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Laptop WiFi Configuration??

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by labrat 1 view

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Purchased a laptop with builtin WiFi running XP Pro. The laptop uses 802.11b. Setup fine at work for our internal wired network using TCP/IP Ethernet. Having problems at home because my home network has different TCP/IP, domain, and user logins. Now I am going on a business trip and my boss has booked me into a hotel with a WiFi hotspot which he expects me to use to VPN to the office. I can't get the thing to work at my house where I control the network and I don't know what the setup should be for a public hotspot! Please help! Is there a way to setup so that I don't have to completely reset network parameters between work and home? And what are the settings for public networks? Here's some info:

Work:
TCP/IP = 10.1.1.X 255.255.0.0
Domain = Millstore

Home:
TCP/IP = 192.168.2.X 255.255.255.0
Workgroup = ACMELab

Public:
TCP/IP = ???
Domain/Worgroup ???

10 replies

by mainprized

If you go into the control pannel and select "System" then "Harware" tab and "Hardware Profiles" if the laptop is setup for work create a new profile for home. Change the settings to reflect the home setup. You will be prompted at boot up for which network you wish to start in. The hotel will give you their details which you can save as another profile. The public hotspot settings I have no experience of but this web site may help www.hotspot-locations.com.

by labrat

Thanks for your answer. Seperate hardware profiles might work but it wasn't how I solved my problem--see accepted answer for my solution.

by carlos.nino

You can create a new VPN connection with the "Create New Connection Wizard" in My Network Places.
I think the simplest way to have both your work and home networks configures would be to add a 2nd network card.

by labrat

Thanks for your answer. Seperate hardware might work but it wasn't how I solved my problem--see accepted answer for my solution. Actually, I think the laptop has 2 builtin NICs--1 for a wired connection and then the wireless that just picks up if a network is available.

by curacao_dejavu

answer #1 is correct mentioning that you need to use hardware profile. He missed pointing out that you need a different nic's for each location.

the way it works is , you will enable 1 nic, and disble the other (s) for each specific location.
so when choosing the hardware profile home, you will automatically have the correct nic and info for your home connection.

Success

Leopold

by labrat

Thanks for your answer. Seperate hardware profiles might work but it wasn't how I solved my problem--see accepted answer for my solution. Actually, I think the laptop has 2 builtin NICs--1 for a wired connection and then the wireless that just picks up if a network is available.

by joseph moore

Ok, you need some IP addressing help here to do this easily. Go here:

www.netswitcher.com

And get a copy of Netswitcher. Changing the IP address from one network to another is easy with Netswitcher. It will let you build IP profiles, for each location. So, you could build a Work profile with the work IP settings (IP address, subnet mask, gateway, DNS, WINS), and a Home profile (192.160.2.x), and even a Public profile, that uses DHCP.
Then when you take your laptop to any of the places, you turn it on, log in, and select the appropriate preconfigured location, and enable it. Netswitcher then makes all of the IP changes for the location.

It makes it real easy flipping between locations like this.

Now, 2 things. First, the Domain/Workgroup thing will NOT be regulated by Netswitcher. That is a Windows OS function, not just an IP addressing change. The good thing is you do NOT need to change your Domain membership when you go home and plug into your Workgroup. You can write a BAT file that will MANUALLY authenticate to all Workgroup devices you have. That is how I do it. My laptop is part of the work Windows Domain. Then when I go home and need to map a drive to my home computer, I have a BAT file that manually authenticates to my home computer. IT is also easy. I won't go into the syntax of it here. Send me a message via the Peer Directory, and we can talk about it.

by joseph moore

Lastly, the public WiFi hotspot connection. You may NOT be able to VPN through a public hotspot, if the hotspot does not have a 1-to-1 NAT enabled. It really depends on how they are set up. You will just have to see.
You will be able to get on the Internet from the hotspot, but not necessarily set up the VPN.
Plus, there is no Windows domain/workgroup issues to deal with at the public hotspot, so don't worry about that aspect.

hope this helps

by labrat

Thanks for your answer. DUH! Changed settings to get IP from DHCP server at both home and work! Thanks for that little addin. (As Dorothy asked the Scarecrow, "What would you do if you had a brain?" I was making the problem much harder than it really was. I looked at Netswitcher and think it sounds like a great utility but DHCP does what I need for the IP part of the problem.

Now, I do need info on your BAT file. I'll contact you thru Peer Directory. Thanks again!

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