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General discussion

connecting to a networked machine

Mar 5, 2004 12:23AM PST

Hello
My work PC runs W98SE and is on the company's LAN. I would like to be able to bring my laptop from home (XP Pro) and somehow connect it to the PC so I can use the internet connection and print from the laptop to the network printer. Should I get an actual network hub and feed the work LAN cable into it. Or can I directly connect both machines? Remote desktop will let me use the laptop from the PC, but will not be able to access work printer from the laptop.
Thanks
Kevin

Discussion is locked

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Re:connecting to a networked machine
Mar 5, 2004 3:35AM PST

The question may be..not can but will your company allow it. Talk to the IT dept.

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Re:Re:connecting to a networked machine
Mar 5, 2004 3:59AM PST

I am talking to my IT people. I'm also interested in learning about the technical feasibility of what I'm trying to accomplish. Can you network with a networked machine?

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Re:Re:Re:connecting to a networked machine
Mar 5, 2004 4:05AM PST

"Can you network with a networked machine?"

I can, but I usually have to make a plan. Yours is very unclear but I'll note what information sites contain almost all you need to know to accomplish your task.

http://www.wown.com
http://www.practicallynetworked.com
http://www.linksys.com

Some items will be "this will never work" items like trying to re-share a network drive or printer from a Windows 98 machine. Its best if you have an older OS to just tell you no.

Bob

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Re:Re:connecting to a networked machine
Mar 5, 2004 7:47AM PST

I am talking to my IT people. I'm also interested in learning about the technical feasibility of what I'm trying to accomplish. Can you network with a networked machine?

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Re:Re:Re:connecting to a networked machine
Mar 6, 2004 1:21AM PST

I do this type of thing all the time for clients. You can just get a hub and plug in and "probably" get access to the internet that way. Depends on the size of the company, whether they use a proxy server, how much security they have installed. The bigger the company the less likely you are to be able to get this to work. In smaller companies they usually have a router with a DHCP server that will assign you an IP and allow you to access the internet.

If you are connected to a Domain controller (server) rather than a Workgroup server then you will not be able to access files on your desktop directly. You would need to either be made part of the domain, or you would need to use software like PC Anywhere to connect to the system and then could use File transfer once that is done.

So...the answer to this question really depends on what the IT people at your office have configured. If they have IT people at all it usually means you can't just come in and do what you ask, without their direct help.