WLAN novice with connection problem

I wish to connect my desktop PC and my new notebook wirelessly such that I
can exchange files between the two machines and access the Internet from my
laptop through my PC which is hooked up to my ISP via a DSL connection.

My PC (late model 3 GHz Pentium 4) runs XP Home and is equipped with a PRISM
802.11g WLAN adapter.

My notebook (1.73 GHz Centrino) runs XP Professional and is fitted with an
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG WLAN adapter.

I have the latest drivers installed for both WLAN adapters and both adapters
can be configured through Windows.

My first questions is: Can I connect the two machines given the available
hard- and software or am I already missing something here (such as a router)?

Even though I managed to successfully run the Wireless Connection Wizard and
create a wireless network on both machines, I can’t get them to connect or
even find each other (“no wireless networks found in range� – even though the
machines are sitting on top of each other).

In fact, I can’t seem to activate the WLAN adapters (where is that “wireless
switch� on my computer that I am supposed to switch on), yet they are both
reported functioning properly (as “enabled� and “working properly�) in the
device manager.

Any idea anybody what is going on here – even if it is just my ignorance?

It would be preferable to buy a wireless router. However you should be able
to do what you're trying. Firstly, both wireless cards need to be set to
ad-hoc (rather than infrastructure) for the PC to PC wireless network
connection. To share the Internet access, you need set up Internet
Connection Sharing on the desktop.
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"Jorg" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:9D9B8EC6-4447-47A0-B337-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I wish to connect my desktop PC and my new notebook wirelessly such that I
> can exchange files between the two machines and access the Internet from
> my
> laptop through my PC which is hooked up to my ISP via a DSL connection.
>
> My PC (late model 3 GHz Pentium 4) runs XP Home and is equipped with a
> PRISM
> 802.11g WLAN adapter.
>
> My notebook (1.73 GHz Centrino) runs XP Professional and is fitted with an
> Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG WLAN adapter.
>
> I have the latest drivers installed for both WLAN adapters and both
> adapters
> can be configured through Windows.
>
> My first questions is: Can I connect the two machines given the available
> hard- and software or am I already missing something here (such as a
> router)?
>
> Even though I managed to successfully run the Wireless Connection Wizard
> and
> create a wireless network on both machines, I can't get them to connect or
> even find each other ("no wireless networks found in range" - even though
> the
> machines are sitting on top of each other).
>
> In fact, I can't seem to activate the WLAN adapters (where is that
> "wireless
> switch" on my computer that I am supposed to switch on), yet they are both
> reported functioning properly (as "enabled" and "working properly") in the
> device manager.
>
> Any idea anybody what is going on here - even if it is just my ignorance?