Oops, I'm very dumb. Both wireless adapters are internal, and I didn't know that they had to be turned on with a super secret On button.
But the good news is that not only is the connection up and running, but the whole file sharing thing works like a charm! ![]()
So thank you all for your silent thoughts and prayers that got me through this rather stresslessly - I'm certainly a much smarter man for all the reading I've done, and I hereby proclaim myself Apprentice of Ad Hoc Networking (level 20). Ok, less gin and more bed...
My apologies if this has been posted twice...
So, I have two notebook PC's, each with WinXP and an 802.11g wireless card. My mission: to set up an ad hoc network between the two (no access points or routers or Internet at all!) so that I can simply share or access files between the two.
I've read tons of guides regarding ad hoc networks, and most seem to say roughly the same thing. First, set the computer to access "Computer-to-computer (ad hoc) networks only". Then, under Preferred Networks, add a new one, and choose a good SSID (I chose adhoc1, clever huh?). Then just make sure that the other computer has the same settings and I should have an extremely basic ad hoc network, but it doesn't work.
Neither computer is able to see adhoc1, let alone connect to it. I've tried a few different things, like making sure they both have the same workgroup name, and I've tried various WEP settings (get key automatically, set key myself, disable WEP), but that doesn't do much. And I've tried giving each an IP address manually (192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2, with appropriate subnet masks), but it's no better than "Obtain An IP Automatically."
Am I making an obvious mistake? Is something wrong with my process? If anyone has any answers, advice, or useful resources, it would be very much appreciated - thanks!

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