Setting up your home network.

I will assume for the purpose of this discussion that you have already installed your network adapter.






To verify that the PC is getting a valid Ip address,open a command prompt by clicking Start,Run and type "cmd" in the run dialog box. At the prompt type "ipconfig /all"





And you will be able to see the "IP Address" field in the results. The IP address isn't as important as the fact that all the computers on your network get the same "range" of addresses, ie; 10.10.1.1,10.10.1.2 or 192.168.1.2,192.168.1.3 etc. Like your postal address, every PC needs to have a unique address or it will not be able to communicate on the network or "duplicate address' errors will result. Once you have established that the PC's are all getting proper addressing, try to "ping" another PC and see if you get a reply,like this:
If the PC is getting communication with the other PC you will see replies like in the graphic.
So now they are talking to one another..lets "map a network drive"...Right click on "my computer" on your desktop and select"map a network drive"




When you click on "map a network drive" a dialog box opens which allows you to "browse" your network for shared resources. Now on the PC that you are trying to access you must allow sharing of that resource or nothing will show up in your list.



And now you should see your shared drive and be able to connect. I hope this tutorial was useful, if you have any questions visit me on my website AA1 Consulting Computer Services and use the chat feature..I am on and available to help most days. If I am unavailable, email me at support@aa1consulting.com. Thanks for stopping by!!