User manual NETGEAR WG121

[. . . ] User Manual for the NETGEAR 54 Mbps Wireless USB 2. 0 Adapter WG121 NETGEAR, Inc. 4500 Great America Parkway Santa Clara, CA 95054 USA Version v1. 0 September 2003 Technical Support Please refer to the support information card that shipped with your product. By registering your product at www. netgear. com/register, we can provide you with faster expert technical support and timely notices of product and software upgrades. E-mail: support@netgear. com Web site: www. netgear. com Statement of Conditions In the interest of improving internal design, operational function, and/or reliability, NETGEAR reserves the right to make changes to the products described in this document without notice. [. . . ] If you did not enable the NETGEAR utility when you installed the WG121 Wireless USB 2. 0 Adapter, open the network connections from the system tray icon, click the Properties button, click the Wireless Networks tab and then clear the "Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings" check box. Understanding the Configuration Options The WG121 configuration utility provides a complete and easy to use set of tools to: · · · Configure wireless settings. Save your settings in configuration profiles. The section below introduces these capabilities of the configuration utility. Using Configuration Profiles The WG121 configuration utility uses profiles to store all the configuration settings for a particular wireless network. You can store multiple profiles and recall the one which matches the network you want to join. Configuration 4-1 User Manual for the NETGEAR 54 Mbps Wireless USB 2. 0 Adapter WG121 For example, if you use your notebook PC to connect to a wireless network in an office and a wireless network in your home, you can create a profile for each wireless network. Then, you can easily load the profile that has all the configuration settings you need to join the network you are using at the time. There are two types of wireless network connections you can configure: · · Infrastructure Mode -- uses the 802. 11 infrastructure mode. Ad-hoc Mode -- uses the 802. 11 ad-hoc mode For more information on 802. 11 wireless network modes, see "Wireless Networking Overview" on page B-1 of this manual. Connecting to an Access Point in Infrastructure Mode This section provides instructions for configuring the NETGEAR 54 Mbps Wireless USB 2. 0 Adapter WG121 to connect to a wireless access point. How to Configure an Infrastructure Mode Profile Follow the instructions below to configure an infrastructure mode profile for connecting to an access point. c. Make sure the WG121 software is installed and the WG121 is connected to your PC. Open the configuration utility by clicking on the WG121 icon in the Windows system tray. b. In the Network Type section, be sure that Infrastructure is selected. Note: You will not get a wireless network connection unless the network SSID matches exactly what is configured in the access point. Tip: You can click the Network tab to view a list of the available wireless networks and their SSIDs at the location where you are. 3. Save your settings in a Profile. 4-2 Configuration User Manual for the NETGEAR 54 Mbps Wireless USB 2. 0 Adapter WG121 a. d. Type a descriptive name for the Profile in the "Profiles" field. Click Save Profile. Click Close to exit the configuration utility or Cancel to return to the previous settings 4. Verify connectivity by using a browser such as Netscape or Internet Explorer to connect to the Internet, or check for file and printer access on your network. You can check the status bar in the configuration utility for the current connection status. Note: If you cannot connect, see the "Troubleshooting" on page 3-14. Also, for problems with accessing network resources, the Windows Client and File and Print Sharing software might not be installed and configured properly on your computers. Please refer to "Preparing Your Computers for TCP/IP Networking" on page C-1. Connecting to Another PC in Ad-hoc Mode The peer-to-peer setting of the WG121 uses Ad-Hoc mode. Ad-Hoc mode is an 802. 11 networking framework in which devices or computers communicate directly with each other, without the use of an access point. For example, this mode is used when two Windows computers are configured with file and print sharing enabled and you want to exchange files directly between them. How to Configure an Ad-hoc Mode Profile Note: Ad-hoc mode will not work using DHCP settings. Ad-hoc mode requires either static IP addresses (such as 192. 168. 0. 1). [. . . ] These names are alphanumeric names, up to 16 characters in length. Network Address Translation NAT. A technique by which several hosts share a single IP address for access to the Internet. NIC Network Interface Card. An adapter in a computer which provides connectivity to a network. packet A block of information sent over a network. A packet typically contains a source and destination network address, some protocol and length information, a block of data, and a checksum. Glossary 3 User Manual for the NETGEAR 54 Mbps Wireless USB 2. 0 Adapter WG121 router A device that forwards data between networks. [. . . ]