Connect a laptop at home > Part I - Basic Peer-to-PeerStep 2 - Starting the network Here in Step 2, we're going to set up the necessary network software components to allow our laptop to communicate with our home network. First, let's check what network components, or protocols, might have been installed automatically when we installed the PC Card in our laptop. The reason some network software is installed automatically is that Windows detects the new hardware and attaches, or binds, currently installed software protocols to the new hardware. Let's look at our set up from Step 1, as an example.
As you can see here, although to this point we only installed the hardware, Windows has already bound the adapter to TCP/IP since our laptop already had TCP/IP installed for our large network at the office. In this simple peer-to-peer setup in Part I of this "how to" (see the Overview for more information on this and Part II), we don't want to complicate our office configuration by using TCP/IP. Click on the listing and click Remove. Now, we are ready to install the protocols that we will use in our home network. If you've followed our other how to's, you likely have IPX installed, so let's go ahead and install it on our laptop. From the same network control panel we used above, click on add. From the Select Network Component Type box that pops up, select Protocol and click Add. From the Select Network Protocol box, click on Microsoft on the left side and IPX/SPX on the right side and click OK. Keep your Windows 95 CD ROM handy since the install program may ask for it. After the install completes, you'll be returned to the original network control panel. If you want to install additional protocols, you can do so now. Some people have NetBEUI installed on their home networks so you'll want to add that to your laptop set up as well. If you use TCP/IP for home networking and internet sharing, we suggest your review Part II of this "laptop how to" rather than try to insert TCP/IP into this setup and potentially create conflicts for your office configuration. After you are finished installing any other protocols, click OK at the Network Control Panel main window and Windows will prompt you to restart the machine. Select Yes. When the machine restarts, don't be surprised if it asks you for the network password you use in the office. It may also list the Domain to which your computer belongs in a large client/server LAN environment. Be sure to click CANCEL at this point or your laptop will start a long, fruitless search for that Domain and necessary security registration. If you had to hit cancel, you'll need to take one extra step at this time that you'll need to carefully note so you can UNDO it later to set your laptop back to the way it needs to be to connect to the office LAN. Luckily, it's an easy step. Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel and double click on Network. Select "Client for Microsoft Networks" and click on Properties. If the box marked "Log on to Windows NT domain" is checked, uncheck it. BUT, be sure to recheck this box later before starting your machine back in the office network. It's a bit of a pain, but the only way to get around this limitation of Windows, other than to create a separate Windows setup as we will in Part II.
With the proper protocols installed, we can move on to Step 3 to complete our laptop connection to our home network.
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