Wirelessly sharing a printer without a network 2

[DayLaborer]

Here's my setup: I've got a laptop (WinXP) and a desktop (Win7) both connecting wirelessly to my neighbor's network (with permission). So the two computers cannot really "see" each other. The printer is physically plugged into to desktop (via USB). Is it possible to wirelessly share the printer with the laptop?

Thanks,
Eliezer

 

[vacunita]

Here's my setup: I've got a laptop (WinXP) and a desktop (Win7) both connecting wirelessly to my neighbor's network (with permission). So the two computers cannot really "see" each other.

Why would you think they can't?

The fact they connect to same 'network' means that they must be able to see each other. They may be in different 'work groups', but having the same IP configuration (from the same router) means they can access each other.

Assuming the same user and password combination exists on both computers. You can access them by using the network path of each.

Try something like \\computernameA in Windows Explorer.

If that works then you can share your printer by connecting it to one PC, and sharing it to the network. Note that your neighbor may be able to use it as well.



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Phil AKA Vacunita
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[tlcscousin]

If they can both surf the internet off the neighbors router then it should be possible to share the printer.XP by default uses a workgroup of MSHOME Windows 7 uses WORKGROUP.
You will need both computers in the same workgroup.
On windows 7
Control Panel
System and Security
System
Advanced system settings
Computer Name tab
Change
workgroup name
On XP its almost the same path minus the advanced system settings.
This link shows how to setup the share.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/share-files-and-printers-between-windows-7-and-xp/

 

[vacunita]

Forgot to mention, you'll have to set the Network as a trusted Network on the Win7 machine. And make sure that both firewalls allow traffic from it.

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Phil AKA Vacunita
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[DayLaborer]

Excellent! Does doing the steps you provided (especially the the "trusted network" setting) increase any security risks of "opening up" my computers to wireless intruders? If not, would I be adding additional risk if I went one step further and shared a folder between the two computers - to facilitate sharing files?

Thanks so much!
Eliezer

 

[vacunita]

Yes, Having the Network Trusted means it allows more traffic because into the PC from the network not the entire Internet. If anyone were to hijack your neighbors wireless they could likely access your files.

Does the Wireless Network have WEP or WPA key protection?
You should be safer if it has one of those. Which it should otherwise your neighbor is just providing free internet access to anyone who may be nearby.






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Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[DayLaborer]

Yes, it has a WEP/WPA - can't remember which offhand...

Is there a way to limit the "trustworthiness" of the network instead of opening my computers way open? Like just to allow that printer to be shared, etc.?

 

[vacunita]

You can password protect it. That is set it up so that only a specific user with a specific password can access the shared folder and the printer.





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Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[DayLaborer]

Password protect the printer (or the network)? How? And does that mean that every time I want to print a document on either laptop or desktop, I'll have to login with my Windows credentials?

 

[vacunita]

Password Protect the Printer and the Folders you wish to share.

http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1350955&seqNum=3

As long the User you give permissions to there exist on the other computer it will be able to Print.

No login or anything it will just automatically authenticate.

While anybody without the user and password will not be able to.

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Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[DayLaborer]

Hang on a second... Locking down my printer (and perhaps a small shared folder) with NTFS permissions will only keep local WiFi intuders from printing their recipies on my home printer. If I designate my neighbor's wireless network as "trusted", doesn't that mean that only my printer is locked-down, but my entire harddrive is wide open?!

Would I then need to apply "allow" permissions on the root of both my harddrives for these users:
[tt] \\MyDesktopComputer\Everyone[/tt]
and
[tt] \\MyLaptopComputer\Everyone[/tt]
Is there a way to even do that? Also, if I do that, will that grant my little kid (\\MyDesktopComputer\Troublemaker) full read/write access to all my system files, etc.?

I really like the idea of sharing the printer, but not at the expense of putting my entire harddrive at risk of internal (kids) and external (snoops) threats...

Kindly advise... Thanks so much!
Eliezer

 

[vacunita]

Not unless you share your entire Hard Drive. If you just share folder and the printer, the rest of the HD it is not directly accessible to the network.

There are of course ways to get access to the hard drive, but that is true whether or not you share anything.

If you are that concerned, perhaps getting your own wireless Network that you know nobody else can connect to but you, would be a better choice.

Other than that, its standard network security. You share what you want to give access to. Setting permissions just limits the users that can use them. Doesn't mean anything else is immediately open to everybody else.





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Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[DayLaborer]

Excellent! One last question (I think )...
Is there a way to grant NTFS permissions to something like these two "groups" - so I don't have to specify each login on my two computers?
\\MyDesktopComputer\Everyone
and
\\MyLaptopComputer\Everyone

Thanks so much, Phil, for all of your valuable help!
Eliezer

 

[vacunita]

Yes, but Everyone is Everyone so anybody that means anybody that connects to the network can access the shared resources, which I thought you where trying to prevent.



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Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[DayLaborer]

You're correct. What I am asking is if it's possible to grant access to "all authenticated users of COMPUTER-X" - which, of course, would exclude the nosy WiFi sniffing dude. Like "\\MyDesktopComputer\ALL USERS", etc.

 

[vacunita]

Oh I see, in that case you want the Authenticated Users group.

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Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[DayLaborer]

Can you reference a group such as:
\\TheOtherComputer\Authenticated Users
i.e. "all authenticated users of some-other PC"?

Again, thanks for all of your help!
Eliezer

 

[vacunita]

Not unless you have a domain. That's why I said you needed to have a user that mirrors the user on the other PC.

It doesn't really need to have loaded a profile or anything, just use the icon for User in control panel to create the user from your other computer. It can be a limited account if you want to.

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Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[DayLaborer]

Well, I tried accessing one computer from another (desktop <-> laptop) like this:
\\MyDesktop
without setting the network to be "trusted" - I changed no settings - and was surprised that I was able to pull up the "Shared Documents" folder. I understand the fact that it's "shared" means that NTFS won't be a roadblock. But what does that say about the "trustedness" of the network? I didn't actively declare the network to be trusted...

Thanks,
Eliezer