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Complicated network setup - losing any hope!

Author
3 Mar 2007 5:34 PM
rost_b
Hi. I'm struggling with it for a while now and ready to give up soon.
Here's what I'm trying to do:
I have two win XP pro computers next to each other. I need one of them
to connect to the internet using my cable modem via USB. I need
another one to connect using a Wi-Fi USB adapter. It's all easily
achievable. BUT I also need them to share a mouse and a keyboard, so I
need them to connect to each other using a router and TCP/IP for that.
Can't get it to work. If they share keyboard and mouse, it means they
can't connect to the internet. If they connect to internet, they can't
see each other on the local network.
What should I do? How do I tell my browser to connect through one
network connection but ignore the other???

Thanks

Author
3 Mar 2007 6:17 PM
Lem
rost_b wrote:
Show quoteHide quote
> Hi. I'm struggling with it for a while now and ready to give up soon.
> Here's what I'm trying to do:
> I have two win XP pro computers next to each other. I need one of them
> to connect to the internet using my cable modem via USB. I need
> another one to connect using a Wi-Fi USB adapter. It's all easily
> achievable. BUT I also need them to share a mouse and a keyboard, so I
> need them to connect to each other using a router and TCP/IP for that.
> Can't get it to work. If they share keyboard and mouse, it means they
> can't connect to the internet. If they connect to internet, they can't
> see each other on the local network.
> What should I do? How do I tell my browser to connect through one
> network connection but ignore the other???
>
> Thanks
>
Is the USB wifi adapter connecting to your cable modem (i.e., is your
cable modem a combo modem/wireless router)?  Or are you connecting to
two different ISP accounts?

If you only have a single ISP Internet account, the most straightforward
way to resolve your problem would be to replace the cable modem with one
that connects via Ethernet rather than USB.  Then connect the new cable
modem to a wireless router; connect your first computer to the router
(via Ethernet or wireless); and connect the second computer to the
wireless router with your USB wifi adapter.  This way, you have a LAN
that can be used for sharing Internet access as well as file and printer
sharing -- and mouse & keyboard sharing (are you using Synergy?).

If you are trying to access two different ISPs, it's more complicated.

--
Lem -- MS-MVP - Networking

To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
Author
3 Mar 2007 6:24 PM
rost_b
Yep, two completely diff ISPs. In other words, can I have, on one
computer, ethernet connection with another computer, and an
independent internet connection, without ANY affect on each other?
Author
3 Mar 2007 11:09 PM
Lem
rost_b wrote:
> Yep, two completely diff ISPs. In other words, can I have, on one
> computer, ethernet connection with another computer, and an
> independent internet connection, without ANY affect on each other?
>
You should be able to do what you want.  Unfortunately, I'm getting
close to the edge of my networking knowledge, so it would be really
helpful if one of the other MVPs who frequent this group jump in.

However, in the meantime ...

The following will be easier if you can share files between the two
computers.  Otherwise, you'll have to do some typing or copy files using
a thumb drive or similar.

On PC1, open a command prompt window (Start > Run > type "cmd.exe"
(without quotes) and click OK).

In the command prompt window type:
"ipconfig /all > c:\PC1info.txt" (without quotes) and press Enter.
close the command prompt window

Do the same thing on PC2, except use C:\PC2info.txt.

copy one of the text files to the other computer, then open them both up
and copy/paste the contents into your next post.

What I'm looking for is the following, for both of your computers:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserID>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

         Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : YourComputerName
         Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
         Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
         IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
         WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

         Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
         Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/100 Network
Connection
         Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-07-E9-ED-0C-47
         Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
         Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
         IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
         Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
         Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
         DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
         DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 207.69.188.186
                                             207.69.188.185
         Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, March 03, 2007
10:32:33 AM

         Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, March 04, 2007
10:32:33 AM

--
Lem -- MS-MVP - Networking

To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer