Member Avatar for mj1141

I have two linksys router I would like to be able to share files across both routers.

The network is set up like this:

Cable modem connects to the Linksys (RT31P2)

out of the Linksys (RT31P2) on port# 1 to a Linksys (WRT54G) into the WAN port.
I have two computers hard wired to the Linksys (WRT54G) and one is wireless.

Is it possible to share files across the two Linksys routers?

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This is the classic “two routers = two subnets” problem that called out: machines on different LANs won’t appear in Network Neighborhood unless you either join the two networks or route between them. The simplest, most reliable fix (the one and outline) is to make the WRT54G act as an access point/switch so every device shares the same LAN.

Steps to convert the WRT54G into an AP (summary):

  1. Connect a PC to the WRT54G and open its admin page.
  2. Give the WRT a static LAN IP that lives on the primary router’s subnet but outside the primary router’s DHCP pool (an unused address).
  3. Disable DHCP on the WRT.
  4. Move the uplink cable from the WRT’s WAN port to one of its LAN ports. This bypasses NAT/firewall on the WRT.
  5. Reboot the WRT and the clients. Set SSID/security and channel (different non-overlapping channel than the primary for best performance).

Quick verification and troubleshooting commands:

Windows:  ipconfig /all
Ping other host:  ping <other-host-IP>
Map a share:  net use Z: \\<other-host-IP>\Share
Linux:  smbclient -L //other-host-IP -U username

If machines still can’t see each other, check each PC’s firewall (allow File and Printer Sharing), confirm they use the same workgroup, and confirm every client received an IP from the primary router.

If keeping separate subnets is required, use static routes on the primary router to reach the second subnet (advanced), or configure port-forwarding/DMZ (not recommended for SMB — security risk). For wireless: identical SSID + identical security will give seamless roaming, but choose non-overlapping channels and keep strong WPA2/WPA3 encryption. Converting the WRT into an AP yields a single flat LAN and is by far the least painful solution for file sharing.

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Member Avatar for DMR

Is it possible to share files across the two Linksys routers?

Yes, but the real issue comes down to sharing files across two networks, because that is what routers do- they manage traffic between two or more different networks.

Please give us details of the logical configuration of your routers and computers, such as the WAN and LAN IP addresses of each router, the IP addresses assigned to the computers connected to each router, whether or not the routers are supplying the computer IPs via DHCP, etc.

Member Avatar for mj1141

Linksys RT31P2


Local IP
Subnet

Local DHCP


Port 1 is ran to the second floor to Linksys WRT64G WAN Port

Linksys WRT54G

Local IP
Sunbnet

Local DHCP

WAN port IP address
Default Gateway


There are two Pc’s off of the WRT54G set for DHCP IP address and

Member Avatar for chrisbliss18

There are a number of different solutions for your problem.

The easiest solution is to replace the RT31P2 with a switch and connect the cable modem to the WRT54G. This would create one LAN rather than the two LANs that you currently have. This isn't a very good solution though since you would have to replace a component.

Your computers may be able to share files across the different LANs currently, but they just don't see eachother in Network Neighborhood. To test this, use one of the computers to try to access the shares on a computer that is connected to the other router. Rather than going through Network Neighborhood, type in the location of the other computer in the form of "\\ipAddress" such as "\\". See if you can see across to the other router's systems this way. If this set up works for you, you could actually make links on each machine to point to the systems on the other router. It's not the most elegant solution, but I have seen it work.


Now for a solution that is both elegant and inexpensive (free) but is also more technically involved. This is the best solution I can come up with in your situation. Basically, we will turn your wireless router into nothing more than a switch with a wireless access point. In effect, this will bypass all the router functions -- NAT, firewall, DHCP server, etc -- on the wireless router. This will create one LAN using two routers. The following are the details to implement this.

The first step is to not use the WAN port on the wireless router. All traffic that goes through the WAN port will be firewalled and NATed, which we don't want. We want the wired router to handle all that. Take the cable that is plugged into the WAN port on the wireless router and connect it to one of the standard LAN ports.

Since the wireless router is now just a regular device attached to the wired router, we need to configure it to use the same subnet as the wired router. Use a computer that is directly connected to the wireless router to access its configuration page. Change the wireless router's IP address to one that matches the LAN addressing for the wired router, for example: 192.168.15.2. You should not use an IP address that has a last number greater than 99 since the wired router hands out IP addresses in that range, and you don't want your wireless router to be unable to connect because a computer on the wired router got its designated IP address.

The next step is to turn off the wireless router's DHCP server. You should have the ability to set this in the configuration. You don't want the wireless router to serve as the DHCP server since you want your wired one to handle all of this. After this configuration is made, the wired router will assign IP addresses for every machine, thus connecting every machine to the same LAN.

After you have made all these changes, turn off all the machines that connect to the wireless router, reboot the router, let the router fully boot, and then turn your machines back on. After they have all come back up, make sure that they have a good network connection and can connect to the net. The last thing to check is to see if all the computers can now see themselves.

It's very possible that you will run into trouble if you try to do this. If you do, let us know what you are having a problem with, and we will help you figure out the problem.

Member Avatar for aeinstein

your using the standard/default mask of - which, in a nutshell, means that the first three groups (or, quads) of the ip must match one another exactly in order for the two devices to communicate (at least as far as a small home/office network, w/o an admin, is concerned), so the easiest thing to do is to configure the ip's accordingly: set the ip of one router to & the other to (or ...15.3, ...15.4, etc), or configure one as & the other as (or ...1.3, ...1.4, etc). this way both routers would be in the same segment/network.

Linksys RT31P2


Local IP
Subnet

Local DHCP


Port 1 is ran to the second floor to Linksys WRT64G WAN Port

Linksys WRT54G

Local IP
Sunbnet

Local DHCP

WAN port IP address
Default Gateway


There are two Pc’s off of the WRT54G set for DHCP IP address and

Member Avatar for rocketman3291

Hello, I am new, just signed up to reply here.. not sure of protocol, but.. wouldn't this be perfect for bittorrent?

Yes, but the real issue comes down to sharing files across two networks, because that is what routers do- they manage traffic between two or more different networks.

Please give us details of the logical configuration of your routers and computers, such as the WAN and LAN IP addresses of each router, the IP addresses assigned to the computers connected to each router, whether or not the routers are supplying the computer IPs via DHCP, etc.

Member Avatar for whisk3rs

Now for a solution that is both elegant and inexpensive (free) but is also more technically involved. This is the best solution I can come up with in your situation. Basically, we will turn your wireless router into nothing more than a switch with a wireless access point. In effect, this will bypass all the router functions -- NAT, firewall, DHCP server, etc -- on the wireless router. This will create one LAN using two routers. The following are the details to implement this.

The first step is to not use the WAN port on the wireless router. All traffic that goes through the WAN port will be firewalled and NATed, which we don't want. We want the wired router to handle all that. Take the cable that is plugged into the WAN port on the wireless router and connect it to one of the standard LAN ports.

Since the wireless router is now just a regular device attached to the wired router, we need to configure it to use the same subnet as the wired router. Use a computer that is directly connected to the wireless router to access its configuration page. Change the wireless router's IP address to one that matches the LAN addressing for the wired router, for example: 192.168.15.2. You should not use an IP address that has a last number greater than 99 since the wired router hands out IP addresses in that range, and you don't want your wireless router to be unable to connect because a computer on the wired router got its designated IP address.

The next step is to turn off the wireless router's DHCP server. You should have the ability to set this in the configuration. You don't want the wireless router to serve as the DHCP server since you want your wired one to handle all of this. After this configuration is made, the wired router will assign IP addresses for every machine, thus connecting every machine to the same LAN.

After you have made all these changes, turn off all the machines that connect to the wireless router, reboot the router, let the router fully boot, and then turn your machines back on. After they have all come back up, make sure that they have a good network connection and can connect to the net. The last thing to check is to see if all the computers can now see themselves.

It's very possible that you will run into trouble if you try to do this. If you do, let us know what you are having a problem with, and we will help you figure out the problem.

This is pretty much the way to go for daisy chaining. I've had routers work the way you have it set up, but most of the time in daisy chaining I had to turn one of the routers into a dummy switch by turning off DHCP and using one of the LAN ports instead of WAN for the connection with the first router.

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