share documents/printer on a wireless network

I have a desktop wired to a wireless router and a laptop with a wireless card
that I am trying to network. I want to be able to access files on the desktop
from the laptop and also print from the laptop on the printer connected to
the desktop. I set up the wireless network and can access the internet from
the laptop. I can also access the laptop's shared documents from the desktop,
but not the desktop's docs from the laptop. In other words, when I open My
Network Places on the laptop, nothing shows up.
I hope this wasn't too confusing. Any help would be great.

E_wood wrote:

> I have a desktop wired to a wireless router and a laptop with a
> wireless card that I am trying to network. I want to be able to access
> files on the desktop from the laptop and also print from the laptop on
> the printer connected to the desktop. I set up the wireless network
> and can access the internet from the laptop. I can also access the
> laptop's shared documents from the desktop, but not the desktop's docs
> from the laptop. In other words, when I open My Network Places on the
> laptop, nothing shows up. I hope this wasn't too confusing. Any help
> would be great.

This really has nothing to do with wireless; you just need to set up
your local area network (lan). Here is my usual blurb about it:

Run the Network Setup Wizard on both computers, making sure to enable
File & Printer Sharing, and reboot. The only "gotcha" is that this will
turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a third-party
firewall or have an antivirus with "Internet Worm Protection" (like
Norton 2005/06) which acts as a firewall, then you're fine. If you have
third-party firewall software, configure it to allow the Local Area
Network traffic as trusted. I usually do this with my firewalls with an
IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would
substitute your correct subnet.

If one or more of the computers is XP Pro:

a. If you need Pro's ability to set fine-grained permissions, turn off
Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab) and create identical user
accounts/passwords on all computers.

b. If you don't care about using Pro's advanced features, leave the
Simple File Sharing enabled.

Simple File Sharing means that Guest (network) is enabled. This means
that anyone without a user account on the target system can use its
resources. This is a security hole but only you can decide if it
matters in your situation.

Then create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users'
home directories (My Documents) or Program Files, but you can share
folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the
Shared Documents folder.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
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