Printer sharing/connecting can be very interesting and is way to involved for this discussion but generally:
| Once the printer is shared on the network you may be able to
connect each computer to it using the Windows Printer Wizard whereas you
"Add a Printer", select a network printer, click Next to browse
for the printer then open the network tree and select the desired printer.
However, many printers require you to "install" the software in which case this process will not work. You may be able to get around this problem by installing the software on the computer then change the printers port after the software is installed. To do this: |
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Finish the printer installation then from the Printer folder, right click the new printer, select Properties, move to the Ports (tab), add a port then browse the network for the printer.
| Want to share one of your drives or folders on the network? Simple:
Open the Windows Explorer, right click the desired drive or folder and select Sharing from the menu.
Give the share name something other than the default "C" (since that can be confusing from the prospective of other users).
Don't forget to give the "Full" access type otherwise other users will not be able to save to your drive.
Once shared, your drive or folder(s) will have a little hand below them.
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NOTE: Sharing too many folders will adversely affect the computer and network performance.
The method of selectively sharing folders offers some security in that the other users can access only those folders shared.
Instead of sharing a lot of different folders, you could share the root, and then any user can access any folder but this could be a security issue since any user can access any folder including the Windows system folders. If security is a real issue for your network, perhaps a client/server system using NT is warranted.
Want to stop sharing? Look at the above snapshot.
Sharing is the process of making a drive or folder available on the network whereas mapping is the process of connecting to that shared resource.
Now that the network is up and running and folders are shared, we need a method whereby users can access the files on the other computers. There are two methods available; drive mapping and URL's. Perhaps instead of mapping, a better name would have been "connecting". We prefer the URL method (discussed shortly), but …
Say you want to open a document that exists on John's computer. That file is located in a folder named "Shared" found under his "My Documents" folder.
The path would be C:\My Documents\Shared if you were sitting at his computer and searching his drive.
Since you will be working on that file from your computer, the mapped path would be: mappeddrive:\My Documents\shared documents"
Remember:
· Before you can share a folder, the Network Properties to allow drive sharing must be enable, see page 211.
· And before you can map shared folder, the intended drive/folder must be shared. See page 215.
| To map a drive, open the Network Neighborhood and double click on the desired computer. When you see that computer's drive, right click then select "Map Network Drive". From the "Drive" combo-box, select the desired drive letter to use. If this should be a permanent connection, check the "Reconnect at Logon" option. |
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In the following scenarios, we have three machines on a peer-to-peer network. Their names are Station 1, Station 2 and Station 3. Each station of course, has its own hard drive identified as "C:".
If we are at Station 1 and wanted access to Station 3's hard drive we would map it as described in the above procedure. So, let say we map it using drive letter G:
Station 1 now has (their own drive C:) plus a new (mapped) drive of G:. Station 3 is completely unaware of the mapping that just took place, but more importantly is virtually unaffected by the mapping.
NOTE: Mapping a drive letter is effective in only one direction, i.e., mapping Station 3's hard drive to Station 1 using "G:" does not in-turn map Station 1 to Station 3. Nor would this process remove "G:" as an available drive letter at Station 3.
So…
If Station 3 wanted to access Station 1's drive, it could map the drive as any available drive letter. Remember now, the earlier mapping by Station 1 had no affect on Station 3 so Station 3 could map Station 1's drive as G:
Currently then:
Station 1 and Station 3 are coincidently seeing each other as the same drive letter of G: Perhaps Station 1 wants to also tap Station 2's drive so Station 1 may map this connection as H:.
In turn, Station 2 wants to tap Station 1's drive but Station 2 just happened to use the map drive letter M:
Again, the mapped letters do not affect the other machines and when mapping network drives, any available letter can be used.
So above: All stations have their own drive "C:" plus any other local drives or CD's (D:, E: and so on). Now in addition to their local drives, they will have access to other machines using a virtual drive.
More realistically however, drives are typically mapped as a standard whereas anyone connecting to Station 1 uses drive letter M: (or whatever), anyone connecting to Station 2 uses N:, an so on.
NOTE: You can share and map almost any type of drive; CD-Roms, Zip Drives, etc.
To disconnect a mapped drive, double click My Computer, Right Click the mapped drive and select Disconnect.
