Setting Up A Home Network

[SomOne]

Please excuse the frustration. Trying to do this is like pulling teeth.

Here is the situation:

I have four computers.

Two of the computers are using XP (One Pro - Service Pack 1 and One Home -
Service pack 2 - Toshiba Lap Top). The Toshiba has a single NTFS hard
drive, while the Desk Top has a single hard drive which has 4 logical
drives. Each of these machines has a DVD Burner and a CD Burner in the
machine.

Two of the computers are using Win98SE. One computer had a single C drive
partition and the second has two hard drives one of which has three logical
drive. File format is FAT32. Each Machine has a CD Reader. One machine
also has a CD burner

All of the computers have NIC cards and are hardwired via Cat 5 to a LinkSys
Wireless G Broadband Router (Model WRT54G)

I do loose the "Hounds Of Hell" and carry the lap top around the house;
however, the majority of the time it is hooked to the Router via Cat 5
cable.

I have a HP932C printer connected to the Desk Top (XP Pro - Service Pack 1)
via USB.

I have an External Hard Drive connected to the Desk Top (XP Pro Service Pack
1) via USB. File Format is FAT32

I have a ZIP drive connected to a Desk Top (Win 98SE) via Parallel cable.

This is my madness. I would like to know if I can set it up to read
everything from the two XP machines, each Win98SE from each other, the
external hard drive and the ZIP drive. I would like to see the complete
drives or am I going to have to build a folder on each machine.

I do not want to buy any third party software, just use the operating
systems to connect them all through the router. Really do not want a
machine to act as a server if at all possible.

Question 1. Can I do this - without banging my head against a wall.

Question 2. If I cannot see everything, what am I going to be able to see?

Question 3. Do I have to set any particular machine up in any particular
order.

Question 4. Any special set up with respect to the XP and Win98SE machines
(where the XP can see all drives internal/external and the Win98SE can see
everything but the NTS drives.

Kind of need step by step assistance.

Yeah, I know. When I read this myself I wonder why would the idiot want to
do all of this. I would just like to take everything to the edge.

..

[Steve]

I am no expert by any means, but there doesn't sound like any reason why
this is not possible.

First, in both Win98 and XP you need to establish the name of your
workgroup, In XP go to the system control panel, computer name tab, select
"change computer name". It's in there. Give your computer a name too. In
Win98 I expect there is something similar in the "system" control panel.

Then it's really all about turning on file sharing, and possibly turning off
the firewall on your XP machines (anyone here who can accomplish this
without turning off the firewalls please chime in). You need to decide what
you want to make available on each computer. The whole thing? Just the
desktop or my documents folder? Something else? For instance, on the XP
machine, to share the my documents folder, go to ?"my computer", right click
on the my documents folder, then choose properties, then the sharing tab,
then check the "share this folder" and "allow network users to change"
boxes. It will ask you if you really want to (or something) - just select
"just start file sharing". On the Win98 machines, (it's been a while so I
can't be certain) you may need to turn on file sharing at a control panel
(somewhere), then go through a similar process as above to select what
folders you want to share.

Then, after some possible rebooting, in the Win98 machines you will see the
shared items in "network neighborhood", and in the XP machines, go to "my
network places", then click on the "show workgroup computers" link on the
left. You can make shortcuts of the various items from there to facilitate
returning to them later.

You can share your printer so all PCs can use it through the PC it's plugged
into. Go to the printer control panel, find the printer and tell it to
share. Then the printer will be one of the shared items of that PC.

Do the above at your own risk. It's what I did (at my own risk). Just
because I said it'll work doesn't mean it will. I may not be 100% right or
may have left something out. Have fun.

Good luck,
Steve

"SomOne" <SomeOne@Example.Com> wrote in message
news:VdcUj.1896$tM1.97@newsfe20.lga...
> Please excuse the frustration. Trying to do this is like pulling teeth.
>
> Here is the situation:
>
> I have four computers.
>
> Two of the computers are using XP (One Pro - Service Pack 1 and One Home -
> Service pack 2 - Toshiba Lap Top). The Toshiba has a single NTFS hard
> drive, while the Desk Top has a single hard drive which has 4 logical
> drives. Each of these machines has a DVD Burner and a CD Burner in the
> machine.
>
> Two of the computers are using Win98SE. One computer had a single C drive
> partition and the second has two hard drives one of which has three
> logical
> drive. File format is FAT32. Each Machine has a CD Reader. One machine
> also has a CD burner
>
> All of the computers have NIC cards and are hardwired via Cat 5 to a
> LinkSys
> Wireless G Broadband Router (Model WRT54G)
>
> I do loose the "Hounds Of Hell" and carry the lap top around the house;
> however, the majority of the time it is hooked to the Router via Cat 5
> cable.
>
> I have a HP932C printer connected to the Desk Top (XP Pro - Service Pack
> 1)
> via USB.
>
> I have an External Hard Drive connected to the Desk Top (XP Pro Service
> Pack
> 1) via USB. File Format is FAT32
>
> I have a ZIP drive connected to a Desk Top (Win 98SE) via Parallel cable.
>
> This is my madness. I would like to know if I can set it up to read
> everything from the two XP machines, each Win98SE from each other, the
> external hard drive and the ZIP drive. I would like to see the complete
> drives or am I going to have to build a folder on each machine.
>
> I do not want to buy any third party software, just use the operating
> systems to connect them all through the router. Really do not want a
> machine to act as a server if at all possible.
>
> Question 1. Can I do this - without banging my head against a wall.
>
> Question 2. If I cannot see everything, what am I going to be able to
> see?
>
> Question 3. Do I have to set any particular machine up in any particular
> order.
>
> Question 4. Any special set up with respect to the XP and Win98SE
> machines
> (where the XP can see all drives internal/external and the Win98SE can see
> everything but the NTS drives.
>
> Kind of need step by step assistance.
>
> Yeah, I know. When I read this myself I wonder why would the idiot want
> to
> do all of this. I would just like to take everything to the edge.
>
> .
>
>
>