Configuring Wireless Linking for Windows Vista
Click here for Windows XP instructions.
Wireless linking is more complicated to install than serial cable
linking, but once set up is more convenient to use due to the lack of
wires. TypeWell automatically detects and uses a wireless link
when it's set up correctly. So the time you spend setting up the wireless correctly will pay off
in trouble-free operation later where time is short, when you need to transcribe.
Important! The TypeWell settings for wireless "take over" the wireless cards.
Once set up for TypeWell, you won't be able to use the wireless to connect to other computers, and even if your site provides wireless access to the Internet, you won't be able to access the Internet from a TypeWell computer.
The list below includes a link about how to use about use both the Internet and TypeWell wireless from the same computer.
Here are the sections in this document:
Here are relevant links in other documents:
How to access the Internet and TypeWell wireless at the same time.
How to have two or more Reader computers linked to a Transcriber.
Setting Up TypeWell Wireless Follow these steps
to set up your wireless for TypeWell.
| 1. |
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[TypeWell on both machines] Start with two Windows
computers, each with a wireless-link-capable version of
TypeWell. Check whether your copy of TypeWell is
wireless-capable by pulling down the Link menu (or the Options
menu if you don't have a Link menu). If the menu has a
Wireless entry, even if it's greyed out, and even if it says it's
disabled or not available, it means your software is
wireless-capable and you can continue. If your TypeWell
software does not have any kind of Wireless entry on this menu, contact us for a
solution.
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| 2. |
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[Find wireless hardware] Make sure you can get to
the wireless hardware settings on both machines. Find this
by looking at the "Network Connections" window. To get there go to
Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center
-> Manage Network Connections (on the left side). Under the LAN or High-Speed Internet section, see if
a wireless connection is listed. Look for a connection with
the words wireless or Wi-Fi or 802.11 in its
title. You'll be using this again in step 6. For now,
once you find it, go on to step 3.
- [Not plugged in?] If your wireless is provided by a
separate card that plugs into the computer, make sure you plug
that in now. The wireless entry won't show up in the
Network Connections window until you plug the card in.
Once you plug the card in you may need to close and re-open the
Network Connections window to see the change.
- [Turned off?] If you don't have wireless listed, but
you think the computer is supposed to have wireless built-in, it
may be that it's not turned on. Look at the ports and
switches around the base of the computer, on the front under the
keyboard, and the special little buttons between the screen and
the keyboard, to see if there's one marked with a symbol that
looks like a radio antenna or that has concentric sound-wave
sorts of cartoon lines emanating from it. If you find it,
make sure the accompanying switch is in the On position.
- [No such hardware?] If your computer does not have
wireless hardware, then you need to purchase some. For
most computers you can do this by buying either an 802.11b or an
802.11b/g wireless card that plugs into the computer's card
slot. Install the card according to the manufacturer's
directions, which can differ for every type of card. Then
go back to the start of step 2 to make sure you can now see the
wireless hardware.
Any 802.11b or
802.11b/g card will theoretically work; however, some off-brand
cards have reliability problems. Two name brand cards are
the Dell TrueMobile, and NetGear. These are reliable cards
that cost as little as $40 (check cnet.com). There are
many other fine choices; your tech would no doubt be delighted
to recommend a brand to you.
- [No Bluetooth] These instructions are designed to
help you get the most common type of wireless working.
This type is called 802.11b or 802.11g, also know as
Wi-Fi. Your computer may have a different type of wireless
called Bluetooth. The main thing to know about Bluetooth
is that it is incompatible with Wi-Fi. That means one
computer using Bluetooth cannot talk to another that's using
Wi-Fi. We recommend you get Wi-Fi on both. It's ok
to have Bluetooth as well, just don't use it for TypeWell.
A few TypeWell sites
do use Bluetooth successfully, but we don't recommend it because
the range of Bluetooth connections is so short that it may not
even be able to reach across a full classroom. Also, we
have not performed reliability tests with Bluetooth as we have
with Wi-Fi, so we can't help if you run into reliability
problems.
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| 3. |
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[Enable wireless] Make sure the wireless hardware is
enabled. Check this by looking at the wireless entry in the
Network Connections window. Below the title
of the connection it'll give the status. If it says
Connected, you're fine.
- [Disabled?] If the wireless entry in the Network
Connections window says Disabled, then right-click on
that entry, and choose Enable from the menu that pops up.
- [Not connected?] If the wireless entry in the Network
Connections window says Disconnected or Not
connected, then make sure the antenna is turned on.
Look at the ports and switches around the base of the computer,
on the front under the keyboard, and the special little buttons
between the screen and the keyboard, to see if there's one
marked with a symbol that looks like a radio antenna or that has
sound-wave sorts of lines emanating from it. Make sure the
switch is in the On position. Not every computer has a
switch like this.
Note: some computers
(such as some Toshibas) have both there is a dedicated
wireless button somewhere on the case, and an Fn- key for
controlling wireless. On such computers you must make sure
the front-edge button is on. The Fn- key alone isn't
enough to connect the wireless.
If you can't find the
switch, or if you find it and the connection remains Not
connected after you turn it on, that's ok. Continue
with the next step.
Once you change the
setting of this switch, on some computers (such as some
Compaqs), you may need to restart Windows to make the computer
notice the change.
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| 4. |
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[Manufacturer connection (optional)] This step is
not necessary in setting up your TypeWell wireless, but is
valuable if you're having a lot of trouble getting wireless to
work, because it can prove whether the problem is that your
wireless hardware is broken, or that it's a settings
problem. A good approach is to skip this step the first
time, and come back to this only if you can't get wireless
working.
To do this step, you
must have an internet wireless access point available at your
location. If other people near you are able to access the
internet wirelessly from their computers, that means there is such
an access point. Your goal is to connect both of your
computers to the internet just as they are doing.
To make this connection
to the internet, follow the directions that came with your
wireless hardware. If other computers are able to wirelessly
connect to the Internet at your location but yours will not, call
the tech support department of the manufacturer of your wireless
hardware. They get hundreds of calls from users setting up
their specific brand of wireless hardware, and they are usually
very good at helping you past any problems with the basic card
configuration.
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| 5. |
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[Half way!] At this point, you're half-way to having
your TypeWell wireless configured.
The next few steps are
all aspects of the Network that your wireless will be
connecting to. You may have successfully connected to the
Internet if you performed optional step 4 above. Now, you're
going to connect your wireless to a special TypeWell-only
network. Once you do this, you will no longer be able to use
the wireless card to connect your computer to the Internet.
If you want to use both the Internet and TypeWell wireless
from the same computer, read about sharing
wireless.
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| 6. |
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[Find where to set up a special Network] How you set up
a special network depends on your wireless hardware. Start
by opening your Network Connections window. Select
your wireless network and click on the Connect to button in
the toolbar. Now choose Set up a connection or network at
the bottom of the window.
Otherwise, if you don't
have a Connect to button you need to find the manufacturer-specific window for
setting up a new Network for your wireless. On some machines
these new Networks are called Profiles. The first place to
look is in the row of tiny icons in the system tray, next to the
clock at the bottom right of the screen. Look for an icon
that looks like an antenna, or that has radio waves coming out of
it, or that says the name of your wireless hardware when you
position the cursor over it. The standard Windows wireless
icon, which looks like 2 computer screens with a small earth in
front of it, probably won't help -- that will just lead you to the
same windows we checked in the paragraph above. Once you
find the proper icon, double-click it or right-click it, to get to
where you can set up a new Network or Profile. If you can't
find the icon, call your wireless hardware manufacturer to ask how
to get into the configuration screen. If possible, get the
manufacturer to tell you how to turn off the manufacturer-specific
configuration program so that you can use the standard Windows
wireless configuration windows.
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| 7. |
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The rest of these Network-configuration instructions
tell how to set your wireless up if it uses the Windows Vista
standard configuration method. If you have a
manufacturer-specific configuration method, or a different version
of Windows, you'll need to adapt these instructions accordingly,
or call the manufacturer's tech support to ask how to achieve the
same settings.
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| 8. |
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[Ad-hoc mode] Set up a new Network for use by TypeWell,
in ad hoc mode. Open Control Panel -> Network
and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center. Now click on
Manage wireless networks on the left. On the toolbar
at the top click Add. This will start the network
creation wizard. At the bottom of the 1st page choose the
option Create an ad hoc network. Now hit next to
continue on to providing the network information.
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| 9. |
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[SSID/Network name] This step is the most important for
making sure your two computers can wirelessly communicate -- they
must be using the same network name. The first field is where
you fill in the Network name (SSID). Make
up a name for the private network these two machines will be using
to communicate. Both machines in a pair must use the same
Network name; but if you are setting up more than one pair of
TypeWell computers, give each pair a separate Network name so that
they won't crosstalk and interfere with each other. For
instance, one pair might use the network TypeWellA and another
pair might use the network TypeWellB. Use the same
capitalization for the network name on both computers.
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| 10. |
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[Encryption off] Now in the drop down menu below where you
typed in your network name you must select No authentication (open).
This will cause the 3rd field in the wizard to become greyed out.
Over the last 3 steps
you've set up your TypeWell network. Now check the Save this network
box and click Next at the bottom of the window. Now there will
be a pause while Windows sets up the network, when it is finished click Close
and you should see your chosen Network name from step 9 listed in the
networks list.
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| 11. |
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[Remove other Networks] Look at the networks
list (remember, you got here by going to Control Panel -> Network
and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center and clicking on
Manage wireless networks on the left). You just added your TypeWell network to this
list. Your goal now is to remove all the other Networks from
the list, so that only your TypeWell network remains. Click
a name in the list (other than the TypeWell one you just added),
then click the Remove button. Repeat until all the names
except your TypeWell network are gone.
Cleaning out this list
is the other half of the secret to making your wireless connection
work reliably day in and day out. This prevents Windows from
attempting connections to other networks and thereby losing the TypeWell connection.
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| 12. |
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[IP addresses 192.168.247.1 and .2] To set the wireless
IP address to the valid TypeWell values, follow these steps:
- Now in the Manage wirless networks list that you just cleared out
(except your Typewell network) select the network that you just created
and click Adapter properties.
- There's a scrollable box below the label This connection
uses the following items. Scroll down the list and look for
an entry called Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4).
If there is more than one such entry, pick
the one that mentions your wireless device. Click on this
Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) item.
- Click on the Properties button just below the scrollable
box. This brings up the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)
Properties window. The General tab should already be
selected.
- Click on the second radio button Use the following IP
addresses.
- In the IP address field, type 192.168.247.1 on one of your
computers. Type 192.168.247.2 in this field on the other
computer. If you had a third computer in the same network
as these first two, you'd use 192.168.247.3 for it.
TypeWell can never use IP addresses higher than
192.168.247.4.
- Press the Tab key on the keyboard. This will cause the
Subnet mask field to fill in with the value 255.255.255.0.
- Press Enter. This will close this window.
- Click the Close button at the bottom of the remaining
window. This will activate all your changes.
- If a message appears about an IP Address Conflict, you've
accidentally used the same IP address on both computers.
They must each have a different IP address. Set one of
them to 192.168.247.1, and the other to 192.168.247.2.
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| 13. |
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[Turn on TypeWell] You've finished setting up wireless!
Now, we'll test that it's working. Start TypeWell on both
computers. Click on the Link menu on each computer. If
the Wireless option is greyed on one of the computers, see the "still
grey?" instructions, below.
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| 14. |
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[Turn on TypeWell wireless option] Open the Link menu
and look for the Wireless item.
- If it says Wireless is off -- click to turn on, then
click it. If a window comes up that says something like
TypeWell is trying to access the network, make sure you
choose the option that lets TypeWell do so! Such a window would
be your firewall program trying overeagerly to protect
you.
- If it says Wireless is on -- click to turn off, then
don't click it. Just in case you weren't reading
the menu item carefully.
- Once you've turned the Wireless menu item on on both
computers, they should show Seaching wireless for a
moment in the status line at the bottom right of TypeWell's
window. Then they both should switch within a few seconds
to saying Linked on Wireless in that bottom corner on
both computers. If one or both stays at Searching
wireless, see Still
searching wireless? below.
- Once you see this Linked on wireless message on
both computers, anything typed on one TypeWell will be
transmitted to the other. It works!
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| 15. |
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[Test a power-up] Sometimes you'll get wireless working
once, but it won't work correctly when the machines turn on the
next day. Test that by shutting off both computers, and then
turning them back on and trying step 13 again. If they won't
link, the problem is likely that you didn't perform the secrets in
step 11, so you're not getting a reliable connection on the
TypeWell network. Re-check step 11.
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| 16. |
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[Add Security afterwards] If you have any trouble
getting your TypeWell connection to work the first time, make sure
that you are not using any kind of encryption. Turn
if off on both computers until you get TypeWell linked.
Once linking is working
through step 15, you can go back and make the connection
secure. The directions above set you up with a connection
that will allow any stranger to connect with your computers.
They can't necessarily DO anything to your computer, but to reduce
the chances of someone accessing your private files, or messing up
something on your computer, you should take these steps.
There are two ways to
increase security. You can do either or both. The
first and easiest is to prevent sharing of your files with
others. To do this, go to Network Connections, right-click
on your wireless network icon, click Properties, the look in the
scrollable list for the File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft
Networks item. This item allows other computers to
wirelessly connect to your computer. Un-check the box next
to it if you don't want to permit this. Note that you'll
still be able to connect to someone else's printer on their
computer -- this just prevents them from connecting to your files
or printer, if you have one.
The second security
measure you can take is to use encryption over the wireless
connection. This can be pretty frustrating to get right, and
many people use TypeWell with only the first security step above
to prevent outside access to their files. But if you are a
techie and understand what WEP is, and you want to go the extra
mile, open Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network and
Sharing Center. Now click on
Manage wireless networks on the left. Now right click
on your TypeWell network in the networks list, and click
Properties from the menu that appears. Choose the Security tab. Change the
encryption type to WEP (or to one of the other choices for even
higher security, such as TKIP). Fill in the Network key with the password
you choose. Make sure that you type the exact same password
on both computers, or they won't be able to communicate with each
other.
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Still Grey? If you followed the above
instructions but the Wireless menu item on TypeWell's Link menu was
still grey in step 13, something went wrong in steps 8-12. Make
sure to do these steps on both computers. If you think you
got them right, here is a test you can perform.
Run the ipconfig program to
see how the wireless is set up. Do this by going to the Start
menu, clicking on the Run. . . item, typing cmd, and
pressing Enter. A black window will come up. Now type
ipconfig and press Enter. It'll print out information about
your different network connections. Look for the one named
wireless or Wi-Fi or 802.11.
If it says "Media disconnected", it means that:
- your wireless card is disabled (see step 3), or
- your antenna is switched off (see step 3), or
- your wireless is not able to find a matching Network (check steps
8-10 on both computers), or
- possible hardware problem (go back to step 4 to get some kind of
connection working).
If it lists an IP Address for the wireless connection, but it's not
192.168.247.1 or 192.168.247.2, it means that:
- You didn't set the wireless IP address correctly (see step
12). Make sure you're correctly choosing the wireless
icon in the Control Panel's Network Connections window -- if you chose
the wrong icon, you were accidentally setting the IP address for some
other network device on your computer.
Still Searching Wireless? If you followed the
above instructions but the TypeWell still says searching wireless
at the bottom right on one or both of the computers, here are some tests
to perform.
- If one computer says Searching wireless but the other says
Linked on wireless, it's likely a firewall problem.
Either the Windows standard firewall program, or some added firewall
program like Symantec or McAfee, is blocking TypeWell's use of the
network. Locate all of your firewall programs, and either
disable them entirely, or make sure they allow TypeWell to use the
network.
The Windows Vista firewall can
be accessed by going to Control Panel and under the Security heading choose
Allow a program through Windows Firewall.
Click the Exceptions tab and make sure there is an entry for TypeWell
and that it is checked.
Added firewalls like
Symantec or McAfee can be accessed by looking on the Start menu's
Programs list, and looking for anything that says Symantec, McAfee, or
firewall.
- If both computers say Searching wireless, see if they are
on the same network by going to Control Panel's Network Connections
window and clicking on the wireless connection icon. This shows
the wireless status; the first line Status should show
Connected, and the second line Network shows the name of
the network connected to. Make sure that both computers are
connected, and to the same Network.
If a machine is not
connected to the Network you named in step 9, go back and look at
steps 8-11 again. Be sure to Close the windows to save your
changes if you adjust anything.
If the machines are
Connected and have the same Network name, it's a firewall problem on
both machines. Read the instructions regarding firewalls in the
bullet item above.
Connects, but Unreliably If you have TypeWell
linking some of the time, but it loses the connection frequently or
intermittently, here are some things to try:
- Get the newest driver for your wireless card from the
manufacturer's web site. Many cards have a problem with the
drivers when first released; often a driver update will fix a
problem.
- These connection problems can occur with certain brands of
wireless hardware. A fix that's likely to work, is to get
Orinoco, NetGear or Dell TrueMobile cards instead of whatever you're
using. Many sites use these successfully.
- The Intel or Centrino wireless card has known problems, see this.
- Turn off 802.1x authentication in the properties for your wireless
card. This authentication is unnecessary and is rumored to cause
a disconnection problem.
- Turn off the power-saver option for the wireless card
configuration. It is rumored to cause a disconnection.
Can't Get Linking To Work If you can't make the
instructions above work for you, try step 4 -- contact the manufacturer
of your wireless hardware. They can work with you to see if you
have a hardware problem.
One way to check whether you're getting at least a partial connection
between the computers, is to use the ping program. To do
this, go to the Start menu and choose Run. . .. Type
cmd and press Enter so that a black Command Prompt window
appears. Type ipconfig and make sure the IP address for one
of the computers is 192.168.247.1, and for the other computer is
192.168.247.2. Then on the computer that has the .1 IP address,
type ping 192.168.247.2. This will attempt to contact the
second computer over your wireless. If it works you'll see
Reply from. . . lines. Otherwise it'll give errors or say
no response. If you don't have a connection, see the
section above still searching
wireless.
Standby, Hibernation, and Linking on Some
Brands Some brands of computers become confused when TypeWell is
linked while the computer is put into standby, suspend, or hibernation
mode. When such computers are resumed, TypeWell can freeze.
If you experience such a freeze-on-resume while TypeWell is linked, be
sure to unlink TypeWell on one or both of your computers before
suspending them. The easiest way to do this is to close TypeWell
just before suspending.
The Internet and TypeWell Wireless The TypeWell
linking method completely takes over the wireless settings. This
is necessary to make the wireless connection work reliably in day to day
use.
Some users would like to be
able to access the Internet from the TypeWell computer. The
problem is that several of the set up steps (8, 11, and 12) preclude
the use of the Internet along with a reliable TypeWell connection.
Unfortunately, there is no way to use a switcher program to change all
these settings back and forth for the two different uses, particularly
step 12.
Here are the ways you can
safely connect a TypeWell computer to the Internet.
- The easiest is to use a wired connection for reaching the
Internet. In this configuration, the wireless hardware remains
dedicated to TypeWell linking, and the wired network hardware can be
used for Internet. Similarly, you can safely use a dial-up
connection to access the Internet with no negative effects on the
TypeWell wireless settings.
- Add a second wireless interface to your computer, by purchasing a
second 802.11b/g card. Configure this second wireless card to
work with the internet, while leaving the first dedicated to
TypeWell. When doing this, we recommend that you remove the
Internet wireless card when using the computer for TypeWell linking,
both to prevent radio interference, and to avoid having the extra card
sticking out of the machine and subject to damage when it's not
needed.
- A method we don't recommend unless you are an expert with
wireless, is to manually reconfigure wireless back and forth from one
use (Internet) to the other (TypeWell) on a regular basis. To do
this, set up TypeWell as discussed above, then undo step 12 to
go back to Internet mode, then re-do 12 to go back to TypeWell
mode. We don't recommend this because it's common for non-expert
users to casually mess with the settings which will seem to work at the
time but then will result in unreliable connections later.
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Overview 