including a non-local computer into a LAN (newbie)

i'm sure this has been discussed before... well, i'm not really sure, but i guess it has been discussed before.

anyways
I'm using XP and am wondering if i can include another computer into my LAN by only knowing it's IP? i've heard about LAN Emulation and stuff, but i don't know if that's what i'm looking for...
go easy, please.

Could you elaborate a little? I'm not really sure what you mean. What exactly do you mean by "include"? You can easily add more computers to your LAN, as long as you set the IP addresses etc. correctly and set the networking settings right.

yeah sure.. um.. currently this computer and 2 others are connecting through a switch. we all can share files and printers and whatnot without using any other tools than WinXP itself. by typing "\\computername" into the Run dialogue i can access that computers shared folders etc...

some computer games let me host for other LAN computers, then the other computers can join my game, but it won't accept any incoming connections from any computer outside the LAN.

what i want is to include some other guy who lives on the other side of the town into my network. the whole mess (printers, file sharing, games), preferably. is that possible?

That's kind of difficult for a simple home network. You may be able to use VPN (Virtual private network). This is where essentially an encrypted tunnel is created between you and someone else (definition at: http://searchnetworking.techtarget....i213324,00.html). A Google search will reveal lots of sites with details that may help, but this site is quite good: http://www.windowsxpuser.com/features/tc-vpnsetup.shtml

Alternatively, you could just do things on an individual basis. For example, with games you can find out which ports are needed, and then on your router or firewall enable port forwarding, to forward all requests for certain IP addresses to your internal computer running the game server. The external user would then use your external IP address to access your computer.

For file sharing or printers, you could share these through a web based interface, if you are willing to set up a web server (quite tricky, especially to keep secure). I have created a PHP application in the past which allows access to shared files and folders via an web based interface. Printers can also be shared in this way (at least I think so - Windows 2003 server works OK - I think XP Pro also is OK).

However, I would look into VPN - this is probably your best bet.

HTH,

Edwin

I would just get a llinksys router with VPN capabilities you can do either site-to-site or client-to-site VPN. I do not recomend opening your firewall and using forwarding as you are opening your PC to the world.

the game in question does not have the option of connecting directly to another computer by entering it's IP... it's LAN only.

so i tried VPN. i followed the guide in that link you gave me, and had to change something.
in the "Incoming Connections" properties, i changed some settings in the TCP/IP Protocol... from "Assign TCP/IP adresses automatically using DHCP" to "Specify TCP/IP adresses", and then i made some adresses up. i suspect that the reason the DHCP one wouldn't work is because my ISP provides 3 IPs, and we already have 3 computers in the house.
Then it works. but the client can't access my shared folder (ie i ask him to type "\\80.164.42.54\games" (pretend that this is my IP) but it doesn't work. if i type that in in any of the other computers on the LAN, it works. did i miss something?

Which part have you managed to set up correctly?



Is there an error message when you try this? If so, what does it say?

on my computer there's the "Incoming Connections"-connection. apart from the assigning of TCP/IP option, I'm pretty sure i got everything right (followed the guide).

now the other computer, the non-local one, can add a connection and is able to connect to me. we both can then see this icon in the lower right corner of the screen.

and when he types in "\\80.164.42.54\games", nothing happens, at least not in the first 7-8 minutes... but i don't suppose anything will happen after that either.

Can you ping the address of your computer from the remote location?

Also, if at the remote computer you open up My Network Places, do you see any new computers?

if he types "ping ny" (ny is this computers name), he can see my IP and ping it... weird.

but he can't see any new computers in My Network Places.

I've not found My Network Places to always be a true representation of the network - I've often found it to show computers which it shouldn't and then not show computers which it should.

However, your friend should be able to type "\\ny" (without quotes) in Windows Explorer and it should show any shares from your computer. If it still doesn't work - does he have access to the computer. Try creating an account on your computer with the same username and password that he uses on his computer.