Some days ago a friend brought me his laptop which has Windows Vista operating system, wanted him to install several programs, which had one of my computers (with XP), and therefore needed to configure the network so that the notebook belonged to my LAN.
The story is that I could not, as a matter of time, I decided to record an album. I had the question of how to do it, and installed Windows Vista on my laptop, so try to configure the network between Windows Vista and XP, I did and that's why I want to share this.
Important points to bear in this tutorial
Before starting the tutorial I need to clarify several points that are very important, and obviously I assume. The points to which I refer are:
- We have a wired LAN working and in perfect condition
- We have a computer with Windows Vista and a Windows XP
- When Windows Vista arrives cable connection using the network, we can not do is manage folders and share resources between computers
- We have the basics of how to set up home networks
Configure network between Windows Vista and XP in five steps
Always good to keep order, and that is precisely what we do with this little tutorial. Then follow these five steps to achieve our objective, which already have clear, we configure a LAN network between Windows Vista and XP.
- 1. We ensure that already established network connection
Although paradoxical, Windows Vista has an automatic detection system network. When connecting the cable to our network card, if there is a connection available, our team will detect, and then we will be connected to the network.
Now you may wonder what this is not what we want to do? Paradoxically, we can connect to the internet, yes, but the network itself is not detected by our computer as belonging to the same, ie we can not share resources between the computer with Vista and the other, and manage files on a network.
2. We find out our connection data: IP, subnet mask, etc.
We need to know our data connection. For this we go to the Start menu, Run and just type "cmd". At the command prompt type "ipconfig" and then get the connection data.
In the screenshot above, the data we need are:
- - IPv4 Address
- Subnet Mask
- Default Gateway
3. We set some parameters in our connection
Now what we will provide some data to our connection. Well, we go to Control Panel, then Network and Centre share, in the left sidebar, select the "Manage network connections."
When we are in the area of management of network connections, we will select our connection in question, which is the wired network, we right click and go to "Properties." There select the fifth item "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4", and then we go to "Properties."
In the properties, generally, is set to "Obtain an IP address automatically", that the disable, and activate the following, which says "Use the following IP address." We consider it our duty to enter various data, which we have already achieved in the second step. The facts are the following:
- - IP Address: The achieved in the second step.
- Subnet Mask: The achieved in the second step.
- Default Gateway: The achieved in the second step.
- Preferred DNS server: 80.58.61.250, the alternative is: 80.58.61.254.
It is worth noting that the address placed on the preferred DNS server of our company that I placed there is a standard that I used in my connection and it worked. Usually you need the DNS of our internet service provider (ISP), this is meant as explanatory information for everyone.
4. Assign the same workgroup our team
The general rule of a network tells us that if one or more teams do not belong to the same workgroup, the network will not run anything right. For this reason we assign the same work of our network to the computer with Windows Vista.
This will need to go to Control Panel, then "System" and there on the right sidebar, go to "System Protection". In this area we realize what working group is part our team. We click the last button that says "Change" and wrote the name of our working group.
5. Restart our computer for the changes to take effect
This step needs no explanation, does it? Well, the story is that for all the changes that took place in our team we need to do their due effect restart it. Once we have done we will have the connection list, and working in perfect condition, if you follow the steps.
Recommendations, advice and conclusions
More likely is that experts in the networking area feel a little offended by the simplicity of this tutorial, but that is for untrained people, these five steps are to follow to set up a wired local area network (LAN) between a computer that has Windows Vista with others who have Windows XP.
If you have problems, you may not have followed exactly the steps, and I've tried on multiple computers with Vista and it worked very well, it is important to note that the IP addresses used on computers that are networked not may be the same as it would mean duplication conflicts, so be very careful.
On the other hand as the DNS server, I have used those that I mentioned there, and they have worked, also I used my Internet provider (ISP) and it worked, so no problems from it. With this tutorial I could share files, transfer files between computers, print remotely, and do what I thought impossible until now.
It would be nice to know what opinions are about this tutorial, some comments would not be bad, and are willing to accept any suggestion to add to the tutorial, as long as its improvement in terms of content is concerned.
