Save $100 or More on Home Networking with this Simple Tutorial

A decent print server will run you between $40 and $180. If you decided to replace your printer with a wireless one, you’re looking at about $100. An external hard drive can run between $80 and $150. By using your old Windows PC, you get the capability of these kinds of expensive hardware for free. This tutorial assumes you have a wireless router in your home and high speed Internet. 

Home networking can make your life easier by connecting all computers in your home. All you need is an old computer running Windows 98 or better. That same computer can become an external hard drive for storing photos or other documents you wish to share between household members. If you already have an external hard drive, the PC can act as a server giving everyone access to the information there. If you don't have a wireless router but plan to buy one, make sure it has a USB port for your printer so that it can be a print server too.

Windows makes home networking easy with wizards included in the software. If the PC only has a 2G hard drive, you may want to use it just to help you share information on an external hard drive and to share a printer. If your PC has 10 GB or more, it may be suitable as a shared hard drive too. Most PCs running Windows 98 or better have this much hard drive space.

Connect the Router and Internet

First, run a network cable from one of the outgoing router ports to the PC’s network slot. Click “Start,” “Control Panel.” If you are running a newer version of XP, select “Classic View” on the control panel to follow this tutorial. Now select “Network Connections.” Select “Set up a home or small office network” on the left side of the window. 

Run the wizard, selecting “This computer connects to the Internet through a residential gateway or through another computer on my network.” Name your computer and give the work group a name. You can just choose the default names offered in the wizard if you wish. Select “Turn on file and printer sharing.” The wizard does the rest. Choose “Finish” and restart your computer when prompted.

Set Up the Network

Run the network setup wizard on each of your computers that will access the hard drive on your PC. If you have an external hard drive, make sure it is connected and installed on your PC. Then go to “My Computer” and right click on the external hard drive. Select “Sharing and security…” Turn on sharing by selecting the checkbox next to “Share this folder on the network.” Windows firewall should protect your network from unauthorized access. Just in case, you might want to leave “Allow network users to change my files” unchecked so that the data is essentially “read only” except when accessed from the PC. Click “Apply.”

Share Your Printer

Next, make sure the printer is connected to your PC, installed and functioning properly. From the Control Panel, select “Printers and Faxes.” Find your printer, right click and select “Sharing.” Be sure “Share this printer” is selected and give the printer a name. Click “OK.” Now just go to the other network computers and select “Add a printer” from the Printers and Faxes window. Follow the wizard selecting the network printer option. Browse under the network name you provided and select the printer you are sharing. Set it as the default printer and click “Finish.”

You should now be able to print from any wireless computer in the house as long as the PC is powered on. You will also be able to access on your hard drive photos anywhere in the house.  This simple solution can make life easier for everyone, saving countless trips and time connecting to the printer. If you run into trouble, leave a message on our forum board and I'll help you trouble shoot it.

Jessica Bosari is the site editor and content manager for savingtools.com, but she's also a copywriter with her own blog. Feel free to check out her sites.