A new Win Me wizard streamlines the networking process, letting you create mixed-technology networks with ease.

Windows Millennium Edition isn't a magic bullet for home networking configuration, but it can be a big help. Windows Me's Home Networking Wizard simplifies setup for single-technology networks (such as Ethernet, HomePNA, or wireless networks) and offers some support for mixed-technology home networks.

Shared Internet access isn't the only reason to network home PCs, but it's an extremely compelling motivation, particularly for homes that have broadband Internet connections. Other great reasons for home networking include printer sharing, file sharing (including MP3 files), and multiplayer gaming.

Windows Me doesn't take care of all your home network setup tasks. You still must install network interface cards (NICs) -- at least one in each of the PCs that will be on your network. Windows Me recognises a wider selection of NICs than previous versions, though, so you might not have to install drivers from the card or adapter manufacturer. You can add new machines to your network or otherwise change the configuration at any time, and with very little hassle, by running the Home Networking Wizard.

Note that when you use Windows Me's Home Networking Wizard to configure a network and then enable the Internet Connection Sharing feature, you're not using a peer-to-peer network, in which all computers are equal. Instead, the PC on which you initially run the wizard (which must be operating under Windows Me) is considered the server, and the other PCs on the network (which can run Windows 95, 98, or 98 SE) are considered clients.

Mixed-Technology Networks
If you needed (or just wanted) more than one type of networking interface technology, you used to have to buy expensive bridges or other devices to enable the networks to work together. Windows Me solves part of that problem by letting you manage multiple networks nicely from a single PC (the one we'll call the server). You must install a separate NIC in the server for each networking technology, which adds to your expense, but at least it's possible. Limitations in earlier Windows versions often made installing even two nics in one PC difficult.

Windows Me doesn't restrict the number of network adapters that can be supported simultaneously. If you want to access the Internet via systems networked with two (and no more than two) technologies, you have to go beyond the Home Networking Wizard to Internet Explorer's Options screen, but that's still pretty simple.

Test Scenario
In most homes, networking requirements evolve as family needs and technologies change. We devised scenarios that represent three phases of network requirements in a busy household that wants to share one printer and employ a cable modem for shared Internet access. For the server, we used a Dell Dimension 4100 with Windows Me installed. That system connected to the Internet using an installed 3Com PCI NIC and a cable modem, with Internet service provided by Excite@Home. Before we installed any other network cards, we made sure the cable-modem Internet connection was working correctly.

Phase one in our household scenario involved linking two home PCs via cables in a wired Ethernet network. We used the 3Com HomeConnect Home Network Ethernet Kit, which consists of two USB nics and a five-port hub. We installed one of the NICs in the Windows Me server and the other in a second desktop PC (a Dell Dimension XPS B533R), and then we plugged both systems into the hub.

For phase two, we expanded the network to include a third PC (a Micron Millennia with a PIII/400 processor). The Micron system was not located near the other networked PCs, so we used HomePNA 2.0 technology with NetGear PhoneLine 10X PCI and USB nics in the server and in the new PC.

In phase three, we added a notebook (a Dell Inspiron 7000) to the home network. Because we wanted to roam around the house with the notebook, we chose the Intel Anypoint Wireless Home Network HomeRF-based kit (a PC Card NIC that goes in the notebook and a USB NIC that's installed in the Windows Me server).

When we were done (see Figure 1), we had four NICs running on the Windows Me server PC (one each for the cable modem, the Ethernet wired network, the HomePNA network, and the HomeRF wireless network) plus one in each of the other PCs. Only the server was running Windows Me; the other systems were running Windows 98 SE. We'll take you through the networking process step by step.

Phase One: Connecting two PCs via Ethernet

1. Set up and test your Internet connection. Before we first ran the Windows Me Home Networking Wizard on the server system, we made sure that the cable modem was working correctly. If you have not yet set up an Internet connection, do the following: From the Windows Me desktop, click on Start | Programs | Accessories | Communications | Internet Connection Wizard. Run the Windows Me Internet Connection Wizard (see Figure 2) to be sure that the Windows Me computer is configured properly and is connected to the Internet.

2. Install the NICs. Install the wired Ethernet cards in the server and in the other PC (for a two-PC network), following the manufacturer's instructions. Connect the two systems by plugging one end of a Category 5 (Cat 5) cable into the RJ-45 port on the NIC and the other end into a port on the network hub. Repeat for the second PC.

3. Run the Windows Me Home Networking Wizard on the server system. On the Windows Me server, click on the My Network Places icon on the desktop. Double-click on the Home Networking Wizard, then click Next.

4. Configure your network Internet connection. Confirm that your server will have the direct connection to the Internet, and select (in this case) the NIC to which the cable modem is connected (see Figure 3); then click Next.

Confirm that you want other computers on the network to share the Internet connection, and select the network-device NIC that connects your Windows Me PC to the home network. Click Next again.

5. Pick names for your network and for your PC. Each PC on your network must have a unique name, but all the PCs on your network must have the same workgroup name (see Figure 4). The wizard suggests using MSHOME as the workgroup name, which is fine; we use the more generic Workgroup as the workgroup name, which is what most users prefer. Click Next again.

6. Choose to share folders and printers. If you want to share folders and printers on your PC, this is the screen where you confirm it. Click Next, and you can choose to protect the shared folders. If you don't select password protection, you're prompted one more time to be sure you really want others on your network to be able to see your files. When you're done, click OK.

7. Create a setup disk for other PCs. If you'll be installing PCs running Windows 95 or Windows 98 on your network, you'll want to create a Home Networking Wizard setup disk on a blank floppy disk. When you run the setup program on this floppy disk, it installs the Home Networking Wizard on systems running earlier versions of the OS. Click Next again.

8. Finish by restarting your PC. When the wizard is complete, you are prompted to restart your PC.

9. Configure the second Ethernet PC. Because our second PC was running Windows 98 SE, we inserted the setup disk in drive A: and clicked on My Computer | A: | Setup to launch the Home Networking Wizard. The wizard's screens are identical to those seen on the first system. The difference with the second (and subsequent) PC using the same network technology as the server is that you tell the wizard that another computer is providing direct Internet access. On the naming screen, give the second PC a unique name, but use the workgroup name established on the Windows Me PC. You also indicate whether you want the second computer to share its folders and printers with other computers on the network. You skip the setup disk step (you've already done it), and then you're done. You are prompted to restart your PC.

10. Make sure everything's working. At this point, both of your PCs should be able to see each other's folders and share printers. On a Windows 95/98/98 SE PC, click on Network Neighborhood to verify that the Windows Me PC is recognised. On the Windows Me PC, click on My Network Places (on the Desktop), click on Entire Network, click on Search for Computers (see Figure 5), and the Windows 98 SE PC should be recognised. The acid test is to try to connect to the Internet on both PCs simultaneously. In our testing, this worked beautifully the first time out. Phase Two: Connect a Third PC using HomePNA

11. Install NICs. We started phase two by adding a NetGear Phoneline 10X home PCI NIC to our Windows Me PC. We then installed a NetGear Phoneline 10X home network USB adapter on the third PC. Because Windows Me recognises HomePNA adapters, we didn't have to run NetGear's setup software for the adapter card or the USB adapter. We did need to install the drivers for the USB adapter on the Windows 98 se system, though.

12. Plug the HomePNA NICs into a phone line. After the HomePNA nics were installed, we connected each to a phone jack using regular phone cables. Note that if you have more than one phone line in your home, you need to be sure to connect the HomePNA NICs to the same line. Also note that if the PCs are in the same room, you can plug them into the same phone jack using a splitter, or you can connect the two with one phone cable; either way, HomePNA will work fine.

13. Run the Home Networking Wizard on the new PC. We inserted the setup floppy disk from phase one and ran the Windows Me Home Networking Wizard on the HomePNA machine to configure the HomePNA connection. After we set up a HomePNA network between the Windows Me server system and the third PC, the server system was able to communicate with both the Ethernet subnetwork connecting it to the second PC and with the new PC connected by HomePNA. When we reran the wizard on the Windows Me system, we specified that the Internet connection should be shared with the network via the HomePNA adapter.

When we clicked on My Network Places on the Windows Me PC, the system recognised both the Ethernet and HomePNA systems, but the two systems did not recognise each other in their respective Network Neighborhoods.

It is possible, using IP addresses, to map the network drives on the systems even when they use different network technologies, but it can't be done via the Home Networking Wizard. You can combine technologies to share Internet access or to share printers installed on the Windows Me server PC via the wizard, but not to share files and folders or to access printers across networks. For example, a printer physically connected to an Ethernet machine cannot be used by a PC with a HomePNA connection.

14. Configure Internet Connection Sharing for multiple networks. Windows Me allows two network technologies to share Internet access via a Windows Me server, but you don't configure the setting in the Home Networking Wizard. To set it up, you launch Internet Explorer, click on Tools | Internet Options | Connections | Sharing, and then check the appropriate primary and secondary network adapters for accessing your mixed-technology home networks (see Figure 6).

Phase Three: Connect a Notebook

15. Install NICs. The last stage of our mixed-technology network configuration involved adding an Intel AnyPoint Wireless Home Network USB NIC to the Windows Me server and an AnyPoint Wireless Home Network PC card to a notebook PC. We did have to use the Intel drivers in order for the PCs to recognise the AnyPoint nics.

16. Run the Home Networking Wizard. We ran the Home Networking Wizard on the Windows Me server PC and on the notebook PC, with results that were similar to our experience in adding the HomePNA cards to the network. On the notebook PC, we were able to see both the server and the notebook when we clicked on Network Neighborhood from the Windows 98 desktop.

When we searched for Computers under My Network Places on the Windows Me server, we saw all the systems connected to the Windows Me computer (see Figure 7). As in phase two, however, the wizard was not able to configure shared Internet access for multiple networks (instead, we went back to the server, used the ie Sharing screen, and designated HomeRF as the secondary network connection). Sharing drives, folders, and files would require network drive mapping, a process that isn't terribly complex but is outside the point-and-click experience of the wizard.

In the End
The bottom line is that Windows Me offers two advances to home networking: a simple and transportable Home Networking Wizard and the ability to integrate multiple networking technologies on your home network.

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