Windows 8 Bible

After the Hardware Setup

A couple of steps are involved in actually setting up the networking hardware. First, make sure that the hardware you purchased is installed based on the manufacturer’s instructions. This may include plugging in the device, then connecting the device to the Internet, and finally plugging in the other computers to the device. When this is complete, you can run the Set Up A Network Wizard to let Windows finish the process.

Caution

Read and follow the network hardware manufacturer’s instructions carefully before you configure your network. If there’s any conflict between what they say and what’s stated in this chapter, do as the manufacturer’s instructions say. Failure to do so could lead to many hours of hair-pulling frustration!

Close any open programs and documents before you start configuring your network. The type of network hardware you have set up will determine what configuration you’ll need to use. Here’s where to look, depending on your network configuration:

• If you have an Ethernet network, and you are using a modem inside of, or connected to, one computer in the network, you can use Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) to share a single Internet account. Because this scenario isn’t very common anymore, we don’t cover it in this book. Perform a search at your favorite search site for Internet Connection Sharing for details.
• If you have a router or residential gateway that all computers in your network connect to, each computer will have its ...