Homegroup question

[Panic]

While setting up my desktop computer to access the internet through my
wireless router (Dlink) the setup ending with my still having a manual
Ethernet connection between my router and my computer. After rebooting I
noticed the computer showed the manual Ethernet connection to the name of my
router but also showed my wireless router connection available. I shut down
the computer, disconnected the Ethernet cable and rebooted. Now it showed
no active internet connection so I clicked on the router's wireless name and
am now connected to the internet wirelessly through my router. Would it
have been better to leave the Ethernet cable connected and access the
internet from my desktop that way?

Then I set up a Homegroup through that router. That is all new to me.
Right now there are no other computers in my home to access the Homegroup
but I plan on buying a laptop soon.

With the setup I've described when I get that laptop home I think I should
be able to access the Internet through the router by entering the router's
password. Is that right? And if I then wished to access my desktop
computer files I could, on my laptop, enter Control Panel, choose Homegroup
and enter the Homegroup password. Is that correct? It also indicates that
I could print wirelessly to my desktop computer's printer from my laptop.
It looks like my laptop would have to have Win 7 Home Premium or better to
do so.

 

[Char Jackson]

While setting up my desktop computer to access the internet through my
wireless router (Dlink) the setup ending with my still having a manual
Ethernet connection between my router and my computer.

I know of no such thing as a manual Ethernet connection, so if that's
an important point in your story, you may have to explain what you
mean.

After rebooting I
noticed the computer showed the manual Ethernet connection to the name of my
router but also showed my wireless router connection available.

Normal, so far.

I shut down
the computer, disconnected the Ethernet cable and rebooted. Now it showed
no active internet connection so I clicked on the router's wireless name and
am now connected to the internet wirelessly through my router.

Still normal, but you didn't have to shut down first. You can switch
back and forth from wired to wireless without rebooting.

Would it
have been better to leave the Ethernet cable connected and access the
internet from my desktop that way?

A wired connection is better if you value faster speed and
reliability, but a wired connection is better if you value mobility
and a lack of messy cables. For me, I use a wired connection wherever
and whenever possible, and switch to wireless when I have to.

Then I set up a Homegroup through that router. That is all new to me.
Right now there are no other computers in my home to access the Homegroup
but I plan on buying a laptop soon.

The Homegroup is a Windows 7 thing and has nothing to do with your
router.

With the setup I've described when I get that laptop home I think I should
be able to access the Internet through the router by entering the router's
password. Is that right?

No, as mentioned above, the Homegroup is a Windows 7 thing and has
nothing to do with your router. Your router's password is only used to
configure the router itself, unless by "router password" you're
incorrectly referring to your wireless network password. If the new
laptop will be used wirelessly, you'll need to establish the wireless
connection separately from joining your new Homegroup.

And if I then wished to access my desktop
computer files I could, on my laptop, enter Control Panel, choose Homegroup
and enter the Homegroup password. Is that correct?

You'll need to configure the new laptop to join your existing
Homegroup, but once that's done you won't have to revisit the Control
Panel. You'll simply use the Homegroup or map a network drive,
whichever is more convenient for you.

It also indicates that
I could print wirelessly to my desktop computer's printer from my laptop.
It looks like my laptop would have to have Win 7 Home Premium or better to
do so.

No idea why that would be the case, but MS does some funky things
sometimes. On the other hand, the new laptop will likely come with
Home Premium or better, so it may not even be an issue.

 

[Ken Blake]

The Homegroup is a Windows 7 thing and has nothing to do with your
router.

And because homegroups can be used only on Windows 7 machines, I
prefer to set up a workgroup instead. A workgroup can be used with
other versions of Windows too, and is more versatile.

 

[VanguardLH]

While setting up my desktop computer to access the internet through my
wireless router (Dlink) the setup ending with my still having a manual
Ethernet connection between my router and my computer. After rebooting I
noticed the computer showed the manual Ethernet connection to the name of my
router but also showed my wireless router connection available. I shut down
the computer, disconnected the Ethernet cable and rebooted. Now it showed
no active internet connection so I clicked on the router's wireless name and
am now connected to the internet wirelessly through my router. Would it
have been better to leave the Ethernet cable connected and access the
internet from my desktop that way?

Then I set up a Homegroup through that router. That is all new to me.
Right now there are no other computers in my home to access the Homegroup
but I plan on buying a laptop soon.

With the setup I've described when I get that laptop home I think I should
be able to access the Internet through the router by entering the router's
password. Is that right? And if I then wished to access my desktop
computer files I could, on my laptop, enter Control Panel, choose Homegroup
and enter the Homegroup password. Is that correct? It also indicates that
I could print wirelessly to my desktop computer's printer from my laptop.
It looks like my laptop would have to have Win 7 Home Premium or better to
do so.

Wired connects are faster and more secure. Since you have the wired
setup already, why waste it with a wireless connect?

Haven't a clue what you mean by "homegroup" on the router. That term is
new to Windows 7 (and that OS is not running in your router unless you
actually dedicated an entire host as an ICS server to be your gateway).
You never bothered to identify the router so no one here can go read the
manual for you to find out what was possibility meant by "homegroup".

Homegroups in Windows 7 are only usable between Windows 7 hosts. It is
a Windows7-only thing. If you have Vista, XP, 2000, or 9x hosts then
you won't get them to connect to the homegroup defined on your Windows 7
hosts. You will need to abandon homegroups on your Windows 7 hosts and
instead revert back to the old workgroup setup if you want to connect
pre-Win7 hosts together.

Whether you have to enter a password depends entirely on how you
configured your wireless router. DLink makes a lot of routers both in
the past and presently. RTFM.

So are these printers actually wireless devices? If not, just to what
are you going to connect them to access them wirelessly? If you're
connecting them to Windows hosts then it's up to you whether or not you
share that computer's printer resource with other hosts in the
workgroup. Accessing printers connected to hosts has nothing to do with
a wireless setup if you are accessing the hosts (wired or wireless) to
get at the printers connected to them. As yet, you haven't defined any
of your hardware.

 

[Panic]

OK, Thanks guys. I obviously was in error thinking the wireless Homegroup
needed my router for access. I stumbled onto Homegroups while resetting my
router internet connection that had gone South. From the information I've
now received from Char, Ken, and Vanguard I'm going to reconnect my Ethernet
cable to my desktop computer and use that for it's increased speed and
safety. I think I'll stay with the Win 7 Homegroup for now since my next
purchase of a laptop will be Windows 7.

Reading further I find that only the computer that establishes the Homegroup
needs Windows 7 Home Premium or higher. Computers only need basic Win 7 to
join. As far as my "manual Ethernet connection" reference I was merely
referring to physically joining my router to my computer with the Ethernet
cable.

As to my question about wirelessly connecting my desktop computer's printer,
I noticed in Homegroup that I can specify what I want to share with the
group...documents...pictures....videos....and Printers. So if I added
Printers to what I choose to share, could a group user with a laptop print
things on my desktop's USB printer wirelessly from his laptop?

While setting up my desktop computer to access the internet through my
wireless router (Dlink) the setup ending with my still having a manual
Ethernet connection between my router and my computer.

I know of no such thing as a manual Ethernet connection, so if that's
an important point in your story, you may have to explain what you
mean.

After rebooting I
noticed the computer showed the manual Ethernet connection to the name of
my
router but also showed my wireless router connection available.

Normal, so far.

I shut down
the computer, disconnected the Ethernet cable and rebooted. Now it showed
no active internet connection so I clicked on the router's wireless name
and
am now connected to the internet wirelessly through my router.

Still normal, but you didn't have to shut down first. You can switch
back and forth from wired to wireless without rebooting.

Would it
have been better to leave the Ethernet cable connected and access the
internet from my desktop that way?

A wired connection is better if you value faster speed and
reliability, but a wired connection is better if you value mobility
and a lack of messy cables. For me, I use a wired connection wherever
and whenever possible, and switch to wireless when I have to.

Then I set up a Homegroup through that router. That is all new to me.
Right now there are no other computers in my home to access the Homegroup
but I plan on buying a laptop soon.

The Homegroup is a Windows 7 thing and has nothing to do with your
router.

With the setup I've described when I get that laptop home I think I should
be able to access the Internet through the router by entering the router's
password. Is that right?

No, as mentioned above, the Homegroup is a Windows 7 thing and has
nothing to do with your router. Your router's password is only used to
configure the router itself, unless by "router password" you're
incorrectly referring to your wireless network password. If the new
laptop will be used wirelessly, you'll need to establish the wireless
connection separately from joining your new Homegroup.

And if I then wished to access my desktop
computer files I could, on my laptop, enter Control Panel, choose Homegroup
and enter the Homegroup password. Is that correct?

You'll need to configure the new laptop to join your existing
Homegroup, but once that's done you won't have to revisit the Control
Panel. You'll simply use the Homegroup or map a network drive,
whichever is more convenient for you.

It also indicates that
I could print wirelessly to my desktop computer's printer from my laptop.
It looks like my laptop would have to have Win 7 Home Premium or better to
do so.

No idea why that would be the case, but MS does some funky things
sometimes. On the other hand, the new laptop will likely come with
Home Premium or better, so it may not even be an issue.

 

[Don B]

Yes, that is how I have it set up for my wife's computer.
I joined her computer to my Homegroup , and shared my printer.
She can now print on the printer connected to my computer, as long as my
computer is running and logged on. The neat thing about Windows 7 using
the homegroup feature, I did not have to install the printer driver on
her computer, it got the files it needed automatically and works fine.

 

[Lewis]

Yes, that is how I have it set up for my wife's computer.
I joined her computer to my Homegroup , and shared my printer.
She can now print on the printer connected to my computer, as long as my
computer is running and logged on. The neat thing about Windows 7 using
the homegroup feature, I did not have to install the printer driver on
her computer, it got the files it needed automatically and works fine.

It's always nice when Windows gets a feature OS X has had for years.

Of course, on OS X I don't have to keep a user logged in to share the
printer and the scanner.

I looked at the homegroup in W7, didn't like it, went 'back' to
workgroup instead.

 

[Nil]

It's always nice when Windows gets a feature OS X has had for
years.

Of course, on OS X I don't have to keep a user logged in to share
the printer and the scanner.

Windows has worked that way for decades. None of that is new.

 

[Lewis]

alt.windows7.general:

Windows has worked that way for decades. None of that is new.

No, this is not how shared printing works in XP. You have to download
the drivers for the printer and install them. And it usually doesn't
work. I tried off an on for a couple of years to get my Samsung laser
printer to share properly under Windows XP and finally just gave up. If
the printer is a network printer, then no problem. But a shared printer?
Yeah, not so much.

 

[Char Jackson]

No, this is not how shared printing works in XP. You have to download
the drivers for the printer and install them. And it usually doesn't
work. I tried off an on for a couple of years to get my Samsung laser
printer to share properly under Windows XP and finally just gave up. If
the printer is a network printer, then no problem. But a shared printer?
Yeah, not so much.

Since Windows 95, I've shared mostly Epson and a few HP printers, plus
an Okidata laser. I don't remember having any problems.

 

[Roy Smith]

No, this is not how shared printing works in XP. You have to download
the drivers for the printer and install them. And it usually doesn't
work. I tried off an on for a couple of years to get my Samsung laser
printer to share properly under Windows XP and finally just gave up. If
the printer is a network printer, then no problem. But a shared printer?
Yeah, not so much.

Maybe in your experience you had a bad time, but I successfully shared a
Canon Pixma iP4000 with 2 other PC's at my house for several years. Now
I've got a Canon MX340 that's linked to my home network through a WiFi
connection.


--

Roy Smith
Windows 7 Professional
Thunderbird 3.1.7
Sunday, January 23, 2011 6:40:48 PM

 

[Nil]

No, this is not how shared printing works in XP. You have to
download the drivers for the printer and install them. And it
usually doesn't work. I tried off an on for a couple of years to
get my Samsung laser printer to share properly under Windows XP
and finally just gave up. If the printer is a network printer,
then no problem. But a shared printer? Yeah, not so much.

It's been a long time since I did it, but I used Windows NT and Windows
XP servers that, when you connect the workstation to the printer share,
will automatically download the printer drivers to the workstation. You
can update the drivers on the server and they will also update on the
workstation. Here's a Technet article about doing that with XP. I
assume it's still possible with Vista/Win7, but I don't know that from
personal experience.

I don't think it works with all printers.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457001.aspx

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

So are these printers actually wireless devices? If not, just to what
are you going to connect them to access them wirelessly? If you're
connecting them to Windows hosts then it's up to you whether or not you
share that computer's printer resource with other hosts in the
workgroup. Accessing printers connected to hosts has nothing to do with
a wireless setup if you are accessing the hosts (wired or wireless) to
get at the printers connected to them. As yet, you haven't defined any
of your hardware.

I have an older net workable printer, but it only has wired LAN. I
connect it to my router by the network cable - "manually" - and I
can now print from any computer connected to the LAN, whether wired or
wireless, and I don't have to turn on a master computer to use the
others. All three computers are running Windows 7 Home Premium.

I can't print from my phone because I was too lazy to figure out how to
make the phone do printing It is supposedly possible with D/L
software. Or maybe only for certain printers, I don't recall.