A continuity from Cheap “Poor-man’s” Networking, if both computers have wireless capabilities, then a connection can be setup to connect them through the air. The
downside to this method is that wireless security such as WAP2, WAP, or WEP cannot be enabled as they are not supported under computer-to-computer direct networking. This type of wireless networking is also known as “Adhoc connection” (From wordweb.info, “ad hoc” means “for or concerned with one specific purpose”).

An assumption is made that you have already installed the wireless adapters or cards on the computers and they are working well. For the sake of simplicity, the two computers will be called DAD and MOM respectively.

ON “DAD“
1. Right-click “My Computer”, click “Properties”
2. Click “Computer Name” Tab
3. Click “Change”
4. A window should pop-up. Specify a name for the computer.
5. Click “Workgroup” and specify a name. (We will call the computer DAD and the workgroup HOME)
6. Click OK
7. Click OK in the computer properties windows.
(You may have to restart the computer. If you are prompted to, do so)

Configuring Wireless Adaptor
1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections Right-click on your wireless adaptor, click “Properties”
2. Click “Configurations”
3. The options available in the configurations will widely vary between wireless adaptors, but the main things that that you want to make sure are:

• The type of connection is set to Adhoc and not Infrastructure
• The security settings are off (It may be called “B/G Protection”, nevertheless, set this to “none” or “off”
• On some occasions, you may come across something that says “SSID” with a textbox corresponding to it. In this entry, you can specify a name for your network. Let’s just call it “Home” for now

4. After altering the configuration settings, click “OK” to save the changes, and click “OK” again in the wireless adaptor window to exit
5. Right-click again on your wireless adaptor, click “Properties”
6. Click the tab “Wireless Network”

(The “Wireless Network” tab is not visible on my computer!?)
It simply means that your wireless adaptor is currently being controlled by a third party software, and as such Windows is unable to take control of it. Here are some resolutions:

• Do the equivalent changes in the third-party software. Although the interface will be slightly different, the fundamental is still the same OR
• Disable third-party software, and let Windows regain control. Right-click on the icon of your wireless adaptor in the system tray (where your computer digital clock is located), click “Use Windows Zero Configuration”. In addition, just to make sure that Windows has really activated its control, go to Start > Run > type in “services.msc” (without quotation marks) and press “Enter” In the new Window, scroll down until you can see the entry “Windows Zero Configuration”. Double-click on it and make sure “Startup type” is set to “Automatic”.

7. Click “Add” under “Preferred Network”
8. In the new window, type in the same SSID key that you may have specified in step 3. Otherwise, let’s call it “Home” for now. Under “Network Authentication”, select the option “Open” in the dropdown menu. Having done that, select “Disabled” under “Data encryption”. Lastly, place a tick for the option “This is a computer-to-computer (ad hoc) network, wireless access points are not used”. The end result should look something like this. Click “OK” to save.
9. Click “OK” to exit the wireless adaptor window

Configuring IP
1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections
2. Right-click on your wireless adaptor and click “Properties”
3. Under the heading “This connection uses the following items”, click “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
4. Click “Properties”
5. A new window should pop up, click “Alternate Configuration”
6. Click “User configured” radio button
7. Here, you can specify the address. For computer DAD, specify the IP as 192.168.0.2, subnet mask as 255.255.255.0, Default gateway as 192.168.0.1. Under “Preferred DNS Server”, enter the value “208.67.222.222″. As for “Alternate DNS Server”, enter the value “208.67.220.220″. These values are sourced from OpenDNS, which will enable the computer to understand the numerical address details of a website
8. Click “OK”
9. Click “OK” under the LAN connection properties.
10. You are done for computer DAD

ON “MOM“
1. Right-click “My Computer”, click “Properties”
2. Click “Computer Name” Tab
3. Click “Change”
4. A window should pop-up. Specify a name for the computer.
5. Click “Workgroup” and specify a name. (We will call the computer MOM and the workgroup HOME)
6. Click OK
7. Click OK in the computer properties windows.
(You may have to restart the computer. If you are prompted to, do so)

Configuring Wireless Adaptor
1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections Right-click on your wireless adaptor, click “Properties”
2. Click “Configurations”
3. The options available in the configurations will widely vary between wireless adaptors, but the main things that that you want to make sure are:

• The type of connection is set to Adhoc and not Infrastructure
• The security settings are off (It may be called “B/G Protection”, nevertheless, set this to “none” or “off”
• On some occasions, you may come across something that says “SSID” with a textbox corresponding to it. In this entry, you can specify a name for your network. Let’s just call it “Home” for now

4. After altering the configuration settings, click “OK” to save the changes, and click “OK” again in the wireless adaptor window to exit
5. Right-click again on your wireless adaptor, click “Properties”
6. Click the tab “Wireless Network”

(The “Wireless Network” tab is not visible on my computer!?)
It simply means that your wireless adaptor is currently being controlled by a third party software, and as such Windows is unable to take control of it. Here are some resolutions:

• Do the equivalent changes in the third-party software. Although the interface will be slightly different, the fundamental is still the same OR
• Disable third-party software, and let Windows regain control. Right-click on the icon of your wireless adaptor in the system tray (where your computer digital clock is located), click “Use Windows Zero Configuration”. In addition, just to make sure that Windows has really activated its control, go to Start > Run > type in “services.msc” (without quotation marks) and press “Enter” In the new Window, scroll down until you can see the entry “Windows Zero Configuration”. Double-click on it and make sure “Startup type” is set to “Automatic”.

7. Click “Add” under “Preferred Network”
8. In the new window, type in the same SSID key that you may have specified in step 3. Otherwise, let’s call it “Home” for now. Under “Network Authentication”, select the option “Open” in the dropdown menu. Having done that, select “Disabled” under “Data encryption”. Lastly, place a tick for the option “This is a computer-to-computer (ad hoc) network, wireless access points are not used”. The end result should look something like this. Click “OK” to save.
9. Click “OK” to exit the wireless adaptor window

Configuring IP
1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections
2. Right-click on your wireless adaptor and click “Properties”
3. Under the heading “This connection uses the following items”, click “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
4. Click “Properties”
5. A new window should pop up, click “Alternate Configuration”
6. Click “User configured” radio button
7. Here, you can specify the address. For computer MOM, specify the IP as 192.168.0.1, subnet mask as 255.255.255.0, Default gateway as 192.168.0.2. Under “Preferred DNS Server”, enter the value “208.67.222.222″. As for “Alternate DNS Server”, enter the value “208.67.220.220″. These values are sourced from OpenDNS, which will enable the computer to understand the numerical address details of a website
8. Click “OK”
9. Click “OK” under the LAN connection properties.
10. You are done for computer MOM

Connecting the computers together
1. On either DAD or MOM, right-click the wireless adaptor icon displayed in the system tray (circled blue)
2. Click “View Available Wireless Network”
3. Double-click on the wireless computer-to-computer network “HOME” in the screen displayed
4. After both computers have acquired an IP address, you are done!

Internet Connection Sharing

1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections
2. Right-click on your LAN connection and click “Properties”
3. A new window should pop up, click the “Sharing” tab
4. Tick the checkbox that lies next to the statement “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection”
5. Select the crossover network in the network selections (this option may or may not appear on your computer)
6. Click “OK”

Checking IP configuration
1. Go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Network Connections
2. Right-click on your wireless adaptor and click “Properties”
3. Under the heading “This connection uses the following items”, click “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
4. Click “Properties”
5. A new window should pop up, click the radio button ” Obtain an IP address automatically”
6. Click “OK” to save

Printer Sharing

1. Go to Start > Printers and Faxes
2. Right-click on the desired printer, click “Sharing…”
3. Click the radio button “Share this printer” and specify a name in the textbox
4. Click “OK” to save

Keywords: Adhoc, Ad Hoc, Wireless Networking, Windows XP, Crossover Ethernet, Computer-to-computer networking, Direct networking, Easy networking, Mobile Ad-hoc connection, Wireless networking, WiFi networking, Mum and Dad networking, Home networking, Cheap networking.