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[badger]

I have a desktop PC running WXP. I have just purchased a laptop running W7. A friend has given me a Belkin wireless router. I would like to make the laptop wireless so I can use it around the house. A friend tells me that I will first have to make the desktop wireless (because this is the machine connected to the modem), then later switch that back to ethernet before connecting the laptop to the wireless setup. I don't want or need the desktop to be wireless.I tried unsuccesfully a few days ago to get the desktop wireless but could not get that to work at all. The installation Cd that came with the router woud not open up the manual or "connect another computer" section, I wondered if this was because I failed to connect the desktop. Any ideas?.

[surreypcsupport.com]

You don't need to connect the desktop wirelessly before connecting the laptop.

I would connect the desktop with ethernet and confirm an internet connection is working before I start with the laptop.

Then I would look at the laptop and check the wireless network is active. You should see a little icon on the bottom right hand corner. If you click it then it should display a list of wireless networks in range.

Then find the network that is yours and not your neighbours, click on it and attempt to connect. You may need a WEP or WPA key which is the security key for the network. If you don't know what it is then on BT routers it is printed on the back of the router itself.

Failing that go back to your desktop that is connected, open command prompt and type ipconfig and hit return. Look up the ip address for the default gateway.

Then open a browser session and as the url type 'http://' followed by the default gateway ip address and hit return.

This will take you to the router browser configuration pages. Find the page relating to wireless and look up you WEP/WPA key.

Let us know how you get on.
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[badger]

Bang on !!. Thankyou so much, you were exactly right. I did stumble about a bit before it connected. Thanks once again for your complete and clear instruction,

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