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type="topic" style="task"
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<link type="guide" xref="net#wireless"/>
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<revision pkgversion="3.0" date="2011-04-05" status="final"/>
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<revision pkgversion="3.0" version="3.0.1" date="2011-04-06" status="outdated"/>
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<link type="guide" xref="net-wireless"/>
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<credit type="author">
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<name>Phil Bull</name>
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<title>Connect directly to another computer with a wireless connection</title>
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<p>You can connect computers together by forming an <em>ad-hoc</em> wireless network. This is useful if one of the computers has a printer connected to it that you want to share, or if you want to transfer files between them, for example. With a normal (<em>infrastructure</em>) wireless network, you would connect both computers to a wireless network provided by wireless base station or router. If you don't have a base station, however, an ad-hoc network will still allow you to connect the computers to each other.</p>
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<cite>philbull@gmail.com</cite>
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<p>These instructions are outdated - at the moment there doesn't seem to be a way to create a new wireless network that you can then change to being Ad-Hoc. You used to be able to do this. This becomes an issue at step 3 in the steps list below.</p>
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<cite>jbicha@ubuntu.com</cite>
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<p>This definitely needs review. nm-connection-editor was not cooperating for me today but I think this comes closer to working. I think we should also integrate the security part into the main instructions.</p>
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<p>You can connect computers together by forming an <em>ad-hoc</em> wireless network. This is useful if one of the computers has a printer connected to it that you want to share, or if you want to transfer files between them, for example. With a normal (<em>infrastructure</em>) wireless network, you would connect both computers to a network provided by wireless base station or router. If you don't have a base station, however, an ad-hoc network will still allow you to connect the computers to each other.</p>
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<p>To set-up an ad-hoc wireless network:</p>
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<p>On one of the computers, click the network icon on the top bar and select <gui>Edit Connections</gui>.</p>
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<p>Go to the <gui>Wireless</gui> tab and click <gui>Add</gui>.</p>
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<p>In the window that appears, choose a name for the wireless network and then look at the <gui>Wireless</gui> tab.</p>
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<p>On one of the computers, click the network icon on the top bar and select <gui>Network Settings</gui>.</p>
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<p>Select <gui>Wireless</gui> from the list on the left and click <gui>Configure</gui>.</p>
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<p>In the window that appears, switch to the Wireless tab and click <gui>Add</gui>.</p>
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<p>Choose an <gui>SSID</gui>. This is the name of the network that other people will be able to see.</p>
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<p>Change the <gui>Mode</gui> to <gui>Ad-hoc</gui> and leave the other settings at their defaults. Click <gui>Save</gui>.</p>
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<p>Change the <gui>Mode</gui> to <gui>Ad-hoc</gui>. You may also want to switch to the <gui>Wireless Security</gui> tab and set the security protocol. Click <gui>Save</gui>.</p>
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<p>On the other computer, click the network icon on the top bar and look for a network with the SSID you chose. It might take a minute or two to appear in the list.</p>
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<p>Click it to connect to the ad-hoc network. You will be able to access network shares and so on, like you would if both computers were connected to a conventional wireless network.</p>
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<p>Click it to connect to the ad-hoc network. Once connected, you will be able to access network shares and so on, like you would if both computers were connected to a conventional wireless network.</p>
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<p>Click the network icon on the top bar and click <gui>Edit Connections</gui>.</p>
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<p>Go to the <gui>Wireless</gui> tab, select the ad-hoc wireless network and click <gui>Edit</gui>.</p>
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<p>Go to the <gui>Wireless Security</gui> tab and change the <gui>Security</gui> from <gui>None</gui>.</p>
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<p>Click the network icon on the top bar and click <gui>Network Settings</gui>.</p>
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<p>Go to the <gui>Wireless</gui> tab, select the ad-hoc wireless network and click <gui>Configure</gui>.</p>
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<p>Go to the <gui>Wireless Security</gui> tab and change the <gui>Security</gui> from <gui>None</gui>. WPA is a good, secure choice, but some older wireless cards do not support it so you might have to use WEP instead.</p>