Using a Portable Computer from Work on Your Home Network
Published: December 21, 2004
Do you use a laptop computer at work that’s part of a domain? Do you sometimes work from home? When using your portable computer at home, would you like to print documents from your home printer? If so, you can connect to your home network to share files, folders, and printers using the procedures described in this article.
Note If you only want to use your domain-joined portable computer to access the Internet through your home network and you're not interested in sharing files or printing documents, you don’t need to follow these steps.
Important We recommend that the person who set up your home network perform these procedures.
Sharing files, folders, and printers
To share files, folders, and printers on your home network with a portable computer connected to a domain, follow these steps:
1. | Install Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) on your home computers.
SP2 is a free update to Windows XP. You can find out how to download and install it on the Protect Your PC site. |
2. | Run the Network Setup Wizard on each home computer.
To start the Network Setup Wizard, click Start, click Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, and then click Network Setup Wizard. Note You must be logged in as an administrator to run the Network Setup Wizard. When prompted, choose to enable file sharing. This creates a Shared Documents folder on each computer. 
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3. | Enable simple file sharing on your portable computer and create a shared folder.
The Network Setup Wizard can't be run on a portable computer that belongs to a domain. Therefore, you must manually complete the steps that the wizard would normally do for you. To manually enable simple file sharing and create a shared folder 1. | Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Appearance and Themes. | 2. | Click Folder Options. | 3. | On the View tab, select the Use simple file sharing (Recommended) check box if it is not already selected, and then click OK. 
| 4. | On your portable computer, create or select a folder to share with other people on your home network. | 5. | Right-click the folder, and then click Sharing and Security. 
| 6. | On the Sharing tab, click Share this folder, and then click Apply. 
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4. | Open the shared folders and resources from either your portable computer or another network computer.
Now that you've set up file sharing, you're ready to start sharing. To access your portable computer from another network computer 1. | Click Start, click Run, and then type two backslashes and the name of your domain-joined computer, like this: \\computername Tip To find your computer's name, click Start, click Control Panel, click System, and then click the Computer Name tab. | 2. | Click OK. | 3. | When you are prompted to log on, type your domain, user name, and password, using the information you use to log on at work, like this: domain\username
password A folder containing the shared folders and resources on the domain-joined computer will open. |
To access another computer on the network from your portable computer 1. | Click Start, click Run, and then type two backslashes and the name of the other computer, like this: \\computername | 2. | Click OK. A folder containing the shared folders and resources on the other computer will open. |
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Important We recommend that you follow the procedures above instead of removing your computer from the domain to access a home workgroup. Switching between a domain and a workgroup can be risky for the following reasons:
| • | After you switch from a domain to a workgroup, you can't log on to your computer using your domain user name and password. If you don't know the account name and password of a local computer account such as the Administrator account, you might be locked out of your computer. |
| • | To rejoin the domain, you have to connect to a network with a domain controller. If a domain controller is unavailable for any reason, you can’t rejoin the domain. |
| • | If you change your computer name while you're a member of a workgroup, you might not be able to rejoin the domain. |
| • | After switching from a domain to a workgroup, you will log on with a different user account. Therefore, you will have different Desktop and My Documents folders than you did before. |
If you still can't connect...
If you follow all of the above procedures and you still can't share files and printers, try connecting with the IP address of the computer instead of the computer name.
To connect with an IP address instead of a computer’s name
1. | Click Start, click Run, and then type the IP address of the computer you are connecting to, like this: \\192.168.0.3 |
2. | Click OK. |
To find a computer's IP address
1. | Double-click the connection icon in the notification area of the taskbar, and then click the Support tab. |
2. | Write down the number next to IP Address, and then click Close. |
As a last resort…
If Windows Firewall or another firewall on your portable computer is interfering with file sharing, your network administrator can help you determine a safe way to configure the firewall that will allow file sharing.
If you still can't share files and printers on your home network, ask the network administrator at your workplace whether IPSec is in use on the domain, and if so, whether anything can be done to allow your portable computer to connect to your home computers and printers.
