By and through this utility you can configure your whole network. You can select this utility in the Programs > Accessories > Communications > Network setup wizard.
You can share the internet connection, share the printer, share the firewall, share files and folders, create a bridge between two networks, manual server setup and create setup disk. To setup a network where in your home or office you need to know the following details.
After knowing your requirements you can configure your network either through the setup wizard in the Windows XP or manually. You can setup the computers in the workgroup or domain.
In the Workgroup, there is no centralized management and least security while in the domain there is domain controller (centralized server) that controls the whole domain and provides services like user authentication, data sharing, resources sharing and internet connectivity to the client computers.
Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP Professional
- First of all, you need to install and configure the LAN card in every computer.
- Open network connection folder > network tasks > click setup a small office or home network.
- Click Start > Programs > Accessories > Communications > Network setup wizard.
- During the wizard, you need to select your LAN card, domain/workgroup name and other settings.
- After you successfully run the setup wizard, you will ask to create a network setup disk.
- You have to run the setup wizard on all the computers to make them connected with each other.
Setup utility safes your time and administrative efforts to configure a home or small office network. To check the connectivity between the computers, you can use the following diagnosing and administrative utilities which are installed by default with the TCP/IP protocols in the Windows based operating systems.
PING: Ping is a first troubleshooting command in the IP based networks. With this utility you can check the connectivity between two computers.
IPconfig: IPconfig is used to check the configurations of a computer such as IP address, subnet mask, DNS, gateway and DHCP addresses etc.
Tracert: Tracert is a TCP/IP utility that is used to find and record the routes between your computer and the specified destination.
Hostname: To check the name of your computer.