Wireless Network help

[tcr2]

Some help from the Tech bods please.
I am trying to set up a wireless network at home using a wireless router (TP-LINK). I have been able to get two laptops to access the internet through this wireless connection, but I also want to be able to print and share files over the same wireless connection.
For example, I wish to print from either laptop, via the wireless link, to the printer which is connected to the desktop through which the wi-fi originates. I also would like to share files between the desktop and both laptops. Make sense??
I did manage to achieve something similar a few years back (I know I should have written down how i achieved it!!) but have spent many frustrating hours trying to get this to work:ugh:
Any help/tech knowledge gratefully appreciated!

[green granite]

Try, control panel, devices and printers right click on the printer click on printer properties and set the sharing options, (that's for vista/windows7 ) It'll be similar for XP.

[bnt]

Not sure what you mean when you mean the the Wi-Fi originates through the desktop. Is the desktop connected to the router (whether wired or wireless)? For the machines to talk to each other, they all have to be on the same network i.e. connected to the common router.

This might be a good time for you to learn some basic IP networking, just so that you can verify that the machines can all talk to each other at the basic level. On each PC, open a Command Prompt (prob. under Accessories) and type the following:
ipconfig
It should return a couple of lines including an "IP Address" with 4 digits. The details from all the PCs should be nearly identical, with only the last digit (or two) of the IP address being different. To verify that one PC can see another PC, type:
ping <ip address>
using the IP address of the other machine.

(When someone asks you "can you see the other machine", this is the place to start. If ping doesn't work, nothing else will work, so you must fix the basic IP networking before worrying about any "high level" functions like file sharing or printing. It's as fundamental as the wings on a plane.)

If this all works out, then you should be able to go to "Network Neighbourhood" and see each machine from the others, but depending on the Windows version, you may need to enable File Sharing on one or more of them. Windows now has a "firewall" that makes machines invisible (as a security measure) and enabling File Sharing or Printer Sharing as required "opens it up" so you can see the other PC.

[x213a]

What operating system are you using? Are they all on the same one?

[hellsbrink]

shouldn't really matter, x213a, I had printer sharing happily working with a small network of Vista and XP with no issues whatsoever. Biggest problem was making sure firewalls would allow it to happen, iirc

[tcr2]

Thanks for the replies people.
bnt, the desktop is physically wired to the wireless router, the 2 laptops connect using wi-fi to this router.
I have tried the ping of ip addresses, and keep getting a 'request timed out' reply. Does the fact that I am able to use a wi-fi connection to access the internet through the desktop mean I have done something right?
My head hurts!:ugh:

[FullOppositeRudder]

What you are working towards sound very much the system I have here. It's certainly possible. Your wireless router should have come with either a quick start guide or a more extensive users manual - or both. If that's not the case, you should be able download them from the manufacturer's web site for that particular model. It's not easy to condense those instructions here without recounting almost everything that's in the manual itself, an some of them go to over 100 pages.

Setting up wireless routing to your laptops can be a bit challenging if you try and do everything at once. Get the router working for your desktop so it can connect to the internet (perhaps you've already passed that point) and then set up the wireless network using only one laptop to get the system going in the first instance. It may be easier if you do this initially without getting into the complications of wireless security - essential though it us; that must be invoked once the system is running.

It's a step by step process - one thing at a time - and there should be adequate guidance in the manual itself or from Google. The manual is your friend. Persist, hang in there, take a break from time to time if the going gets heavy, and it will all come together.

The sense of power when you finally are able to print to the master box printer from the laptop at the other end of the house is worth it :).

Good luck, let us know how you go....

Regards
F.O. Rudder