wireless networking questions

[scifoc]

hey now,

just setup a wirless network at home usinga linksys 2.4ghz broadband router.

got a couple of questions. right now it is just my laptop and desktop on the network. i can connect to the internet fine on both of them.

first off....security. i've got wep 128 bit encryption setup but really want to use WPA since i understand it's more secure. the linksys router supports it. my desktop pci netgear wireless card model wg311 v2 says it supports wpa but when i set it up all i see is wep. any ideas?

2) whenever i disable SSID broadcast, i can't connect to the router even though i've already configured the card for the access. i'd like to turn the broadcast off but can't seem to figure it out. i do have the MAC filter turned on.

3) My laptop goes back and forth with me to work. it's configured for a domain. it is windows 2000. my desktop at home is windows xp and is in the workgroup. i can see my desktop but can't access anything even though it is shared. is that fact that my laptop a member of my work domain going to be causing me major problems? is there a way around it? obviously, they aren't in the same workgroup. I do have the local admin password but if i leave the domain, i would need to get my network admin to rejoin me. which i don't really want to do.

thanks for the help!

sj

[ecross]

Greetings scifoc,

Since that Windows 2000 machine is configured for a domain, please read and understand the necessary risks switching between a domain and a workgroup. For more details, see the following link.

Switch Between a Workgroup and a Domain
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/broadbandnetworking/10_concept_switch_workgroups_domains.mspx

All versions of Windows can be networked regardless of what workgroup name they are in. If they are shared and you can't see the XP machine or vise versa it could be that they are in a different workgroup.

Open Network Places and click View Workgroup computers. If you don't see other computers in your workgroup name, press the Backspace key to access all other workgroups. You can also click Start, Run, and type \\ip-address.

Barb Bowman has written a page on how to configure WPA. For more details, see the following link.

WPA Wireless Security for Home Networks
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/bowman_03july28.mspx

Since you have a Windows 2000 machine, it doesn't have built-in support for Wireless. Use the software provided by Linksys to configure WPA on the machines. You'll need to download the latest Security Update for WPA on the XP machine. Linksys has instructions on how to configure this.

In addition, if there is a firewall and Windows XP does have a built-in one make sure it is either disabled or have File and Printer Sharing enabled. If you are running XP SP2, go into the Windows Firewall, click the Exceptions tab, and click File and Print Sharing checkbox.

If you are running any third party firewall such as ZoneAlarm, Sygate, or Norton Internet Security make sure it is properly configured for the network and not blocking access between the machines.

[MagGyver]

I've run into the problem before of how to keep a laptop able to switch between different domains and workgroups since I take it to so many different environments (I'm a consultant so I'm constantly changing locations). I know there is more than one solution to this issue, but my personal experience has been with a handy little tool called Mobile Net Switch. This allows you to store multiple profiles, with domain membership as well as workgroups, as well as other settings such as mapped network drives, default printer, SMTP server, etc. You may want to give it a try if you find it's a hassle to switch between the two environments frequently.

www.mobilenetswitch.com will take you there. And no, I don't work for the company - just a satisfied customer.