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Tutorial

Before following this tutorial you should ensure that your hardware is connected as described on the "LAN connection Basics" page. Just follow all the instructions on this tutorial. If you have some firewall program on your system, then please turn it off to begin with, you can enable it later. you should also go through the "Dealing with firewall under LAN connection" tutorial.

Note: You should perform the following steps on all the computers on your LAN connection.

1...Assigning names to your computer and work group.

You must first assign a simple name to your computer and create a work group for your LAN connection. To do this select your "My Computer" icon on the desktop (or this is available under start menu). Right click and select the properties.

Once you get the "System Properties" window, look under the "Computer Name, domain and workgroup settings" section and then look at your "Full computer name" and " Workgroup". Now you should assign new names to these. Click the "change settings " link on the right hand side on this section. You will get another window to enter the computer name and work group name. (hint: Assign some short, unique and simple names).

On this system properties window, under the computer names tab, click the change button and enter your computer name and work group name. After entering all the information click "ok".

Note: All the computers on your LAN connection should be on the same workgroup name, else your LAN connection won't work.

2...Allowing your internet connection to be shared with the LAN (This is optional, this technique has proved to resolve some troubles with LAN connection for some people, so it is not a bad idea to do the following steps)

In order to share your internet connection with the LAN. Under the start menu, choose the settings link and then choose the Network Connections link.

Now you can select the connection you have enabled with your internet. This can be either ethernet cable based or wireless based. As an example wireless based connection is explained further.

Once you get the "Wireless Network Connection Properties" window, Under the "sharing" tab click both the boxes as shown.

3..Assigning the folders to be shared on the LAN

You can assign any folder to be shared on the network. As an example, we can go through the steps to share C: on the network. Right click on the folder to be shared, then select the "Share..." link.

Hint: Make sure you assign the main folder for sharing and not any subfolders under it. After succesful LAN connection, if you come across any subfolders not allowing you to view it, then you must enable sharing on that subfolder in order to gain access to that subfolder.

After getting the properties window for this folder, under the sharing tab , click the Advanced Sharing button. check the "share this folder" box. Optionally you can assign share name to the folder, so that you can easily recognize this folder on the network. now click ok .

4...Assigning your network to a private network

Go to "Start" menu and select the settings>control panel as shown.

On the control panel select the : View network status and tasks link.

On the next screen, select the customize button/link. after that you will get the screen shown on the left.

Now make your network as private. Then click "Ok".

After doing all the above steps, you should restart your computer for all the changes to take place quickly. You should allow upto 15 minutes for the computers under the same work group to recognize each other. If you have any firewall programs running on your system, then please disable them for the time being. You can follow the steps under "Dealing with Firewall Under LAN Connection" webpage to manage the windows firewall.

We hope this tutorial helps you to create your home LAN succesfully. We wish you good luck.