TCP/IP home networking tutorial

Have you rebooted your computers recently? We just made a load of configuration changes so be sure to reboot them! When your computers start up, give them a minute or so to become 'aware' of each other. Sometimes you will get error messages if you try to access your network neighborhood too soon.

Next, open your 'My Network Places' in your Start Menu. If you do not immediately see your other computers, you may have to click the 'View Workgroup Computers' selection on the left menu. 

Try using the 'search for computer' command

Try to add a network place manually

Sometimes using the "Search for Computers..." command will force your system to find the other computer.  Simply right click the "Network Neighborhood" or "My Network Places" icon on your desktop and select "Search for Computers".

Type in the full name of the computer you need to find and click search.  Remember when I said to keep the computer names simple?  This is why!!

Once the computer is found, double click to view the network share.  You may start seeing this computer in your network neighborhood now too!

If you still can not locate the computer, try Adding the network place

First, collect the COMPUTER NAME and SHARE NAME that you wish to map.  Next, right click the "My Network Places" icon in your Start menu and select "Map Network Drive".

 

- OR you can go into your network places and select "Add a network Palce" from the left menu

 

Click next and a screen like this should appear

 

Select the second option, "Choose another network location" and click next.

 

On this screen, type in the full path to the network share on the other computer.  The syntax of the share should be \\computername\sharename as shown above.  In this example we will add a network place called 'shared' on a computer called 'Laptop'

Lastly, give your new network place a name.

 

TCP/IP home networking tutorial