Home network noob needs help

[Alaric]

...modem. It turns out setting up a home network between three rigs and one modem/router is more involved than "I got this...". "Hold my beer" didn't work, either. To make it more interesting each rig is using a different OS. I have W8.1 as the source of most of the media (movie server if you will, but also my girlfriend's daily driver), my rig on W7 as the source for most streaming of Amazon Prime video, and the client rig in the bedroom running Windows XP Pro. It's been years since I messed with XP, so the relearning curve is pretty steep as I've forgotten most everything I taught myself with the patented "Let's break it and then try to fix it" method. I'll be reinstalling XP Pro today as I seem to have borked the install somehow. It couldn't have been from overclocking the snot out of the Nanya DDR3 while installing chipset drivers, right?

The DSL modem/wi fi router is a ZyXEL PK5001Z from CenturyStink. The client rig will be using a TP-Link TL-WN722N wireless adapter (USB). At least I hope it will because that's what I have. I get an excellent signal to the XP rig so that won't be an issue.

So, any help would be appreciated. I know next to nothing about setting up this sort of thing (I can spell "network", does that help?) so I don't even know what I don't know yet. Thanks for any assistance!

 

[RollingThunder]

Alaric,

I have similar setup here but fortunately my son is a network computer whiz and he set it up for me.

Three computers, one is XP Pro, another is Vista 64 and the last and newest is Windows 10. He set them up so I can transfer among them and so they can all print to a 1998 HP network printer that still runs like a dream. The modem and router is the same for all. I only use XP because it runs software that is not compatible with any higher OS's. I don't know how he did all this but it runs flawlessly and has been for about 5 years. I can't be of any assistance technically, I wouldn't have a clue where to start on this. It took a few hours to get this done one afternoon.

If I remember correctly the most difficult was finding printer drivers for all and setting them up.

 

[Alaric]

I'm running XP because it's free and I'm not going to use the rig for any heavy lifting at all. It's pretty much just a receiver/light web surfer. The other two are our daily drivers and my rig is also my HTPC/gaming rig.

 

[knoober]

So, any help would be appreciated. I know next to nothing about setting up this sort of thing (I can spell "network", does that help?) so I don't even know what I don't know yet. Thanks for any assistance!

But what do you want to do? Reading your post I would assume you want to be able to transfer files back and forth between all the rigs and have one main streaming rig that feeds movies and music to all the others? If thats the case you should be sitting pretty alright with 3x Windows rigs. Windows talks to Windows pretty well. I know for sure Win7 and forward has someting called Homegroup that runs a Wizard and automagically sets up a connection from on rig to another (and I think XP has it as well but it might be called something slightly different)

As for streaming, setting up Plex pretty much does takes all the pain out of running a streaming server and connecting to it with your other rigs. Notable search terms related to streaming between rigs on a home network are "DLNA" and "UPnP".

If you want them all to print to the same printer though you are on your own. I dont know how RT's kid did that either. Nigh impossible in these parts. I send files to the rig that is plugged into the printer with usb and call it a day

 

[Alaric]

Yeah, I don't care about printing. I have a wireless printer and I can just install the software on all the rigs if I need to. I was looking to watch movies stored on the W8.1 rig on the XP rig. I may just pick up a license for W7 next month and install that on the XP rig instead. Then I can just use the Homegroup widget. For now I put the drive with the movies in a USB enclosure and just make it mobile. I can always log in to my Amazon account from the XP rig and stream on that.

 

[EarthDog]

Does your router have a usb port? If so, plug the usb unit with your movies and serve directly from the router.

 

[Alaric]

Does your router have a usb port? If so, plug the usb unit with your movies and serve directly from the router.

Nope, but I had to get up and check because that was all kinds of smart and I was really hoping when I read your post. It's a basic el cheapo CenturyStink router.

 

[EarthDog]

If you are paying a monthly charge for rental, grab a modem and a router with a usb port. Pays itself off.

Just an fyi... your title isnt useful for anyone looking to solve the same problem....unless its pulling a rabbit out of your.....modem . Cute, but, make it a searchable title!

 

[Alaric]

I was kind of hoping it would generate local traffic from OCF. LOL I'll fix it.

edit: Got it fixed.

 

[JrClocker]

As long as all of the computers can see each other (go onto each machine, start the DOS prompt, and ping the IP address of the other two machines), then you should be able to simply setup a network share drive.

You have to do it differently in the different versions of Windows, but the basic concept is the same.

- Open File Explorer
- Select the directory you want to share
- Right Click, go to the "sharing" tab
- Share it

Don't worry about permissions and all that Jazz.

Now, go to the other machine, and open file explorer, and select "map network drive". Select the location you just shared. You may have to enter the login credentials for that machine.

You may have to make sure the machines are all on the same domain (like "home"). I don't remember having to do this when I did this a few years ago.

 

[wagex]

file sharing with xp and newer os's can be a pain in the butt sometimes, it takes alot of playing.

 

[Alaric]

file sharing with xp and newer os's can be a pain in the butt sometimes, it takes alot of playing.

That's been my experience, so far. That's why I want to pick up a W7 license next month and just upgrade that rig. It's been so many years since I played with XP, it's just annoying now. LOL And the search "function". Dear God I hate that mutt.

 

[knoober]

You may have to make sure the machines are all on the same domain (like "home"). I don't remember having to do this when I did this a few years ago.

default domain on Win7 and up has been WORKGROUP in my experience, but can be changed to anything you like.

I second ED's recommendation of ditching the rental fee and purchasing your own router. I see much better average speeds and less dropouts since replacing my router. Even better but a little more costly would be to get a simple modem with only one output and a fancy access point that can be flashed to third party firmware like DDWRT or Tomato to handle all the rest. It is unbelievable the difference once you get DDWRT/Tomato running, and a dedicated AP/switch are usually more versatile and powerful as well.

 

[Alaric]

Throughput isn't an issue. My internet speed is 5 MBps. A broken Raspberry Pi could handle that. A router is an option, if for no other reason than the $10 a month rip off, err, rental fee. I'm going to see about upgrading my XP to W7 and use either Workgroup or Homegroup to set everything up. An Ad Hoc network in XP wants more rigs than I have to put on it (or want to put on it) and is recalcitrant about the situation. W8.1 doesn't want to let XP in, and it's spring cleaning time at my house. I initially thought it wouldn't be a big deal. I dove in to it thinking I'd figure it out, and I probably could, eventually, but the issue is XP. It's old stuff and old stuff is just...old.