Need help with easy Network setup

I have two computers and an ADSL moden connected to a hub, and the computers can independently connect to the internet, and both have the same version of windows XP installed.

I tried setting the network, specially because the computer downstairs doesn´t have a cd-rom and I need to share it. When I was almost done with it, I go the message that Windows does not recommend the kind of network I chose because it is not safe.
I tried then, the option "This computer belongs to a network that doesnt have an internet connection", even though I have one and thus I believe it wont be safe the same.
Anyhow, it didnt work. The computer downstairs recognized the one up here, but couldn´t access it, while this computer didn´t find anything.

Also, the fact that I can´t undo the network, and that I can redo it over and over again without getting the message "you already have a network set up mate" is really not helping at all.

The help I found on google and here did not apply to my case, most where saying things about needing a NIC. So, any pointers? Do I must use the unsafe option and set up firewalls that, as Windows said, might make sharing files impossible sometimes?

1. set static ip's eg. (10.0.0.x or 192.168.0.x or 172.16.0.x)

important thing to remember is not to have the same ip's anywhere on the network must all be unique. also set a subnet of 255.255.255.0 with the above example and a gateway of the adsl router ip address

2. set them to a common workgroup name

PS.

3 Setup you modem in NAT not bridge and probably best to use PPPoE not PPPoA

Wow I thought that was supposed to be easy O.o

Aside from setting static IP, I didn´t understand anything else you said :p

PM your email address with modem details and tomorrow i'll write a better and more indepth answer as it is really late atm and i'm tired.

Perhaps tomorrow i'll make more sense.

All right, if I dont get this working I'll send a pm to you. I'll send a PM anyway to let you know if I get it working :cool:
It´s only 10 AM here, so I have the whole day to work on this...


Edit: If anyone right now can help. How do I unset the network? Let´s say it worked, but I don´t want this computer to belong to a group anymore. I couldn´t find where to go, nor anyone of my friends knew what to do.
I ask this because I tried to set up lots of different networks, some I tried more than once too. That can´t be good.

windows machines are always part of either a group or a domain. If your router has dhcp, then both machines should get an address, or you can just do static ip's either from the same range as the routers ip (probably 192.168.0.x, but it is configurable). Set the default gateway to the router's ip, change dns to be the same as the ip address you're assigning the pc (sometimes using the isp's dns address doesn't work correctly when you have a router). Run network setup wizard, network that has internet, connects to a router or default gateway, set workgroup to same on both pc's, turn on file/print sharing. Done. Now even if you can't see the computers in network neighborhood, go into my computer and in the address bar type \\computer-name where computer-name is, well, yeah. You should see the shared documents folder and any shared printers or other folders. Let us know how that goes, if it doesn't work you should invest in a switch because the router is probably screwing things up for you.

Isnt a hub a switch?

My main concern right now is how I UNset everything I've been doing.

And I don´t get why do I have to change the Ips and everything. What you mean is that the WinXP wizard
will never set up the network by itself?

a hub is NOT a switch, but i didn't notice that you did have them plugged into something besides the dsl so that's fine. Also, make sure you're using regular cat-5 and not crossover. To unset everything, go into the hardware manager and remove the nic's.

The wizard will do some things, but there's no way it can know what needs to go in dns information and what the default gateway should be. Actually, the wizard does very little except provide in one sequence of steps the ability to (try and discover ICS) set the workgroup name, and enable/disable file sharing. That's it. Most of it is on your end in setting up the ip addresses correctly. I really can't tell you what the problem is, post some screenshots of how you have both nics set up, and what the ip address of the dsl router is and maybe we can help further.

All right, thanks. I might get someone who my father knows here tomorrow, this is kind hard for a first time thing.
Maybe I'll learn something and then I can help people that also go through this nightmare :eek:

Thanks again!