup the wireless network and stored the security on a flashdrive. Now the laptop cannot connect to the internet unless it is using the flash drive, and our desktop does not show up as a network.
Can anyone help me to setup my network so that my desktop and laptop are both connected wirelessly and we can use the internet and the file sharing and the printer? Thanks so much!

I wonder why you stored the wireless security on a flash drive. That seems like the intended effect, though — having to use the flash drive to connect again. Is that not what you were after? It seems like a way to keep anyone from ever using the wireless on your laptop without your knowledge, but it also seems really inconvenient.

For that particular issue, I would delete the settings for wireless and re-enter them into the regular wireless setup wizard instead of saving to a device. That way it will connect automatically in the future without any hassle.

As for the networking, you need to make sure that the two machines have the same workgroup name. Everyone I know has had quite a time getting Vista security settings right. Looks like I’m going to have to install a copy for myself so I can help them all solve it. In Windows XP you can find the workgroup name of the machine by Right-clicking My Computer and selecting Properties, then clicking the Computer Name tab. In most cases, it’s still the setup default of ‘WORKGROUP’. You can change this to anything you want as long as you also change the other machines to have the same thing.

Even with those parts right, you may have trouble browsing to the Vista computer through the workgroup. There are likely a lot of firewall settings that have to be adjusted or disabled to allow file sharing traffic into the PC.

One other way you can check connectivity between the machines is to use PING from a command prompt.

On both machines, you’ll want to find the IP Address. This is done by typing IPCONFIG at a command (DOS) prompt. You can get a DOS prompt by clicking Start, Run, CMD, ok.

The resulting IP Address will probably look like 192.168.101.123 or something similar.

That set of numbers xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is what you’ll use to verify the PING test. It could look more like 10.10.10.1, but it will be a set of four numbers, separated by three dots.

So if Desktop Vista is computer A, and laptop XP is computer B (example), do the following —

At the DOS prompt on computer A, type ping 192.168.111.123 (example – you’ll want to use the real address of computer B that you found by using ipconfig) and hit enter. It will try to send information to the other computer.

You’ll likely get one of two responses — either you will get 4 responses with a time, or four timeouts.

If you get responses, then the computers are able to “see” one another on the network. If you happen to accidentally type the computer’s own IP address in for the PING instead of A to B, you’ll get a false positive, because a PC will always respond to pings from itself.

So if you have a successful ping test, you can test file sharing to the IP address rather than the name. You can do this by typing \\192.168.123.222 (example again – use the real address you found earlier) at a RUN prompt.

If the computer responds, you’ll be shown a list of the available shared resources, such as a shared folder or a printer. These shares would have to be set up ahead of time for you to see them.

Best test would be FROM vista TO XP since the sharing in XP is pretty simple to set up.

You probably want the sharing to go the other direction when you’re finished. That can be done, but may require some work on your part to get the Vista security taken care of.

Anyway, typing \\(ip address) at the RUN prompt will ask the machine at that address to show what it’s sharing.

Tonight I’ll attach some screenshots of what we’re talking about here so it hopefully makes a little sense. Be sure to launch them in a new tab or window, otherwise this page goes away. (images pending!)

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