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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, select the "Computer Name" tab and then look at your "Full Computer Name" and " Workgroup". Now you should assign new names to these. Click the "change" button. You will get another window to enter the computer name and work group name. (hint: Assign some short, unique and simple names like JIMDESKTOP1, JIMHOMELAN, etc). After entering all the relevent 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...Assigning folders to be shared on each computer.

Now you should select the folders you want to be shared (on each computer) between the computers on your LAN network. To do this go to any folder or drive on your system and right click on it. (For example right click on C: is shown in the picture below). On the drop down menu, select the "Sharing and Security..." button.

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 too, in order to gain access to that subfolder.

Once you get the property window and the sharing tab click the "If you understand but still want to share the root of the drive, click here" link.

Once you get the following window, Under the Network sharing and security section click both the boxes as shown below. You can also assign "share name" so that you can recognize this drive on the network. For example: you can name the folder as JIMDESKTOP1CDRIVE.

3...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)

Under the start menu, go to control panel. You will get the control panal screen as shown on the left side. On this screen, select "Network and Internet Connections" link.

After getting the "Network and Internet Connections" window select the "Network Connections" link.

Select the connection that is connected to the internet. Right click on the connection and click the properties on the list.

Under the Internet Connection Sharing click on both the boxes as shown in the picture below and 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.