How to set up a direct Wi-Fi connection in Windows XP?

(page 2 of 6) Ad-hoc setup on the first computer (1)

1. Go to Control Panel and open Network Connections folder. If you have installed your WiFi adapter correctly, you will find a Wireless Network Connection icon on the right pane under LAN or High-Speed Internet.

Figure: starting a connection from Wireless Network Connection icon.

2. Locate the Wireless Network Connection icon on the right pane. Right-click on it and click Properties to open Wireless Network Connection properties window. 3. On the Wireless Networks tab of the Wireless Network Connection properties window, click Add under Preferred networks. The Wireless Networks tab only appears if your wireless network adapter supports Windows XP's Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC) service and you have enabled it according to your adapter manufacturer directions or if it is possible

simply uninstall the utility (software) that comes with your adapter but do not remove the driver.

Figure: Creating a wireless (Wi-Fi) ad hoc (peer-to-peer) network via Wireless Network Connection properties window.

4. On the Association tab, type the name of your ad-hoc wireless network in Network name (SSID).

How to set up a direct Wi-Fi connection in Windows XP? (page 3 of 6)

Ad-hoc setup on the first computer (2)

6. In Network Authentication, select from Open, Shared, and WPA-None. In infrastructure mode, WPA-PSK and WPA

ptions are available in the drop-down selection. In Windows XP SP1, you will only find Open and Shared, unless you

have installed Windows Update for WPA.

Figure: Selecting the suitable wireless (Wi-Fi) Network Authentication (Open or Shared (WEP) and WPA-None) on the Wireless network properties window.

7. In Data encryption, select one that is suitable for your situation. Assess your security risk. For example, you have to

e more cautious and opt for the strongest encryption if you create your ad-hoc at a public place.

f you chose Open or Shared in Network Authentication, you will find Disabled and WEP in Data encryption. Choose WEP

f you want your data transfer to be encrypted. If you chose WPA-None in Network Authentication, you will find TKIP and

AES in Data encryption. Choose either TKIP or AES. AES is the strongest encryption standard typically used if one wants

o connect to a corporate network with a RADIUS server handling user authentication.

Figure: selecting the suitable Data encryption (Disabled, WEP, TKIP, or AES) on the Wireless network properties window.

8. In Network key, type your encryption key as ASCII or hexadecimal characters. ASCII characters may contain letters,

numbers, and symbols, while hexadecimal characters can only include numbers from 0 to 9 and letters from A to F.

f you select WEP, the network key must be 5 ASCII or 10 hexadecimal characters for 64-bit encryption and 13 ASCII or

26 hexadecimal characters for 128-bit encryption. If you select WPA, the network key must be 8 to 63 ASCII or 64

hexadecimal characters. Example of a valid network key: AD083BC1A5 for 64-bit WEP encryption.

9. In Confirm network key, retype your key.

10. Click OK on the Wireless network properties window to save changes to your wireless network.

11. Click OK on the Wireless Network Connection properties window to save changes to your wireless network adapter.

How to set up a direct Wi-Fi connection in Windows XP? (page 5 of 6) Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) setup
On the computer that is connected directly to the Internet. Do these steps to share an Internet connection. (You are assumed to have configured your Internet connection before. If not, use the New Connection Wizard then.) 1. Open Network Connections folder. 2. On the right pane, find the Internet connection that you want to share. Right-click on it and select Properties. While the most likely case is sharing a wireline broadband (DSL/cable) service, basically you can share any type of Internet connection (including PSTN dial-up, GPRS, 3G, FTTH, WiMAX, etc) using the

same procedure.

If your broadband connection is using login (PPPoE) and you log in from Network Connections folder, you'll find the Internet connection under Broadband. If your broadband connection is always on, your Internet connection must be under LAN or High-Speed Internet. Find the Local Area Connection that corresponds with the Ethernet card which connects the host computer to the broadband modem. Rename it to a name that easily identifies your Internet connection. Follow the same procedure to enable ICS.

Figure. Opening an Internet connection properties window from Network Connections to create Internet connection sharing (ICS). Select the relevant Internet connection.

3. On the Advanced tab, check "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection" and select "Wireless Network Connection" from the drop-down box. The drop-down box only appears if there are more than one network adapters installed in your computer. If you don't find ICS options on Properties window, the most likely case is your Wi-Fi ad hoc network hasn't been connected. Try to reconfigure it.

Figure. Configuring Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) for the Wi-Fi ad hoc network via the Internet connection Properties window.

4. Click OK. You can verify whether your wireless LAN (ad hoc) and ICS have been working from the IP addresses of your Wi-Fi adapters. If the IP addresses are APIPA addresses in this format 169.254.x.y (where x and y are any integer from 0 to 254) with the same subnet (i.e. 255.255.0.0), then your ad hoc network has been active. Browse your network configuration from My Network Places. If you have configured your personal firewall to allow file and printer sharing (which is the default setting in Windows Firewall), you will see both your computers in My Network Places>Microsoft Windows Network>your workgroup name.

Meanwhile, for the ICS to work your Wi-Fi network adapter on the ICS host computer (which connects directly to the broadband modem) must have been assigned this private gateway IP address 192.168.0.1

and the ICS client (which will connect to the Internet via the ICS host) must have another IP address in this format 192.168.0.z where z is any integer from 2 to 254.

To have IP addresses assigned automatically by Windows, you just need to make sure that your Wi-Fi adapters are set to obtain IP address and DNS server address automatically (DHCP) which is the default configuration. To verify, right click your Wireless Network Connection, and select Properties. On the General tab, select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties.

Now you have finished the Wi-Fi ad-hoc network setup and enabled Internet connection sharing. To access another computer resources (i.e. files, folders, drives, printer, peripherals), you must enable sharing with other network users for each resource.

Figure. Viewing details of a Wireless Network Connection via the status window You can see among others: number of transferred packets, duration, signal strength, and IP address.

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Home Networking Guide : Internet Connection Sharing All you need to know about IP address Firewall setting to enable file and printer sharing

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