Spotlights How to ..?: May 2013

How to Set Up Ad-Hoc Wireless Network in Windows XP ?

This document from Microsoft Technet describes how you can share a wired Internet Connection with your other computers by setting up an ad-hoc wireless network.

Step 1: Enabling Internet Sharing on the Host Computer

To enable Internet sharing on the host computer, do the following:
1.From the Windows XP desktop, click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, and then click Network Connections.
2.Right-click the Ethernet network connection that is used to access the Internet, and then click Properties.
3.On the Advanced tab, select the Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection check box and clear the Allow other network users to control or disable this shared Internet connection check box.
4.Click OK to save changes to your connection.
5.You might be prompted with a Local Network message box that explains how your computer’s configuration is being changed. Click Yes to enable Internet sharing.

Step 2: Creating an Ad Hoc Wireless Network on the Host Computer

To create an ad hoc wireless network to share Internet access with the other WLAN computers on a computer running Windows XP, do the following:
1. From the Windows XP desktop, click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, and then click Network Connections.
2. Right-click the wireless network connection, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Wireless Networks tab.
4. In the wireless network adapter properties dialog box, click Add under Preferred networks.
5. On the Association tab, type the name of your ad hoc wireless network in Network name (SSID). For example, you could name your wireless network AdHocInternet.
6. Select the This is a computer-to-computer (ad hoc) network check box and clear the The key is provided for me automatically check box.
7. In Network Authentication, select Open.
8. In Data encryption, select WEP.
9. In Network key, type the WEP key. The WEP key should be a random sequence of hexadecimal digits or numbers, letters, and punctuation.
10.In Confirm network key, retype the WEP key.
11.Click OK to save changes to the wireless network.
12.Click OK to save changes to the wireless network adapter.
These instructions configure an encryption key for wireless communications on the ad hoc wireless network. You must tell the other users who want to access the Internet the WEP key. You can create an ad hoc wireless network without requiring encryption and an encryption key, but it is not recommended.

Step 3. Connect other Computers to your new Ad Hoc Wireless Network

To connect each other laptop computer to the newly created ad hoc mode wireless network, do the following:
1. Once the new ad hoc wireless network is created, Windows XP on other laptop computers should detect it and prompt you with a One or more wireless networks are available or Wireless networks detected message in the notification area of your taskbar.

2. Click the notification message.
If you are not notified, right-click the wireless network adapter in Network Connections and click View Available Wireless Networks.
You should see the Wireless Network Connection dialog box (for Windows XP with SP2), a dialog box with the name of the wireless connection (for Windows XP with SP1), or the Connect to Wireless Network dialog box (for Windows XP with no service packs installed). An example of the Wireless Network Connection dialog box for Windows XP with SP2 is shown in the following figure.

3. For Windows XP with SP2, click the name of the new ad hoc wireless network in the list, and then click Connect. When prompted by the Wireless Network Connection dialog box, the WEP key in Network key and Confirm network key, and then click Connect.
For Windows XP with SP1, click the name of the new ad hoc wireless network in Available networks, type the WEP key in Network key and Confirm network key, and then click Connect.
For Windows XP with no service packs installed, click the name of the new ad hoc wireless network in Available networks, type the WEP key in Network key, and then click Connect.
Now that the laptop computer is connected to the ad hoc wireless network, you must configure it for either Windows Firewall or ICF and automatic addressing by doing the following:

1. From the Windows XP desktop, click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, and then click Network Connections.

2. Right-click the network connection that corresponds to the wireless network adapter, and then click Properties.

3. For computers running Windows XP with SP2, click the Advanced tab, and then click Settings. From the Windows Firewall dialog box, click On, and then click OK.
For computers running Windows XP with SP1 or Windows XP with no service packs installed, click the Advanced tab, and then select the Protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access to this computer from the Internet check box.

4. Click the General tab, double-click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) in the This connection uses the following items list.

5. On the General tab, click Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically.

6. Click OK to save the changes to the configuration of Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).

7. Click OK to save the changes to your connection’s configuration.
The laptop computer should receive an IP address configuration from the ICS host computer and have Internet connectivity. Test Internet connectivity by using a Web browser to view Web pages.

How to Build a Wireless Home Network without a wireless Router

Let’s say you have one internet connection at home that you want to share across all your desktop and laptop computers, your Wi-Fi enabled mobile phones, tablets, video game consoles (like the Xbox), digital photo frames and any other wireless devices that you may have at home.
How do you do this?
The easiest way to setup a wireless network, as we all know, is with the help of a router – just attach a wireless router to your modem and any Wi-Fi enabled gear, that’s located inside the signal range of your router, will be able to connect to the web using that lone Internet connection.

Setup Wireless Network without a Wireless Router

Now consider a slightly different scenario – you have all these Wi-Fi enabled devices at home but there’s no router. Well, there’s no reason to buy one because you can still easily setup a wireless network as long as your computers have a wireless network adapter

*] Most new desktops and laptop computers are already equipped with internal network adapters so you are ready to go without a router.
If your computer doesn’t have built-in wireless capabilities, you can either buy a USB network adapter that plugs into the USB port of your desktop or go for a wireless adapter that directly plugs into your notebook’s PC Card slot. Desktop users can also opt for an internal wireless PCI card but you’ll have to open the computer case in order to install this network adapter.

Create a Wi-Fi Network without a Router

Now that you have everything in place to create a Wi-Fi network, let’s actually build one.
For Windows XP and Vista users
If your main computer, that is already connected to the internet, is running Windows XP, Vista or even Mac OS X, you can set up an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network and the other wireless devices can then connect to the web via this ad-hoc network (also called a computer-to-computer network).
Wired Connection In, Wireless Connection Out
It’s an easy process. To set up an ad-hoc network in Windows Vista, go to Network and Sharing Center from the control panel, select “Set up a connection or network” and choose “Set up a wireless ad hoc (computer-to-computer) network”.
Make sure you select “Save this network” option else the ad hoc network will be removed if no other computers / devices are connecting to the network.

Turn on Internet Sharing in the next screen and now your other home computers can connect to the ad hoc network just like they would connect to any regular wireless network. Setting up an ad hoc network in XP takes a couple of extra steps but also make sure the host computer is running at least XP SP2 or SP3.

For Windows 7 users
If you are on Windows 7, you can instantly turn your computer into a personal Wi-Fi hotspot without having to configure anything. All you need is a free software called Virtual Router and the computer connected to the internet must be running Windows 7.
[*] Virtual Router works will all editions of Windows 7 except the Starter edition because Microsoft has disabled the Virtual Wifi feature in that particular edition.

Using the virtual router is simple – just run the program on any Windows 7 computer, assign a password and that’s it. In the above example, I used the Virtual Router to connect an iPod, an Ubuntu Linux laptop and a Windows desktop to the Internet via a Windows 7 notebook where that virtual router software was running.
As new devices join the Wireless network, their assigned IP and MAC addresses instantly appear in the Virtual Router window. And you can click the “Stop Router” button anytime to deactivate the hotspot and disable Internet sharing.

Virtual Wi-Fi vs Ad Hoc Wireless Networking

To set up Ad Hoc networking, your main computer needs to have an Ethernet based Internet connection as well as a Wireless (WLAN) network adapter. In the case of Virtual Wi-Fi, the Ethernet card is optional so you can turn a laptop into a hotspot even if your laptop itself is connected to a Wireless network and not to an Ethernet cable.
Computers and other wireless devices in ad hoc networks must be within 30 feet of each other but there’s no such restriction in the case of Virtual Wireless networks.
Ad-Hoc wireless networking is available on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 while Virtual WiFi, which is much easier to setup, is available on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008