Trying to set up file sharing (2 pc's) with O2 wireless box

Hi guys,

I'm pretty new to the whole networking thing and I'm just looking for a bit of advice on the following scenario. I think I have all the equipment to make this happen, I'm just not sure how to go about it...ok here goes:

I have two PC's in the house, the main one is upstairs and is connected (wired) to my O2 Wireless box which also doubles up as a router (I think). I also connect to the wireless network with my iphone. Lately, however, I've been wanting to watch vids, play music etc downstairs - on my main tv, so basically set up some file sharing. I realised I had a spare PC kicking about, so I hooked this up downstairs and got my tv working as my monitor. I also have a portable USB wireless receiver. I plugged that in to the downstairs PC, and installed the software - so I can now access the net from down there too! All good so far (some issues with sound, but sorting that tomorrow).

The PC upstairs is running Windows Vista, and the one downstairs has Windows XP. Don't think this should be an issue? But any feedback is welcome!

Hope that's enough information to go on, but my thinking was that if I can access the net via the portable wireless USB key, then maybe I could also use a combination of the router + that to share files between the two computers?!

Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks guys.

cross-posted here http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/o2/t/3921050-help-w...

Noted.

As this appears to be primarily a networking question, the other thread is closed.

To avoid doubt the o2 wireless box is a router.

Yes file sharing between PC's will work. Having different OS's may not help, also if you have software firewalls on the various computers they may need some tweeks.

Generally you need to ensure the computers are all in the same Workgroup.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Sha...

and a myriad of other guides, look for 'file sharing between vista and xp'

It is a case of find a guide you understand

Edit - took me so long typing this MrSaffron got in first, but I think the two posts add to each other so leaving it here. End of edit.

Yes. That's what routers are for.

Everybody tends to be a bit slipshod, just like we are in speech, when we all know what we are talking about. But not everyone does know at first .

What we call a router is these days usually an ADSL router. That means a combination box, like your O2 Box, containing a router, an ADSL modem, and an ethernet switch - usually 4-port like yours. It can be wireless capable or not, the difference being whether it has a fifth component - a Wireless Access Point. Again, yours has.

So the modem connects to the internet and computers connect either to an ethernet port on the switch or to the Wireless Access Point.

The modem, switch and WAP connect to the router.

(There is also a thing called a hub. That is an earlier piece of kit that is similar in function to a switch, but less efficient. Some ADSL routers apparently contain those instead. The issue is complicated by the fact that I believe the BT Home Hub does not contain a "technical" hub, it contains a switch. It is using the "english" meaning of the word "hub", not the computer industry technical one).

The router looks at the IP address it gets a message for and sends it out on the appropriate connection, to the modem, switch or WAP. The switch does a similar trick, transferring messages between computers connected to one of its ports, or to the router.

So your setup is fine. Your next step is to enable sharing of one or more folders on each computer. Look it up in Windows Help. By default Windows stops other computers on your network (LAN - Local Area Network), accessing everything on each other, for fairly obvious reasons), so that you have control over what you make visible.

When setting up sharing I advise disconnecting from the internet, so that you can safely disable your firewall software. This can make things far easier at first, as when you turn the firewall on again you might find the networking fails. At least you then know that's where the problem is, whereas otherwise you can literally spend hours wondering why it doesn't work when you have followed all the Windows Help instructions.

You would have to go into the settings for the firewall to allow traffic between the computers you have, but ask more about that if it happens.

Once you have networking working without the firewall then even if it fails when you turn the firewall on it is safe to reconnect to the internet, (with the firewall on). The computers will both continue to talk to the world, just maybe not to each other. But you can come back for help on that and configure the firewall as necessary.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 29-Oct-10 09:59:58)

To avoid any simple 101 misunderstanding, by disconnect internet Rob means unplug the ADSL line from the telephone line.

Good point. And the firewall needs to be off on both computers.

Thanks very much for all the help guys. I've managed to get both computers visible on the network up to now. Having some issues accessing files from one to the other, but we're definitely half way there in that they each know that the other one exists. I'm following windows guide as suggested, and it's progressing nicely.

The only annoying thing is running up and down stairs every 5 minutes to tweak settings Is there anything I should be concerned about security wise?

Also apologies for posting in two different sections, I wasn't sure where this post belonged!

Security-wise between the two computers is up to you which folders you make shareable and what you put in them.

But remember to re-enable the firewalls when the router is connected to the internet.

Hmm, have encountered major issues with the file sharing...I can access the workgroup on both machines - and it shows on both as having both PC's visible. I tried to setup a shared folder however (on both). This worked, but I could only access the respective shared folder from the machine I had set it up on, and not the other folder from a different machine.

Seems XP and Vista don't like working together very much...or I haven't ticked a box somewhere along the line...

Not too sure where to progress from this point.