A local home network via a WiFi router opens up a wide space for opportunities for users of mobile gadgets and personal computers with the Internet. The user can set up such a network on his own, without even having deep knowledge in network management.
A Wi-Fi router allows you to organize wireless Internet at home, to which you can connect from several devices at the same time.
Since computers and laptops are no longer luxury items, anyone can buy these devices, many even have several personal gadgets. For ease of use, it is recommended to combine them into a local network (LAN).
A home local area network has a lot of functions and allows you to share files, distribute the Internet, play network games and much more. It is set up quite easily.
What is a local network?
Figure 1. Changing adapter settings.
A local network is a group of devices, such as personal computers, laptops, printers, TVs, etc., connected through interfaces through a certain data transmission medium (cable, radio channel).
The main benefits that the user receives with the establishment of a locale:
- Direct file sharing. You can transfer photos, music, movies and other files between computers directly via local area without using external drives such as flash drives, disks, etc.
- Access to shared network resources. These include, for example, a printer. If it is connected to a local network, this allows you to print the necessary information on it from any computer in it.
- Organization of the play area. Video games often have a multiplayer mode that allows players to compete.
- Internet access. Each device on the home network can access the Internet if it is connected to one of the computers, and sharing is enabled and configured.
Figure 2. Creating a homegroup.
In a classic local area network, the connection between computers is provided using a cable. However, in the age of portable devices and wireless technologies, the use of such a connection method is no longer relevant.
Instead, it is proposed to build a home network through a WiFi router, it will be possible to include devices that support WiFi: tablets, smartphones and others.
They will also have access to all the functionality of the local network, such as file transfer and access to the Internet, possibly with some restrictions related to the specifics of the use of mobile devices.
What is needed for a home network?
So, the task is to create a network through a router. For its organization, it is necessary to provide the following equipment configuration:
Figure 3. Network location settings.
- WiFi router with DHCP support. Must be connected to the internet.
- Stationary personal computer.
- Notebook, laptop.
- Tablet, smartphone.
Before setting up a network through a router, you need to take a few steps. First you need to make sure that the DHCP server is enabled and active on the router. This network protocol is used to automatically assign network parameters (for example, an IP address) to nodes connected to the router. Then it is worth understanding the concept of "working group". For security reasons, all computers to be joined must belong to the same workgroup. This is necessary so that foreign devices, which were not included in the network structure, were not able to use its resources and penetrate network nodes.
You can configure the system belonging to a particular workgroup by following the following path: "Start" - "Control Panel" - "System".
Figure 4. Sharing.
In the subsection called "Computer name, domain, workgroup settings" you need to click the link on the right "Change settings", then in the window that opens, click the "Change" button (Fig. 1).
This window allows you to configure settings such as computer name, workgroup, and others. The workgroup field can initially be set to the standard name Workgroup, but you can enter your own name instead, such as Homenetwork.
In the same window, you can specify a unique computer name. Then you need to restart your computer. The specified operation must be repeated exactly on all computers included in the local network. The name of the group should be the same for everyone, and it is desirable to make the names different.
How to create a home group?
You must create a local network location home group, the home group. You should go along the path: "Start" - "Control Panel" - "Network and Access Control". The router with which a home LAN is organized must be connected and connected in advance.
Figure 5. Enabling password protection.
In the subsection of active networks on the right there is the line "Home group", next to it you need to click on the link "Ready to create", then on the button "Create home group" (Fig. 2).
It should be noted that if the configured locale does not have home status in the network browsing section, it can be given it by clicking on the "Networks" link (in the figure - Network 5). The network location settings window will open, where you can select one of three types (Fig. 3):
- Home network. It is designed to ensure that all nodes are known and safe, the user knows about all devices, and fully trusts their work. Access is practically unlimited.
- Enterprise network. Optimized for office or corporate local systems.
- Public network. Serves to work in public public places, where it is important to maintain the anonymity and security of each node. Computers in such a network are invisible to each other, which provides high protection against unauthorized entry.
Figure 6. Connecting to a home network.
By clicking on the "Create a homegroup" button, you can select the directories and devices that you want to open for public use (Fig. 4).
After applying these parameters, the system will generate a password. You need to write it down separately (or take a screenshot), as it may be required for a WiFi connection.
Otherwise, setting up a local network through a router will not be possible (Fig. 5).
How to connect to your home network?
After all these actions are completed, the home group is considered created. It is recommended to reboot the device to fully apply the configuration. Since you need to set up a network for several computers, then you should definitely check the ability of various computers to connect to the created homegroup. A second computer (for example, a laptop) must be connected to the Wi-Fi point of the router. On it we go to "Network Management", look for the item "Homegroup", click on the "Join" button (Fig. 6).
Figure 7. Network setup for multiple computers.
After entering the written password, we repeat the setup cycle, specify the allowed folders and reboot the device. If the connection cannot be established, you need to disable all third-party firewalls and firewalls (firewalls). When the connection is made, all network devices should become visible, access to resources and directories should be open.
By default, only a few special shared folders are accessible on a computer. But this is far from the limit of possibilities, it is possible to make available almost any directory in the system. To do this, open the folder properties, find the “Access” tab, click on “Advanced settings” there and check the box that opens sharing. Applying the settings, the folder should become visible to other computers (Fig. 7).
Now let's figure out how to get using WiFi from a tablet to a computer.
In the created home network, you can additionally include tablets and smartphones running on Android.
The application "ES Explorer" will help with this. After installing it, you need to connect to Wi-Fi. The program has a LAN tab (this is access to the local network). Once there, you need to click on the "Search" button. The application will find all available computers, you can now go into each of them and view the contents of open folders.
Briefly about the purpose of computer networks
This article does not aim to make great system administrators out of you, but here I will try to explain in simple human language what, why and why, and, in general, why do you need all this.
And now about the purpose of networks. Here we will consider directly home networks for 2-3 computers and their mission.
In the old days, when televisions were so rare that neighboring families gathered at the happy owner of the television in order to watch programs on the miracle monster of that time with a small screen and a magnifying lens. (By the way, these TVs were called KVN - a joke from the old master of the TV studio - "I bought it - turned it on - it doesn't work" - ed.) In the sixties, under Nikita Khrushchev, computers appeared in the USSR, which, in particular, made a rather large contribution to space research and allowed to send Yuri Gagarin forward to the stars. There, although the flight took place in such a state that the Hero of the Soviet Union, test pilot Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin miraculously survived, but nevertheless it passed and ended successfully. In those days, no one even thought that he would have a computer at home. He didn't even know why he would need it. But time passed, KVN brand TVs moved to polytechnical museums, and computers significantly decreased in size, became cheaper and began to appear in every home. Today, in many apartments, these miracles of technology have begun to appear in multiple copies (one for myself, another for my wife, a third for my mother-in-law, etc.), so that each of the household members can freely surf the Internet, play solitaire, work remotely, etc. . And here we come close to the topic of our article. After all, willy-nilly, people begin to think that there are many computer users in the house (as well as the computers themselves), and the Internet is one! Connecting each household personally is a little expensive, and not relevant. Wouldn't it be easier to combine all computers into a local network and organize joint access to the Internet (and you can also play network games together on your home LAN). Here, perhaps, when the network comes to the house.
Is it so difficult to create your own network, or is it necessary to call a specialist?
A small home network does not require any extraordinary knowledge and skills. Only one active network device is required - a router, which will form the basis of our home network, and at the same time connect all home computers with each other and with the Internet. At the same time, I strongly recommend reading the article about home network security. Some readers may ask, why bother with wires when Wi-Fi has been "in trend" for a long time and there are many portable devices that support this communication technology? I answer. At the moment, still the most secure type of network, to which it is very difficult to connect unauthorizedly - wired! This is a gift for paraonics. Plus, as before, the speed of a wired network with a large number of devices is higher than a Wi-Fi network. Now popular torrents - also work better over the wire, because. Wi-Fi provides half-duplex network operation, while wires allow full duplex operation. I hope I answered all questions.
Why do we need local networks, and what are they? How to connect several computer devices to one Internet channel at once? What equipment is required to build a home network? You will receive answers to all these and other equally important questions in this material.
Introduction
Before you learn how to independently design and configure home local networks, let's immediately answer the most important question: "Why are they needed?".
By itself, the concept of a local network means combining several computers or computer devices into a single system for exchanging information between them, as well as sharing their computing resources and peripheral equipment. Thus, local networks allow:
Exchange data (movies, music, programs, games, etc.) between network members. At the same time, to watch movies or listen to music, it is absolutely not necessary to record them on your hard drive. The speeds of modern networks allow you to do this directly from a remote computer or multimedia device.
Connect simultaneously several devices to the global Internet through one access channel. This is probably one of the most requested features of local area networks, because today the list of equipment that can use a connection to the World Wide Web is very large. In addition to all kinds of computer equipment and mobile devices, TVs, DVD / Blu-Ray players, multimedia players and even all kinds of household appliances, from refrigerators to coffee makers, have now become full members of the network.
Sharing computer peripherals , such as printers, MFPs, scanners, and network attached storage (NAS).
Sharing the computing power of computers of network participants. When working with programs that require complex calculations, such as 3D visualization, you can use the free resources of other computers on the network to increase performance and speed up data processing. Thus, having several weak machines connected to a local network, you can use their total performance to perform resource-intensive tasks.
As you can see, creating a local network, even within the same apartment, can bring a lot of benefits. Moreover, the presence of several devices at once at home that require an Internet connection is not uncommon for a long time, and combining them into a common network is an urgent task for most users.
Basic principles of building a local network
Most often, local networks use two main types of data transfer between computers - by wire, such networks are called cable networks and use Ethernet technology, as well as by radio signal over wireless networks built on the basis of the IEEE 802.11 standard, which is better known to users under the name Wi -Fi.
To date, wired networks still provide the highest throughput, allowing users to exchange information at speeds up to 100 Mbps (12 Mbps) or up to 1 Gbps (128 Mbps) depending on the equipment used (Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet). And although modern wireless technologies, purely theoretically, can also provide data transfer up to 1.3 Gb / s (Wi-Fi 802.11ac standard), in practice this figure looks much more modest and in most cases does not exceed 150 - 300 Mb / s. The reason for this is the high cost of high-speed Wi-Fi equipment and the low level of its use in current mobile devices.
As a rule, all modern home networks are arranged according to the same principle: user computers (workstations) equipped with network adapters are interconnected through special switching devices, which can be: routers (routers), switches (hubs or switches), points access or modems. We will talk in more detail about their differences and purposes below, but for now just know that without these electronic boxes, it will not work to combine several computers at once into one system. The maximum that can be achieved is to create a mini-network of two PCs by connecting them to each other.
At the very beginning, you need to determine the basic requirements for your future network and its scale. After all, the choice of the necessary equipment will directly depend on the number of devices, their physical placement and possible connection methods. Most often, a home local area network is combined and it can include several types of switching devices at once. For example, stationary computers can be connected to the network using wires, and various mobile devices (laptops, tablets, smartphones) can be connected via Wi-Fi.
For example, consider a diagram of one of the possible options for a home local network. It will involve electronic devices designed for different purposes and tasks, as well as using a different type of connection.
As can be seen from the figure, several desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, set-top boxes (IPTV), tablets and media players and other devices can be combined into a single network at once. Now let's figure out what kind of equipment you need to build your own network.
Network Card
A network card is a device that allows computers to communicate with each other and exchange data on a network. All network adapters by type can be divided into two large groups - wired and wireless. Wired network cards allow you to connect electronic devices to a network using Ethernet technology using a cable, and wireless network adapters use Wi-Fi radio technology.
As a rule, all modern desktop computers are already equipped with Ethernet network cards built into the motherboard, and all mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) are equipped with Wi-Fi network adapters. At the same time, laptops and ultrabooks are mostly equipped with both network interfaces at once.
Despite the fact that in the vast majority of cases, computer devices have built-in network interfaces, sometimes it becomes necessary to purchase additional boards, for example, to equip the system unit with a Wi-Fi wireless communication module.
According to their constructive implementation, individual network cards are divided into two groups - internal and external. Internal cards are designed to be installed in desktop computers using interfaces and their corresponding PCI and PCIe slots. External boards are connected via USB connectors or outdated PCMCIA (laptops only).
Router (Router)
The main and most important component of a home local network is a router or router - a special box that allows you to combine several electronic devices into a single network and connect them to the Internet through a single channel provided by your provider.
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A router is a multifunctional device or even a minicomputer with its own built-in operating system that has at least two network interfaces. The first one is LAN (Local Area Network). ) or LAN (Local Area Network) is used to create an internal (home) network, which consists of your computer devices. The second - WAN (Wide Area Network) or WAN (Global Computing Network) is used to connect a local area network (LAN) to other networks and the World Wide Web - the Internet.
The main purpose of devices of this type is to determine the paths (routing) of data packets that the user sends to other, larger networks or requests from them. It is with the help of routers that huge networks are divided into many logical segments (subnets), one of which is the home LAN. Thus, at home, the main function of the router can be called the organization of the transfer of information from the local network to the global network, and vice versa.
Another important task of a router is to restrict access to your home network from the World Wide Web. Surely you are unlikely to be satisfied if anyone can connect to your computers and take or delete from them whatever they want. To prevent this from happening, the data flow intended for devices belonging to a specific subnet must not go beyond its limits. Therefore, the router from the total internal traffic generated by the members of the local network selects and sends to the global network only that information that is intended for other external subnets. This ensures the security of internal data and saves overall network bandwidth.
The main mechanism that allows the router to restrict or prevent access from the public network (outside) to devices on your local network is called NAT (Network Address Translation). It also provides all users of the home network with access to the Internet by converting several internal addresses of devices into one public external address provided by your Internet service provider. All this makes it possible for computers on the home network to easily exchange information with each other and receive it from other networks. At the same time, the data stored in them remains inaccessible to external users, although at any time access to them can be provided at your request.
In general, routers can be divided into two large groups - wired and wireless. Already by the names it is clear that all devices are connected to the first ones only with the help of cables, and to the second ones, both with the help of wires and without them using Wi-Fi technology. Therefore, at home, it is wireless routers that are most often used, which allow providing Internet and networking computer equipment using various communication technologies.
To connect computer devices using cables, the router has special sockets called ports. In most cases, the router has four LAN ports for connecting your devices and one WAN port for connecting an ISP cable.
In order not to overload the article with redundant information, we will not consider in detail the main technical characteristics of routers in this chapter, I will talk about them in a separate article, visited by choosing a router.
In many cases, the router may be the only component needed to build your own local network, as there will simply be no need for the rest. As we have already said, even the simplest router allows you to connect up to four computer devices using wires. Well, the number of equipment that receives simultaneous access to the network using Wi-Fi technology can even be in the tens, or even hundreds.
If, nevertheless, at some point the number of LAN ports of the router is no longer enough, then to expand the cable network, one or more switches can be connected to the router (we will discuss them below), which act as splitters.
Modem
In modern computer networks, a modem is a device that provides access to the Internet or access to other networks through ordinary wired telephone lines (xDSL class) or using wireless mobile technologies (3G class).
Conventionally, modems can be divided into two groups. The first includes those that connect to the computer via the USB interface and provide access to the network only one specific PC, to which the modem is directly connected. In the second group, LAN and / or Wi-Fi interfaces already familiar to us are used to connect to a computer. Their presence indicates that the modem has a built-in router. Such devices are often called combined, and they should be used to build a local network.
When choosing DSL equipment, users may encounter certain difficulties caused by confusion in its names. The fact is that often in the assortment of computer stores, two very similar classes of devices coexist at once: modems with built-in routers and routers with built-in modems. What is their difference?
There are practically no key differences between these two groups of devices. Manufacturers themselves position a router with a built-in modem as a more advanced option, endowed with a large number of additional functions and with improved performance. But if you are only interested in basic features, such as, for example, connecting all computers on a home network to the Internet, then there is not much difference between modem routers and routers where a DSL modem is used as an external network interface.
So, to summarize, a modern modem with which you can build a local network is, in fact, a router with an xDSL or 3G modem acting as an external network interface.
A switch or switch is used to connect various nodes of a computer network and exchange data between them via cables. The role of these nodes can be either separate devices, such as a desktop PC, or entire groups of devices already combined into an independent network segment. Unlike a router, the switch has only one network interface - LAN and is used at home as an auxiliary device, mainly for scaling local networks.
To connect computers using wires, like routers, switches also have special socket-ports. In models focused on home use, their number is usually five or eight. If at some point the number of switch ports is no longer enough to connect all devices, you can connect another switch to it. Thus, you can expand your home network as much as you like.
Switches are divided into two groups: managed and unmanaged. The first, as the name implies, can be controlled from the network using special software. With advanced functionality, they are expensive and not used in the home. Unmanaged switches distribute traffic and regulate the speed of data exchange between all network clients in automatic mode. It is these devices that are ideal solutions for building small and medium-sized local networks, where the number of participants in the exchange of information is small.
Depending on the model, the switches can provide a maximum data transfer rate of either 100 Mbps (Fast Ethernet) or 1000 Mbps (Gigabit Ethernet). Gigabit switches are best used for building home networks in which it is planned to frequently transfer large files between local devices.
Wireless access point
To provide wireless access to the Internet or local network resources, in addition to a wireless router, you can use another device called a wireless access point. Unlike a router, this station does not have an external WAN network interface and is equipped in most cases with only one LAN port for connecting to a router or switch. Thus, you will need an access point if your local network uses a regular router or modem without Wi-Fi support.
The use of additional access points in a network with a wireless router can be justified in cases where a large Wi-Fi coverage area is required. For example, the signal strength of a wireless router alone may not be enough to cover the entire area in a large office or a multi-storey country house.
Access points can also be used to organize wireless bridges that allow you to connect individual devices, network segments or entire networks using a radio signal in places where cabling is undesirable or difficult.
Network cable, connectors, sockets
Despite the rapid development of wireless technologies, many local networks are still built using wires. Such systems have high reliability, excellent throughput and minimize the possibility of unauthorized connections to your network from outside.
To create a wired local area network in home and office environments, Ethernet technology is used, where the signal is transmitted over the so-called "twisted pair" (TP-Twisted Pair) - a cable consisting of four copper twisted pairs of wires with each other (to reduce interference).
When building computer networks, mostly unshielded CAT5 cable is used, and more often its improved version CAT5e. Cables of this category allow you to transmit a signal at a speed of 100 Mbps when using only two pairs (half) of wires, and 1000 Mbps when using all four pairs.
To connect to devices (routers, switches, network cards, and so on), the ends of the twisted pair use 8-pin modular connectors, commonly referred to as RJ-45 (although their correct name is 8P8C).
Depending on your desire, you can either buy ready-made (with crimped connectors) network cables of a certain length, called “patch cords” in any computer store, or separately purchase twisted pair and connectors, and then make cables of the required size yourself in the right amount. How this is done, you will learn from a separate material.
Using cables to connect computers to a network, of course, you can connect them directly from switches or routers to connectors on PC network cards, but there is another option - using network sockets. In this case, one end of the cable is connected to the switch port, and the other to the internal contacts of the socket, in the external connector of which you can later connect computer or network devices.
Power outlets can be built into the wall or mounted outside. The use of sockets instead of protruding cable ends will give a more aesthetic look to your workplace. It is also convenient to use sockets as reference points for various network segments. For example, you can install a switch or router in the hallway of the apartment, and then from it thoroughly lay cables to sockets located in all necessary rooms. Thus, you will get several points located in different parts of the apartment, to which you can connect not only computers, but also any network devices at any time, for example, additional switches to expand your home or office network.
Another little thing that you may need when building a cable network is an extension cable, which can be used to connect two twisted pairs with already crimped RJ-45 connectors.
In addition to their direct purpose, extension cords are convenient to use in cases where the end of the cable ends with not one connector, but two. This option is possible when building networks with a bandwidth of 100 Mbps, where only two pairs of wires are sufficient to transmit a signal.
You can also use a network splitter to connect two computers to one cable at once without using a switch. But again, it is worth remembering that in this case the maximum data exchange rate will be limited to 100 Mbps.
Read more about twisted pair crimping, connecting sockets and the characteristics of network cables in a special material.
Now that we've seen the basic components of a LAN, it's time to talk about topology. In simple terms, a network topology is a diagram that describes the locations and how network devices are connected.
There are three main types of network topology: Bus, Ring, and Star. With a bus topology, all computers on the network are connected to one common cable. To combine PCs into a single network using the "Ring" topology, they are serially connected to each other, while the last computer is connected to the first. With a star topology, each device is connected to the network through a special hub using a separate cable.
Probably, the attentive reader has already guessed that to build a home or small office network, the Star topology is mainly used, where routers and switches are used as hub devices.
Creating a network using the Zvezda topology does not require deep technical knowledge and large financial investments. For example, using a switch that costs 250 rubles, you can network 5 computers in a few minutes, and using a router for a couple of thousand rubles, you can even build a home network, providing several dozen devices with access to the Internet and local resources.
Another undoubted advantage of this topology is good scalability and ease of upgrade. Thus, network branching and scaling is achieved by simply adding additional hubs with the necessary functionality. Also, at any time, you can change the physical location of network devices or swap them in order to achieve more practical use of equipment and reduce the number and length of connecting wires.
Despite the fact that the Zvezda topology allows you to quickly change the network structure, the location of the router, switches and other necessary elements must be thought out in advance, in accordance with the layout of the room, the number of connected devices and how they are connected to the network. This will minimize the risks associated with the purchase of unsuitable or redundant equipment and optimize the amount of your financial costs.
Conclusion
In this material, we examined the general principles of building local networks, the main equipment that is used and its purpose. Now you know that the main element of almost any home network is a router, which allows you to network many devices using both wired (Ethernet) and wireless (Wi-Fi) technologies, while providing all of them with an Internet connection through one single channel.
Switches are used as ancillary equipment to expand the points of connection to the local network using cables, which are essentially splitters. To organize wireless connections, access points are used, which allow using Wi-Fi technology not only to connect all kinds of devices wirelessly to the network, but also in the "bridge" mode to connect entire segments of the local network.
In order to understand exactly how much and what kind of equipment you will need to purchase to create a future home network, be sure to first draw up its topology. Draw a diagram of the location of all network member devices that will need a cable connection. Depending on this, select the optimal location for the router and, if necessary, additional switches. There are no uniform rules here, since the physical location of the router and switches depends on many factors: the number and type of devices, as well as the tasks that will be assigned to them; the layout and size of the room; requirements for the aesthetics of the type of switching nodes; possibilities for laying cables and others.
So, as soon as you have a detailed plan for your future network, you can begin to move on to the selection and purchase of the necessary equipment, its installation and configuration. But we will talk about these topics in our next materials.
Although at first glance, the new system is just a standard peering group, in fact, it has functionality similar to a domain. For example, all systems included in the home group are trusted, and user accounts on the network have a single format. This makes the homegroup an ideal tool for creating a local network for small and medium-sized businesses, despite its modest name.
Now I'm just exploring the possibilities of the new system and in this article I will talk about how to create, configure and use a homegroup in Windows 7.
What is a homegroup?
Since the improved peer-to-peer workgroup was created for the new operating system, only computers running Windows 7 can participate in a homegroup. However, they can also be part of a regular workgroup, sharing files and folders in the usual way.
Workgroups and homegroups can be used at the same time: on the same network, computers running Windows 7 can participate in a homegroup, while systems running and can participate in a workgroup.
Any version can join a homegroup, but only versions can create a group. The fact that this feature is available even in the Enterprise version, once again indicates that this is not just a networked toy for home use.
In fact, homegroups can even be used simultaneously with domains, although with some restrictions. Firstly, it is impossible to create a homegroup on a computer connected to a domain - but you can join an already created one. Secondly, you can use the files and resources available within the home group, but you can’t share your own.
Before proceeding, I note that in order to create and join a homegroup, the computer must be equipped with a network adapter that supports . So if you had time, considering this function unnecessary, you will have to turn it on again.
Create a homegroup
It is proposed to create a home group right during the system installation process, but if you have not done this, you can correct the omission at any time. For the homegroup to function properly, at least two computers running Windows 7 must be connected to the network, and the network location (Network Location) must be selected as the home network (Home). For the Work Network and Public Network options, you cannot set up a homegroup.
Creating a home group is very simple: open the Control Panel (Control Panel), enter "home" (Home) in the search bar and click the link "Home Group" (HomeGroup) (Fig. A).
Figure A Searching the Control Panel for the keyword "home" allows you to quickly find the HomeGroup tool.
A window will open with a message stating that there is currently no homegroup on the network (Figure B). It also provides a brief description of the new feature and reference links for it.
Figure B Click the Create HomeGroup button.
The first link opens a detailed description of the homegroup in the help section. The second link takes you to an advanced settings page to adjust your sharing settings and even disable your homegroup altogether, allowing you to share files and folders using accounts and passwords instead, like in Windows XP and Vista. The third link is to launch the HomeGroup Troubleshooter. This tool is a component of the new Windows 7 Troubleshooting and Diagnostics Platform, powered by a custom PowerShell 2.0 script.
To launch the Create a HomeGroup Wizard, click the Create a HomeGroup button. A dialog box will appear asking you to select the libraries and file types to share within the homegroup (Figure C). You can also share printers.
Figure C During the process of creating a homegroup, you will be prompted to select what resources to share.
After that, Windows 7 will create a homegroup and display the password for it (Figure D). This password is required for other systems to join and access the homegroup. You can write it down or print it from the link along with additional instructions and give it to other users to join the homegroup on their own.
Figure D The second window of the wizard displays the password for joining the homegroup.
Click the "Finish" button. A window will open to change advanced homegroup settings (Figure E).
Figure E This window allows you to configure advanced homegroup settings.
For example, here you can allow or, on the contrary, prohibit sharing certain libraries, as well as enable and configure the function of broadcasting multimedia content over the network using Windows Media Player. The latter is more relevant for a home network than for a commercial network, but in principle, this function can be used to demonstrate training videos.
You can also view and change your homegroup password, leave or delete a group, change advanced sharing settings, and run the troubleshooter.
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The presence of several computers in the family leads to the need to connect them to the same local network. This is due to the fact that networking makes it much easier to work with files from one computer on another, and also allows you to provide Internet access to all computers connected to the network.
How to make your home network convenient and practical to use:
- Determine the purpose of the network.
- Determine the type of network you need (wired or wireless), depending on the capabilities of home computers.
- Select a routing device for convenient network application.
- Make network connection settings.
Create a home network
So, after choosing a router, you need to connect all the necessary computers to it. For this, special cables or a wireless WiFi network are used. When the connection is made, you must specify a common name in the network name (home network or workgroup), then restart the computers and wait for the computers on the network to be detected. This is the easiest option.
How to make your WiFi home network secure and easy to use:
- When creating a WiFi connection, you must specify a password.
- When connecting computers to the network, specify the password and the same workgroup.
- A password can be created in several ways (a set of numbers and symbols or a generated key that is written to a floppy disk or flash drive).
When configuring the router, in most cases, "Obtain an IP address automatically" is set, however, sometimes you can also register it manually for each computer. To do this, each computer must be assigned its own address by changing the last digit. When creating a home network, you can specify Internet access settings for other users. Creating a wireless network allows you to ensure not only the joint operation of all computers, but also their access to the Internet from anywhere in the network coverage. This allows for the mobility of network access applications and eliminates the need for multiple network cabling.
Features of creating a network connection in Windows 7
If you need to make the network home in Windows 7, you should determine for yourself what you need to get from such a network:
- public internet access
- or general access to the Internet and the ability to work with information between computers on the network.
If you choose the first option, then in the W7 settings you must specify the home network, then all computers will have Internet access, but will not be visible to each other. If you choose the second option, then you must specify "Enterprise Network", then the computers will have a shared Internet access and will be visible to each other.
In this way, you can create a home network by combining all the computers in the house into it. Evaluate all the conveniences of such functionality, which will save you a lot of time for certain manipulations.
