In this section we will see how to configure the wireless router and the computers in the network, establish the network and test the connection. The next step will be to connect the router to the internet and share the connection. Finally we will learn how to share files and printers in the local network. The examples that will be shown here will be based on the Linksys WRT54G wireless router. Using other wireless routers, such as D-Link, Netgear, Microsoft, Buffalo and others should be very similar. You can always check the documentation that came with your equipment if in doubt.

The wireless router doesn't have a screen and a keyboard, so you can't configure the router just by looking and touching it... We need to use one of the computers to temporarily connect to the router with a network cable in order to configure it and enable secure wireless connections to it. Don't panic, it is very straight forward, however we are going to check that nothing on your computers is misconfigured so things will work for us smoothly.

Since you'll be temporarily disconnected from the Internet, print or save this manual before you go any further.

Checking your computer's networking configuration

In this section we are just going to verify that your computers are configured for automatically IP and DNS assignment. You should do this with all the PCs you are going to connect to the network. If you havn't tampered with these settings they should be already set right.

Reboot the computer. You need to log-in with administrator privileges (supper user), which if you have a default Win XP installation, you will.

• Click Start, and then click Control Panel (sometimes located under the Settings submenu).
• Click Network and Internet Connections / Network Connections.

In the Network Connections window you will see a list of all the installed network cards (wired, wireless, 1394-fire-wire, etc.) and network/internet connections (e.g. VPN or dialup) available on the computer. One of the connections will have the name: "Local Area Connection". This one that should be used to access your network card settings. If you see few connections with this name ("Local Area Connection"), you should select the one which is described as a network card, Ethernet adapter, NIC or similar, in the Device Name column. Don't select any one being described as VPN, dialup, modem or alike.

• Right-click the proper connection and click properties. You will see a window like this:

• Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties. Make sure that the TCP/IP settings are as shown in the following figure:

Follow these steps for every computer (desktop or mobile) that you wish to connect to the router. For wireless adapters the name of the connection will be "Wireless Network Connection" instead of "Local Area Connection".