1.1. How to setup your IP address and other network information

This article will explain how to set IP address and other network information in Windows XP.

IP (Internet Protocol) address is the 4 octets (32-bit) address used to identify your desktop computer, notebook, router, switch or other network devices in your network or Internet. It's also called as IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4). IP address is assigned to network card on your desktop computer or notebook to communicate with other network devices.

Here are step-by-step instructions showing you how to set IP address and other network information:

1) Go to Start and click on Control Panel.

2) Control Panel window will appear. Double click on Network Connections.

3) Network Connections window will appear. Right click correct Local Area Connection by identifying correct network card and click Properties.

4) Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). Click on Properties.

Manual IP Assigning

You can now key in the IP address, Subnet mask, Default gateway and DNS servers.

Note: IP address of your computer must be unique. None of the 2 computers in the network can share same IP address, it causes IP address conflict. You should contact your systems administrator or support person if you are unsure about manual IP assignment.

IP Assigned by DHCP server

If you have DHCP server setup on your router or you have a DHCP server in your office, your computer can be assigned IP address automatically by selecting Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically.

Other useful information: If you have a notebook, using static IP at home and the IP assigned by DHCP server at the office, you can make use of alternate configuration to set IP and network information for these 2 different network.

Set Obtain an IP address automatically on General tab which is same as what I specified above, so that the notebook will be assigned IP addresses automatically at the office. After that, click Alternate Configuration tab, select User configured option and key in your home network's static IP information. By setting this, when there is no IP information assigned due to no DHCP server at home, this alternate configuration will be applied automatically, so that you don't have to set IP manually every time at home.

1.2. Simple Way to Check IP Address in Microsoft Windows

Need to check the IP address in Microsoft Windows?

1) Go to Start and click Run.

2) Run window will appear. Type in cmd and click OK.

3) Command prompt window will appear. Type ipconfig. You then will see the IP Address of your network card, which is 192.168.1.101 in this case. It also shows you Subnet Mask and Default Gateway. As you can see here, Subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 and Default Gateway is 192.168.1.1.

Note: Please read your IP information correctly by identifying correct network card. From the output here, I've one network card and another wireless card in my notebook. No IP is shown for wireless card because it's not connected to any wireless network.

Note: If you need to check detailed network info which includes DNS server and physical MAC address info, then type ipconfig /all.

1.3. How to configure file sharing in Windows XP

Summary

• How to turn Simple File Sharing on and off.
• How to manage and configure levels of access to shares and files.
• Guidelines for file sharing in Windows XP.
• How to troubleshoot file sharing problems.

Introduction

Turning on and turning off Simple File Sharing

Simple File Sharing is always turned on in Windows XP Home Edition-based computers. By default, the Simple File Sharing UI is turned on in Windows XP Professional-based computers that are joined to a workgroup. Windows XP Professional-based computers that are joined to a domain use only the classic file sharing and security interface. When you use the Simple File Sharing UI (that is located in the folder's properties), both share and file permissions are configured.

If you turn off Simple File Sharing, you have more control over the permissions to individual users. However, you must have advanced knowledge of NTFS and share permissions to help keep your folders and files more secure. If you turn off Simple File Sharing, the Shared Documents feature is not turned off. 

To turn Simple File Sharing on or off in Windows XP Professional, follow these steps:

1. Double-click My Computer on the desktop.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
3. Click the View tab, and then select the Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended) check box to turn on Simple File Sharing. (Clear this check box to turn off this feature.)

To view a video about how to turn Simple File Sharing on or off, click the Play button (

) on the following Windows Media Player viewer:

Note To view this video, you must have Microsoft Windows Media Player 7.0 or a later version on your computer.

Managing levels of access to shares and to files
You can use Simple File Sharing to configure five levels of access to shares and files:

• Level 1: My Documents (Private)
  
• Level 2: My Documents (Default)
  
• Level 3: Files in shared documents available to local users
  
• Level 4: Shared Files on the Network (Readable by Everyone)
  
• Level 5: Shared Files on the Network (Readable and Writable by Everyone)

Notes

• By default, files that are stored in "My Documents" are at Level 2.
• Levels 1, 2, and 3 folders are available only to a user who is logging on locally. Users who log on locally include a user who logs on to a Windows XP Professional-based computer from a Remote Desktop (RDP) session.
• Levels 4 and 5 folders are available to users who log on locally and remote users from the network.

The following table describes the permissions:

Access Level	Everyone (NTFS/File)	Owner	System	Administrators	Everyone (Share)
Level 1	Not available	Full Control	Full Control	Not available	Not available
Level 2	Not available	Full Control	Full Control	Full Control	Not available
Level 3	Read	Full Control	Full Control	Full Control	Not available
Level 4	Read	Full Control	Full Control	Full Control	Read
Level 5	Change	Full Control	Full Control	Full Control	Full Control

Level 1: My Documents (Private)

The owner of the file or folder has read and write permission to the file or folder. Nobody else may read or write to the folder or the files in it. All subfolders that are contained in a folder that is marked as private remain private unless you change the parent folder permissions. 

If you are a Computer Administrator and create a user password for your account by using the User Accounts Control Panel tool, you are prompted to make your files and folder private. 

Note The option to make a folder private (Level 1) is available only to a user account in its own My Documents folder. 

To configure a folder and all the files in it to Level 1, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the folder, and then click Sharing and Security.
2. Select the Make this Folder Private check box, and then click OK.

Local NTFS Permissions:

• Owner: Full Control
• System: Full Control

Network Share Permissions:

• Not Shared

Level 2 (Default): My Documents (Default)

The owner of the file or folder and local Computer Administrators have read and write permission to the file or folder. Nobody else may read or write to the folder or the files in it. This is the default setting for all the folders and files in each user's My Documents folder.

To configure a folder and all the files in it to Level 2, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the folder, and then click Sharing and Security.
2. Make sure that both the Make this Folder Private and the Share this folder on the networkcheck boxes are cleared, and then click OK.

Local NTFS Permissions:

• Owner: Full Control
• Administrators: Full Control
• System: Full Control

Network Share Permissions:

• Not Shared

Level 3: Files in shared documents available to local users

Files are shared with users who log on to the computer locally. Local Computer Administrators can read, write, and delete the files in the Shared Documents folder. Restricted Users can only read the files in the Shared Documents folder. In Windows XP Professional, Power Users may also read, write, or delete any files in the Shared Documents Folder. The Power Users group is available only in Windows XP Professional. Remote users cannot access folders or files at Level 3. To allow remote users to access files, you must share them out on the network (Level 4 or 5).

To configure a file or a folder and all the files in it to Level 3, start Microsoft Windows Explorer, and then copy or move the file or folder to the Shared Documents folder under My Computer. 

Local NTFS Permissions:

• Owner: Full Control
• Administrators: Full Control
• Power Users: Change
• Restricted Users: Read
• System: Full Control

Network Share Permissions:

• Not Shared

Level 4: Shared on the Network (Read-Only)

Files are shared for everyone to read on the network. All local users, including the Guest account, can read the files. But they cannot modify the contents. Any user can read and change your files. 

To configure a folder and all the files in it to Level 4, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the folder, and then click Sharing and Security.
2. Click to select the Share this folder on the network check box
3. Click to clear the Allow network users to change my files check box, and then click OK.

Local NTFS Permissions:

• Owner: Full Control
• Administrators: Full Control
• System: Full Control
• Everyone: Read

Network Share Permissions:

• Everyone: Read

Level 5: Shared on the network (Read and Write)

This level is the most available and least secure access level. Any user (local or remote) can read, write, change, or delete a file in a folder shared at this access level. We recommend that this level be used only for a closed network that has a firewall configured. All local users including the Guest account can also read and modify the files.

To configure a folder and all the files in it to Level 5, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the folder, and then click Sharing and Security
2. Click to select the Share this folder on the network check box, and then click OK.

Local NTFS Permissions:

• Owner: Full Control
• Administrators: Full Control
• System: Full Control
• Everyone: Change

Network Share Permissions:

• Everyone: Full Control

Note All NTFS permissions that refer to Everyone include the Guest account. 

All the levels that this article describes are mutually exclusive. Private folders (Level 1) cannot be shared unless they are no longer private. Shared folders (Level 4 and 5) cannot be made private until they are unshared. 

If you create a folder in the Shared Documents folder (Level 3), share it on the network, and then allow network users to change your files (Level 5), the permissions for Level 5 are effective for the folder, the files in that folder, and the subfolders. The other files and folders in the Shared Documents folder remain configured at Level 3. 

Note The only exception is if you have a folder (SampleSubFolder) that is shared at Level 4 inside a folder (SampleFolder) that is shared at Level 5. Remote users have the correct access level to each shared folder. Locally logged-on users have writable (Level 5) permissions to the parent (SampleFolder) and child (SampleSubFolder) folders.

Guidelines

We recommend that you only share folders on the network that remote users on other computers must access. We recommend that you do not share the root of the system drive. When you do this, your computer is more vulnerable to malicious remote users. The Sharing tab of the drive's Propertiesdialog box contains a warning when you try to share a root folder (for example, C:\). To continue, you must click the If you understand the risk but still want to share the root of the drive, click herelink. Only computer administrators can share the root of the drive.

Files on a read-only device such as a CD-ROM shared at Level 4 or 5 are available only if the CD-ROM is in the CD drive. Any CD-ROM that is in the CD drive is available to all users on the network. 

A file's permission may differ from the parent folder if one of the following conditions is true:

• You use the move command at a command prompt to move a file into the folder from a folder on the same drive that has different permissions.
• You use a script to move the file into the folder from a folder on the same drive that has different permissions.
• You run Cacls.exe at a command prompt or a script to change file permissions.
• Files existed on the hard disk before you installed Windows XP.
• You changed a file's permissions while Simple File Sharing was turned off on Windows XP Professional.

Note NTFS permissions are not maintained on file move operations when you use Windows Explorer with Simple File Sharing turned on. 

If you turn on and turn off Simple File Sharing, the permissions on files are not changed. The NTFS and share permissions do not change until you change the permissions in the interface. If you set the permissions with Simple File Sharing enabled, only Access Control Entries (ACEs) on files that are used for Simple File Sharing are affected. The following ACEs in the Discretionary Access Control List (DACL) of the files or folders are affected by the Simple File Sharing interface:

• Owner
• Administrators
• Everyone
• System