Once the actual hardware connections are in place, the next step in
installing your LAN is configuring your computers to talk to each other. We
will discuss how to do this process in Windows.
To begin, you must open your Control Panel. Once in the Control Panel, you
want to go to Networking Options (Or Network and Internet Connections). Click
on the Set up or change Home or Office Network, and this will open up a wizard
that allows you to configure your new LAN.
When you go to configure your LAN, you must make sure that all computers you
are attempting to connect are on, and that if you are going to share an
internet connection that this connection is active.
The wizard will then automatically check your network both for computers on
the network and for the shared internet connection. You will have to choose a
host computer from which the internet connection is to be shared (the computer
that the internet connection is plugged into). The host computer should be the
computer that you first configure for the LAN.
After that, the wizard will direct you through any other processes that
might be required. This is very rapid and straightforward. Afterwards you must
log onto the other computers and configure the LAN there as well.
Once you have finished the configurations, you are ready to start using your
LAN!