Manually Configuring Your Network

When it first detects your network card, Windows will install most of the necessary network software components automatically. This can occur during the initial installation of Windows XP or when you later add a network card. I suggest that you go through the installed components, as I'll describe below, to be sure that everything is set up correctly.

Adding Network Clients, Services, and Protocols

When your network card and its drivers are installed, Windows knows the card is there but doesn't have any networking software attached to it. Follow these steps to attach the networking protocols and services you'll need.

Choose Start, Control Panel, Network and Internet Connections, and then Network Connections. Double-click Local Area Connection and select Properties. You should see a Properties dialog with your network card named at the top under Connect Using. The list below Components Checked Are Used By This Connection will probably contain at least four items, as shown in Figure 16.21:

• Client for Microsoft Networks

• File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks

• QoS Packet Scheduler

• Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

Figure 16.21. Default network components installed with Windows XP.

These components will suffice for most home or office LANs:

• Client for Microsoft Networks lets your computer use files and printers shared by other computers.

• File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks lets your computer share files or printers with others. (If you definitely don't need to share files or printers from this computer, you can uncheck this itemthis will help protect your computer from unwanted visitors.)

• QoS Packet Scheduler is used on some networks to assign varying priorities for different type of network traffic. (It's not necessary for small networks but it doesn't hurt to leave it in.)

• Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is the basic network protocol used for all Internet services, and usually for Microsoft file and printer sharing as well.

There are some additional components required in certain situations:

• If you use Novell NetWare servers, you must add the Client Service for NetWare and the NWLink IPX/SPX protocol, or their Novell-supplied equivalents. For more information on Novell networking, see Chapter 20, "Networking Mix and Match."

• The Network Monitor Driver protocol allows your computer's network communications to be monitored by a network supervisor, for diagnostic purposes. Install this only if requested by your network administrator.

• The Service Advertising Protocol service is used on Novell networks; your network administrator will tell you if you need to install it.

• Microsoft TCP/IP version 6 provides support for IPV6, the "Next Generation Internet" protocol that is beginning to be used on large corporate and university networks.

If you need to add any of these components, or if any were inadvertently removed, use this procedure to add them:

1.	Click Install. From the list shown in the Select Network Component Type dialog box choose Client, Service, or Protocol, and then click Add. (You might need to search through the list of components under each of these three categories to find the component you're after.)
2.	From the list of Network Clients, Services or Protocols, select the desired entry and click OK.

TIP

If Windows asks whether it can restart, select Yes. For previous versions of Windows, I would have suggested selecting No because you would face further restarts as you added other network components. With Windows XP, you're rarely asked to restart more than once, so you might as well get it over with right away.

In addition to these standard components, there are some advanced components available through Windows Setup. These include

• Simple Network Management Protocol

• WMI SNMP Provider

• Internet Gateway Device Discovery and Control Client

• Peer-To-Peer (distributed application support)

• RIP Listener

• Simple TCP/IP Services

• UPnP User Interface

• Print Services for UNIX

These services are discussed in much more detail in Chapter 20; p. 807.

In general, you'll need these only if your network is large and your network manager tells you that they are required, or if you have an Internet connection sharing router that supports Universal Plug and Play. (We'll discuss this in more detail in Chapter 19.) It's best not to install any components unless you're sure you need them. If any are required on your network

1.	View the Network Connections window and select Advanced, Optional Networking Components.
2.	Select the appropriate category (for example, Networking Services) and click Details.
3.	Check the box(es) next to the desired component(s) and click OK.
4.	Click Next to complete the installation. Windows may require you to insert your Windows CD-ROM.

Configuring Network Components

After adding or checking your network components, you may need to configure them with appropriate network settings.

You need to make configuration settings for only two protocols: NWLink IPX/SPX Compatible Transport and TCP/IP. To configure a protocol, select it from the list of installed network components and click Properties.

NWLink IPX/SPX Compatible Transport

Even if you use a Novell Network server, it is very unlikely that you will need to configure the Novell settings. The Properties page for the NWLink transport has only three settings and the default values should always work. The settings are

• Internal Network Number. This must be unique on the network. Windows assigns a random number that will usually work.

• Frame type. If you cannot reach the Novell server but other network services function correctly, you may need to manually set the frame type (usually Ethernet 802.2).

• Network Number. The system will detect the correct Novell network number if the value entered is 0; otherwise enter the appropriate network number.

TCP/IP

Normally, the TCP/IP protocol is the only one requiring manual configuration. If your network provides a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server, you can leave the TCP/IP parameters on their default Obtain Automatically setting. DHCP service is provided by most Internet routers, connection sharing devices, and Windows computers providing Internet Connection Sharing.

If you have a small network with no DHCP server and you're not using Internet Connection Sharing or a hardware connection sharing device, you can still leave the TCP/IP settings alone and Windows will choose appropriate automatic-configuration values.

TIP

As I discuss in the sidebar, if computers are set up for automatic (dynamic) addressing but no DHCP server is found on the network, Windows uses Automatic Private IP Addressing to make the network operational. You can force Windows to use static addressing as its fallback option on the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties Alternate Configuration tab. This is helpful if you carry your computer between networks that have DHCP and one that doesn't. On the Alternate Configuration tab, you can set up static addressing for, for example, your home network, and still leave Windows set up to try dynamic addressing first, so it will also work on your office network.

If your computer is part of a network with predetermined IP addresses (such as a corporate LAN or a LAN with routed Internet service), you may have to manually enter IP information. You'll need the following information from your network manager or your Internet service provider:

• IP address

• Subnet mask

• Default gateway

• DNS domain name

• Preferred DNS servers

Automatic Configuration Without DHCP

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, or DHCP, is a network service that lets computers receive their TCP/IP configuration automatically over the network. It's great because a network administrator can make all the settings once in a DHCP server configuration program and not have to deal with managing individual setups for tens, hundreds, or even thousands of computers. DHCP service can be provided by Windows XP, 200x and NT Server, UNIX servers, and many network and Internet gateway routers. Computers running Windows Internet Connection Sharing also provide DHCP service for their LAN.

If a computer is set for automatic configuration, it broadcasts a message on the LAN when it boots, basically saying "Help! Who am I?" The LAN's DHCP server responds, assigns an IP address to the computer, and sends other information such as DNS server addresses, the domain name, and so on.

What's interesting is that a Windows TCP/IP network will still work even without a DHCP server.

Here's what happens: When each computer on the LAN is booted up, during its startup, it cries "Help!" as usual. But this time, there's no answer. The computer repeats the request a couple of times, to no avail. So, it picks an IP address at random from the range 169.254.0.1 through 169.254.0.254. (These addresses were reserved by Microsoft for this purpose and will never conflict with other computers on the Internet.) The computer sends a broadcast to the LAN asking whether any other computer is using this address. If none answers, then the computer continues on its merry way. If the address is already in use, the computer tries others until it finds one that is unclaimed. This scheme is called Automatic Private IP addressing (APIPA).

Each computer on the LAN is able to obtain an IP address this way, but doesn't get network gateways, domain names, or DNS server information. But because this system is only for the simplest of LANs with no server and no permanent outside connections, that's fine. The other information comes if and when these computers dial out to the Internet independently.

Just to be on the safe side, each computer bleats its "Help!" request every five minutes in the hope that there really was a DHCP server that had just been temporarily indisposed. If a DHCP server actually does come online later (perhaps the server computer had been turned off while the others booted up), then the Windows computers discard their made-up IP configurations for the real thing. This makes the network "self-healing," but at a cost: The continual checks for a DHCP server can slow Windows down significantly.

When Internet Connection Sharing is in use, the picture is a little different. The sharing computer actually acts as a DHCP server because it has to give the others its own IP address as the gateway and DNS server address for the LAN. This topic is covered in Chapter 19, "Connecting Your LAN to the Internet."

If you are setting up a shared LAN connection to the Internet, see Chapter 19 for a discussion of TCP/IP configuration.

If you have to join your computer to an existing TCP/IP network, you might have to do a little more work. Contact the network manager to obtain instructions for assigning the TCP/IP parameters. If your network has a DHCP server, or if your other computers are already set up for automatic configuration, you can leave the TCP/IP settings on Automatic, and your computer will obtain all its network settings from the DHCP server. (This is so slick!)

Otherwise, your network manager will give you the required settings for the five parameters listed above.

To configure settings for the TCP/IP protocol, follow these steps:

1.	In Local Area Connection Properties, select the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and click Properties to open the dialog shown in Figure 16.22. Figure 16.22. To configure TCP/IP parameters, select Internet Protocol and click Properties.
2.	Select Use the Following IP Address, and enter the required IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway address, as shown in Figure 16.22. Of course, you need to enter your IP address information. TIP When you're entering IP addresses, if you enter three digits, the cursor moves to the next part of the address field automatically. If you enter one or two digits, press the period (.) or spacebar to move to the next address field.
3.	Select Use the Following DNS Server Addresses and enter one or two DNS server addresses.
4.	If your LAN is not connected to the Internet, you're finished, so just click OK. Otherwise, if your LAN has access to the Internet via a direct connection or Connection Sharing, click the Advanced button, and select the DNS tab, as shown in Figure 16.23. Figure 16.23. You can enter your LAN's registered Internet domain name here, if you have a permanent connection on your LAN.
5.	Be sure that Append Primary and Connection Specific DNS Suffixes is selected and that Append Parent Suffixes of the Primary DNS Suffix is not checked.
6.	Under DNS Suffix for This Connection, enter your company's registered domain name, or use your Internet provider's domain. This setting is used only if you use a computer name without a domain name in your Web browser, so it's not terribly important. But this setting is helpful, for example, if you want to refer to your mail server as mail rather than mail.myisp.com. (In a corporate environment, this technique often can be used to automatically reach the nearest mail server on the local connection's domain.)
7.	Click OK when you've made all of the required entries.

The other TCP/IP parameters are used only on larger corporate networks, and when they're appropriate, the network manager will take care of the settings for youin fact, you probably won't be able to change or even view them.

Setting Your Computer Identification

After you've configured your network, the next step is to make sure that each of the computers on your network is a member of the same domain or workgroup.

If you are part of a Windows domain-type network, your system administrator will give you the information you need to set your computer identification.

NOTE

Your domain administrator must know about your new computer in advance and must create a computer account for it before you try to add your computer to the domain. Just like you have a username and password, so does your computer. Refer to Chapter 3, "Installing Windows XP Professional," for more details.

If you are setting up your own network of Windows computers without Windows 200x Server, click Start, right-click My Computer, and select Properties. On the Properties dialog, click the Computer Name tab. Check each of the Windows computers on your network. Do they each have a different full computer name and the same workgroup name? If so, you're all set. If not, click the Network ID button, and prepare to answer the wizard's questions.

Click Next on the wizard's first screen, and you are asked to select the option that best describes your computer:

• This computer is part of a business network, and I use it to connect to other computers at work.

• This computer is for home use and is not part of a business network.

Which one you choose makes a significant difference. If you chose the "Home Use" option, the wizard sets up your computer for peer-to-peer networking with the workgroup name "WORKGROUP," and finishes.

NOTE

If you use the Home Use option, be sure that all of your computers are set up the same way, with workgroup name WORKGROUP. Otherwise you'll have trouble working with the other computers on your network.

If you choose the "business" route, Windows configures your computer for a higher standard of security than it will for home use. This choice is described in Chapter 3.

The wizard next asks you to choose from one of the following responses:

• My company uses a network with a domain.

• My company uses a network without a domain.

If you are joining an existing network with a Windows 200x Server, check With a Domain, but you should consult your network manager first.

Otherwise, if you are building your own network as described in this chapter, select "Without a Domain" and click Next.

The last question asks for a name for the network workgroup. Enter a cute name for your network (using only letters and numbers), such as ACCOUNTING or HOCKEYTOWN, or leave the default setting WORKGROUP in place.

Click Next and then click Finish to complete the setup. You need to let Windows restart your computer if you changed the Workgroup setting.

CAUTION

You must be sure that every computer on your network uses the same workgroup name if you want them to be able to share files and printers. Be especially careful if you have a mixture of Windows XP Home Edition and XP Professional computers on your network, as the default workgroup names are different for these products.