One of Microsoft’s goals with Windows XP was to improve your experience when networking personal computers together by automating the task with the Network Setup Wizard. (Start>Control Panel>Network Connections>Network Setup Wizard>follow the menu prompts)
The Network Setup wizard permits you to configure the method of connecting to the Internet that the computers on your network will use, enables the Internet Connection Firewall, configures the adapters on your computer and can enable the Network Bridge if it is required for your network to be configured automatically.
The Network Bridge is enabled and used when your networked LAN consists of computers that are connected in a variety of methods to each other, and using the Network Bridge alleviates the user of the usual effort required to manually configure such a LAN.
The connected computers can be networked together using the home’s telephone line, wireless connections or the computers may be using IEEE 1394 to be configured automatically using the Network Bridge. (To enable the Network Bridge without using the Network Setup wizard, go to Start>Control Panel>Network Connections>right-click Local Area Connection>Bridge Connections>follow the menu prompts.)
Whether you’ve created the Network Bridge manually or permitted the Network Setup Wizard to automate the process, the speed listed will always reflect the capability of the fastest network adapter connected rather than the actual speed of your networked LAN. (ie: 100mbps for a NIC card or 400mbps if a IEEE 1394 networked device is installed.)
There are instances, though, where one wouldn’t want the Network Bridge to be enabled.
If you have a DSL modem, DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) router or a switch that acts as a DHCP server with a Windows XP computer with Network Bridge enabled, you may get an error message of a Duplicate IP address. Disabling Network Bridge or using a DHCP server that can correctly identify the clients within your network by the proper MAC address will eliminate the Duplicate IP Address error.
Permitting your Network Setup Wizard to automatically configure your network can easily set you on a path with an endless number of hurdles to jump if your personal network activities are incompatible with any of the actions that the Network Setup Wizard implements.
(I’m going to assume that you had a functional network before you put added Windows XP to your network. For detailed information on setting up an Ethernet network, please refer to our series of networking how-to articles that start here or our wireless networking how-to articles.
If you are accustomed to sharing files amongst the computers on your existing network and attempt to do so after you have run Network Setup Wizard, you will surprised to find that you are suddenly unable to browse your network.
Attempting to connect to another computer within your network from any of the normal methods that you’ve tried in the past will be futile from your Windows XP computer until you disable the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF).
Microsoft does not recommend opening User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ports associated with file sharing and Server Message Block (SMB) communications because it can expose your computer and its contents to others.
If you wish to proceed, you can manually open your ports by going to Start>Connect to>Show all connections>right-click the connection that you wish to share files with, properties>Advanced tab, click Settings>Service tab, click Add>enter a description for the computer that you wish to share access with>enter an IP address>enter both a Port number and a type for each port to be opened. (For Microsoft file sharing, open UDP ports 135-139 and TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) ports 135-139 or open TCP and UDP port 445 for NetBIOS sharing capability)>follow the menu prompts and exit.
The procedure is a bit labor intensive, especially if your computer activities include LAN and online games or a number of programs that each need their own specific ports released that Microsoft’s well-intentioned Internet Connection Firewall is so zealously guarding on your computer.
If you prefer to skip the automated processes imposed upon you by the Network Setup Wizard and are able to employ your own security measures and firewall to protect your computer system and the networked computers that it is connected to, you do have a manual networking option when upgrading to Windows XP.
For manually setting up your Windows XP machine on your network, see part two of Windows XP and Networking Your LAN.
First published at InfiniSource.com
Sandra Underhill is the Associate Editor of InfiniSource,a site reknowned as a premier Internet Resource Center, offering
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