Networking Vista with cat5 and wireless

including sharing the wireless internet card

[youfoundjake]

I have 2 laptops running vista home premium. I am also using a netgear wireless router.
The Internet is provided through a wireless verizon adapter on laptop1. The cat5 cable goes from laptop1 to the router
Laptop2 is connecting to the router through a wireless connection.
I've messed around with network discovery, making it all a private network, shared out a folder on laptop1, but I'm still not getting any connection between the two laptops.
The folder I have shared on laptop1, \\laptop1\jake
isn't even accessible from laptop1, I receive an error message to check the name or make sure the computer is on.
Ultimately, I need to have the 2 laptops talk to each other, and have laptop2 use the wireless verizon card on laptop1 as the Internet connection.
Router is 192.168.1.1
laptop1 is 192.168.1.2 (dhcp)
laptop2 is 192.168.1.3 (dhcp)
Both laptops are in the same workgroup (lara)
when I ping the laptops, I either get hostname not found or destination host not found, and that error has gone away.
Anyone have any ideas on why the 2 laptops can't see each other

[LifeinAsia]

You confused me at

The Internet is provided through a wireless verizon adapter on laptop1.

Do you mean that you are using laptop1 to use someone else's WiFi connection, then trying to make laptop1 act like a router?

Or if I completely misunderstood you, how are you getting Internet access (DSL, cable, etc.)?

Can laptop1 access the Internet?

[edited by: LifeinAsia at 10:44 pm (utc) on Mar. 26, 2008]

[youfoundjake]

Laptop1 has a Verizon wireless card (satilite card) that is used to get the laptop1 on the internet. They pay a flat fee a month, and where ever they have an open sky, they have internet access.
Laptop1 can access internet through the card, but not through the router since the router is not connecting to a dsl or cable modem (which is fine). all internet access will go through the card, but at some point after getting the 2 laptops to see each other in a network, laptop2 needs to browse the internet with laptop1's wireless adapter through internet connection sharing.

[bill]

It sounds like you need to enable Network Bridging along with the Internet Connection Sharing to get the home network functioning. I don't know if your router will work this way though. Normally you'd use a switch for something like this. According to this article [windowshelp.microsoft.com] ICS won't work with a router, but your setup is somewhat unique.

Here's some info about ICS and Network Bridge setups:

Internet Connection Sharing and Network Bridge in Windows Vista [technet2.microsoft.com]

[youfoundjake]

dang it, cross-over cable it is then :)