Despite being a programmer, networking is something I do not know much about. OK, so I have two older computers. One has Windows 7 and the other has XP. The Windows 7 system has a wireless card and the XP has an ethernet port that I plan to connect to the Win 7 ethernet port. (I think what I want is a bridge, but not sure.) I want the XP comp to be able to access the rest of the network and internet through the wifi adapter on the other comp. I also want the Win 7 comp to be able to see the XP comp as just another comp on the network and be able to share files and use its own wifi adapter simultaneously. What do I need for this? Do I setup a bridge?
1
-
XP requires SMBv1 which has now largely gone - even in later versions of Windows 7. So if you wish to keep your network secure, XP cannot play in it. It is not an issue fro network bridging.– anonCommented Mar 3, 2020 at 13:03
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
In Windows 7, there is no option to "bridge" network access via an Ethernet port to another computer. You cannot convert Wi-Fi to Ethernet in a bridge, and that is not a Windows restriction (see here). In Windows 10, if you have a laptop with cellular access, you can tether network access via Ethernet or USB.
But your head IS in the right place.
For the current setup I use, I have a range extender (you can use an old router, if it has an option) to repeat wireless signal and feed the signal via an Ethernet cable to my computer. It requires no special software as, to the computer, it appears it has hardwired Ethernet access. If you have a range extender with Ethernet (e.g. AirTies), or an old network router that supports signal repeating, you can use that for an Ethernet source.
Or, for cheap, you could get a $5 USB wireless adapter.
What WOULD happen by connecting Ethernet between the two computers is you would create a LAN, so file sharing is going to happen, but no network bridging. If you want to use an old network router for repeating, you would have a difficult time with file sharing if the connection isn't over Ethernet (so bridge mode could be used), unless it both routers are relatively new and support "mesh" networks. A fix would be to port forward a network drive to the wider Internet and map it on either machine, but the process is difficult if you don't know what you are doing. There is no single tutorial on the Internet that will give you this whole process, so you can either do plenty of research and follow many tutorials, or you can decide to go another route.
If you decide to follow many tutorials I can help you out.
Setting up a network drive: https://www.wikihow.com/Set-up-a-Network-Drive
Setting up a port forward: https://www.wikihow.com/Set-Up-Port-Forwarding-on-a-Router
Using a router to repeat signal: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-extend-your-wi-fi-network-with-an-old-router-915783308
Setting up a range extender: https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-set-up-a-wifi-range-extender
