logo

figure

Center for Information Technology

Directories

contact us

search

home

 

 

 

 

Configuring Windows XP Home for Resnet Access*

 

if you are using Windows XP Professional Edition, please see separate instructions for that operating system.
brought to you by your friendly Residential Computer Coordinators (RCCs).

Microsoft Windows XP Home is not a networkable operating system by Microsoft's definition. Oberlin College will provide instructions on how to attempt to configure XP Home to work on our network, but we can't guarantee success, and highly recommend that your computer has Microsoft Windows XP Professional instead.

If you choose to use the Home version, please note that you will not be able to share access to your files or printers with others on the Oberlin network. This feature is reserved for XP Professional, and attempting to enable it in Home can cause serious system stability issues while connected to our network.

In addition to greater security and file-sharing features, Windows XP Professional is designed to work on a campus-sized network, and natively supports our file servers and public printers.

Step 1: Getting Started

Before you can configure your system, you must have ethernet physically installed. If you're not sure that you have ethernet installed, do the following:

  1. In the Start menu, choose "Control Panel" (may be under a menu called "Settings.")
  2. Double-click on the "System" control panel, and then click on the "Hardware" tab at the top.
  3. Choose "Device Manager." You should see a list of components similar to the one at right.
  4. Under the category "Network adapters" you will find your ethernet card, if you have one.

If you don't already have ethernet, then you can view our recommendations at http://www.oberlin.edu/cit/resnet/ethernet.html. Once your ethernet card is physically installed, turn on the computer. Window XP should recognize and auto-configure the card. You may need to insert your Windows XP CD-ROM or the disk that came with your card.

If at any point there is a problem, or you require assistance installing your card or configuring other parts of your network connection, please contact your RCC at cit@oberlin.edu.

Make sure your ethernet cable is firmly plugged into both your computer and the wall port before proceeding to the next step.

 

Step 2: Connecting to the Internet

In order to connect to the Internet, you need to open your web browser, authenticate with your Obiemail username and password. Your Windows XP machine should be able to recognize that it is connected to our network - because of this, you're already set up to visit Oberlin web pages.

To Authenicate and gain full network access : Open your Web Browser, authenticate with your Obiemail username and password.

 

Step 3: Configuring Novell Netware

Oberlin College uses the Netware system primarily to connect to some printers and shared network resources such as stulocker.

Most students find it useful to have access to stulocker from their room; however, if you don't feel you'll need stulocker access, you don't have to install Netware. The only disadvantage to installing it is that you'll need to log in with your Netware password every time you turn on your computer.

To use Novell Netware with XP Home, you need to install a separate software program called the Client for Novell Netware. This guide will step you through the process.

 

First you need to download and install the Novell Netware Client

  1. Open a web browser, and go to the following website: http://www.oberlin.edu/cit/downloads/win.html. (The CIT Downloads site requires authentication with an ObieID and password.)
  2. Download the appropriate client (Student version or Staff version) to a known location on your computer (i.e. the desktop).
  3. Expand the zip file you just downloaded, and note where you extract the files to. We recommend a folder on your desktop with the same name as the zip file.
  4. Open "my computer" and navigate to the folder where you extracted the files.
  5. Open the folder and run the "ACU" program.
  6. When the installation is finished, it will ask you to reboot.
  7. The first time you log in, a box should pop up asking to change your Windows password to match your Novell password. Say yes.
  8. When your computer has loaded, you can verify a succesful Novell installation by opening "My Computer" and looking for your Stulocker and other network drives (Diagram 1).

Remember, if you need assistance with any step of this process or have any questions, feel free to email your RCC at: cit@oberlin.edu. Please include contact information including your full name, phone number and room number.

Diagram 1:

 

* Netware instruction steps can be skipped. You can access Stulocker without the Netware client at https://stulocker.cc.oberlin.edu/NetStorage/

 

This page last updated: August 21 , 2007

line comments Directories search ochome