FIGURE 5.11 The Status dialog box for a wireless network connection. ➔ For information about the Wireless Properties button in the Status dialog box for a wireless connection, see “Working with Wireless Connection Properties,” p. 163. 3. Click Details. Vista displays the Network Connection Details dialog box, shown in Figure 5.12. This dialog box tells you, among other things, your NIC’s MAC address (the Physical Address value), your computer’s IP address, and the addresses of your ISP’s DNS servers. 4. Click Close to return to the Status dialog box. 5. Click Close. 134 Networking with Microsoft ® Windows Vista ™ 5 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. FIGURE 5.12 The Network Connection Details dialog box displays your computer’s IP address, among other values. Customizing Your Network When you first open the Network Center, in most cases, you won’t have a profile set up for the network, so Vista configures the network with three default settings: ■ A default name, usually either Network or the SSID of the wireless network. ■ The network type, which depends on the network location you chose when you first connected to the net- work. ■ A default network icon, which depends on the network location you chose when you first connected to the network. (In the miniature network map shown in Figure 5.4, the default Home icon is the one shown above logophilia.) CHAPTER 5 Working with Vista’s Basic Network Tools and Tasks 135 5 Windows Vista sup- ports three types of network categories: private, pub- lic, and domain. Private networks are usually home or small office networks where you need to work with a few nearby comput- ers. To that end, Windows Vista turns on network discovery and file and printer sharing. Public networks are usually wireless hot spot connections in airports, cof- fee shops, hotels, and other pub- lic places. When you designate a network as public, Vista turns off network discovery and file and printer sharing. The domain cate- gory applies to networks that are part of a corporate domain. note Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. To change any of these defaults, follow these steps: 1. Open the Network and Sharing Center, as described earlier (see “Accessing the Network and Sharing Center”). 2. Click Customize to display the Customize Network Settings dialog box shown in Figure 5.13. 136 Networking with Microsoft ® Windows Vista ™ 5 FIGURE 5.13 In the Network and Sharing Center, click Customize to display this dialog box so that you can change the network name, type, and icon. 3. Type a name in the Network Name text box. 4. Select either Public or Private. (You see the Domain option only if you are connected to a network with a domain.) 5. To change the icon, click Change to open the Change Network Icon dia- log box, select an icon, and then click OK. 6. Click Next. Vista displays the User Account Control dialog box. The Change Network Icon dialog box initially shows you a small collection of icons from the %SystemRoot%\ system32\pnidui.dll file. To get a larger choice of icons, type any of the following pathnames into the Look for Icons in This File text box (and press Enter after you enter the pathname): %SystemRoot%\system32\ shell32.dll %SystemRoot%\system32\ pifmgr.dll %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe tip Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 7. Enter your UAC credentials. Vista applies the new network settings. 8. Click Close. Vista updates the Network and Sharing Center window with the new settings. From Here ■ To find out more information about the Network Connections window, see “Opening the Network Connections Window,” p. 140. ■ For information on the Wireless Properties button in the Status dialog box for a wireless connection, see “Working with Wireless Connection Properties,” p. 163. ■ To learn more about the Manage Wireless Networks window, see “Opening the Manage Wireless Networks Window,” p. 158. ■ To learn how to enable sharing, see “Activating File and Printer Sharing,” p. 185. ■ If you can’t connect to your wireless network successfully, see “Troubleshooting Wireless Network Problems,” p. 426. CHAPTER 5 Working with Vista’s Basic Network Tools and Tasks 137 5 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. This page intentionally left blank Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 6 CHAPTER IN THIS CHAPTER ■ Opening the Network Connections Window ■ Renaming a Network Connection ■ Enabling Automatic IP Addressing ■ Setting Up a Static IP Address ■ Finding a Connection’s MAC Address ■ Using a Network Connection to Wake Up a Sleeping Computer ■ Disabling a Network Connection ■ From Here Managing Network Connections I n Windows Vista, you can link to many different types of remote resources, including dial-up and broadband Inter- net services, dial-up and Internet-based virtual private networking (VPN), and the ethernet and wireless networking that are the subject of this book. In Vista, all of these remote links are called network connections, and Vista maintains a Network Connections window that lists all your network connections. Each network interface card (NIC) attached to your computer gets its own connection icon in the list, and you can use those icons to work with your network connec- tions. For example, you can rename a connection, disable an unused connection, switch a connection between using a dynamic and a static IP address, and find out a connection’s Internet Protocol (IP) and Media Access Control (MAC) addresses. You learn about these and other tasks in this chapter. For more information about wireless connections, see Chapter 7, “Managing Wireless Network Connections.” Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Opening the Network Connections Window You do most of your work in this chapter in Vista’s Network Connections win- dow, and Vista gives you two main ways to access this window: ■ In the Network and Sharing Center, click the Manage Network Connections link in the Tasks list. ■ Press Windows Logo+R (or select Start, All Programs, Accessories, Run) to open the Run dialog box, type control ncpa.cpl, and then click OK. Figure 6.1 shows an example of the Network Connections window. 140 Networking with Microsoft ® Windows Vista ™ 6 Wired connection Wireless connection Connection has a problem FIGURE 6.1 Windows Vista’s Network Connections window. By default, Vista groups the Network Connections window via the Type field. If you’ve previously created a direct broadband Internet connection, a dial-up Internet connection, or a connection to a VPN, you see groups named Broadband, Dial-up, and Virtual Private Network, respectively (as shown in Figure 6.1). However, you always see the LAN or High-Speed Internet group, which usually includes two types of icons: Wired These ethernet connections take the default name Local Area Connection, and you can recognize them by the RJ-45 jack shown with the icon. If you have more than one ethernet NIC installed in your computer, you see a wired connection icon for each one (with subsequent connections named Local Area Connection 2, and so on). Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Wireless These connections take the default name Wireless Network Connection, and you can recognize them by the green signal bars shown with the icon. When you’re in the default Tiles view, both wired and wireless icons show the name of the network to which they’re connected (or the icon shows Disconnected if no current connection is present) and the name of the NIC through which each connection is made. (Details view shows you more data such as the current connectivity setting—such as Access to Local Only or Access to Local and Internet—and the network category—Private, Public, or Domain.) If the network connection currently has a problem, you see a red X added to the icon (see Figure 6.1), and the connection’s Status field may dis- play an error message (such as Network cable unplugged). Renaming a Network Connection The default network connection names—Local Area Connection and Wireless Network Connection—don’t tell you much other than whether the connection is wired or wireless. Similarly, if your computer has two ethernet NICs, having connections named Local Area Connection and Local Area Connection 2 doesn’t give you much to go on if you need to differentiate between them. For these reasons, you might consider renaming your connections. For exam- ple, if you have Linksys and D-Link routers on your network, you could rename your connections as Linksys Connection and D-Link Connection. Here are the steps to follow: 1. Open the Network Connections window, as described earlier. 2. Click the icon of the network connection you want to rename. 3. Click Rename This Connection in the taskbar, or press F2. Vista adds a text box around the connection name. 4. Type the new name and press Enter. The Use Account Control dialog box appears. 5. Enter your User Account Control (UAC) credentials to continue. CHAPTER 6 Managing Network Connections 141 6 You use the same rules for naming net- work connections as you use for naming files. That is, the maxi- mum name length is about 255 characters, and you can include any letter, number, or symbol except the following: * | \ : “ < > / and ?. note Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Enabling Automatic IP Addressing Every computer on your network requires a unique designation so that packets can be routed to the correct location when infor- mation is transferred across the network. In a default Microsoft peer-to-peer network, the network protocol that handles these transfers is Transfer Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and the unique designation assigned to each computer is the IP address. By default, Windows Vista computers obtain their IP addresses via the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). In Chapter 3, “Configuring Your Router,” you learned how to turn on your router’s DHCP server, which the router uses to provide each network computer at logon with an IP address from a range of addresses. ➔ See “Enabling the DHCP Server,” p. 81. However, activating the router’s DHCP server is only the first step toward automating the assignment of IP addresses on your network. The second step is to make sure that each of your Vista machines is configured to accept auto- matic IP addressing. This feature is turned on by default in most Windows Vista installations, but it’s worth checking, just to be sure. Confirming That Windows Vista Is Configured for Dynamic IP Addressing Here are the steps to follow to check (and, if necessary, change) Vista’s auto- matic IP addressing setting: 1. Open the Network Connections window, as described earlier. 2. Select the connection you want to work with. 3. In the taskbar, click Change Settings of This Connection. The User Account Control dialog box appears. 4. Enter your UAC credentials to con- tinue. Vista display’s the connec- tion’s Properties dialog box. 5. In the Networking tab’s list of items, select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). 142 Networking with Microsoft ® Windows Vista ™ 6 The instructions in this section work for both wired and wireless connec- tions. note If you don’t see the Change Settings of This Connection command, either maximize the window or click the double arrow (>>) that appears on the right side of the task bar to display the com- mands that won’t fit. Note, too, that you can also right-click the connection and then click Prop- erties. tip Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 6. Click Properties to display the Properties dialog box for Internet Protocol Version 4. 7. Select the Obtain an IP Address Automatically option, as shown in Figure 6.2. CHAPTER 6 Managing Network Connections 143 6 FIGURE 6.2 Select the Obtain an IP Address Automatically option to configure Vista to accept the dynamic IP addresses assigned by your network’s router. 8. Select the Obtain DNS Server Address Automatically option. 9. Click OK to return to the connection’s Properties dialog box. 10. Click Close. 11. Repeat steps 2 through 10 for your other network connections. Displaying the Computer’s Current IP Address There may be times when you need to know the current IP address assigned to your Vista machine. For example, one networking troubleshooting process is to see whether you can contact a computer over the connection, a process known as pinging the computer (because you use Vista’s PING command). In some cases, you need to know the computer’s IP address for this method to work. ➔ For the details on using PING as a troubleshooting tool, see “Checking Connectivity with the PING Command,”p. 419. Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. [...]... watermark 7 166 Networking with Microsoft Windows Vista™ FIGURE 7.7 In the wireless network connection’s Properties dialog box, the Security tab enables you to configure a few security-related properties ➔ For more information about securing wireless networks with encryption, see “Encrypting Wireless Signals with WPA,” p 341 Renaming Wireless Connections By default, the local name that Windows Vista... select the network with the highest priority (that is, the network at the top of the list), you only see the Move Down command Similarly, if you select the network with the lowest priority (that is, the network at the bottom of the list), you only see the Move Up command Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 7 168 Networking with Microsoft Windows Vista™ Use these... addresses, as shown in the following (partial) example output (see the Physical Address value): Windows IP Configuration Host Name : OfficePC Primary Dns Suffix : Node Type : Hybrid Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 6 150 Networking with Microsoft Windows Vista™ IP Routing Enabled : No WINS Proxy Enabled : No Ethernet adapter... this watermark 158 Networking with Microsoft Windows Vista™ Opening the Manage Wireless Networks Window Most of the chores in this chapter take place in Vista’s Manage Wireless Networks window To get this window onscreen, open the Network and Sharing Center, and then click the Manage Wireless Networks link in the Tasks list Figure 7.1 shows the Manage Wireless Networks window with a couple of networks... computer’s Internet connection, click Turn on Internet Connection Sharing 8 Click Close Windows Vista adds the ad hoc network to your list of networks in the Manage Wireless Networks window, as shown in Figure 7.4 Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 7 162 Networking with Microsoft Windows Vista™ FIGURE 7.3 Use this dialog box to configure your ad hoc network’s name...144 Networking with Microsoft Windows Vista™ To find out the current IP address of the Windows Vista machine, use any of the following methods: ■ In the Network Connections window, click the network icon, click the taskbar’s View Status of This Connection... Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 6 148 Networking with Microsoft Windows Vista™ right-click the connection and then click Properties.) The User Account Control dialog box appears 4 Enter your UAC credentials to continue Vista display’s the connection’s Properties dialog box 5 In the Networking tab’s list of items, select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)... of the dialog box) tip You can combine steps 1 through 3 into a single step by selecting Start, Connect To Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 7 160 Networking with Microsoft Windows Vista™ FIGURE 7.2 Use this dialog box to specify the connection settings for the hidden wireless network 6 Provide the following connection data: Network Name The SSID of the hidden... idle time after which Vista automatically puts the computer to sleep (see Figure 6.6) Click Save Changes Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 6 152 Networking with Microsoft Windows Vista™ Sleep button Lock button FIGURE 6.5 Click the Sleep button to quickly shut down your computer and save your work 6 FIGURE 6.6 You can configure Vista to put the computer to... Managing Wireless Network Connections 163 FIGURE 7.5 The ad hoc network is available to computers that are within 30 feet of the original computer Working with Wireless Connection Properties When you connect to a wireless network, Windows Vista eases network management by doing two things: ■ If you tell Windows Vista to remember the network (by activating the Save This Network check box after the connection . Connections window. 140 Networking with Microsoft ® Windows Vista ™ 6 Wired connection Wireless connection Connection has a problem FIGURE 6.1 Windows Vista’s. dialog box. 5. In the Networking tab’s list of items, select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). 142 Networking with Microsoft ® Windows Vista ™ 6 The