Member Avatar for ricksingh

Currently I have a BT 2700HGV Business Hub and a Belkin Share N300. The BT hub is located downstairs and Belkin is upstairs.
Downstairs there are 4 PCs connected to a switch, the switch is connected to the hub.
Upstairs is a totally different story, there are 3 PCs and 3 Laptops. I want to use the Belkin router upstairs to create a network for the 3pcs and 3 laptops with homegroup so that we can all share files and a printer. The pcs are all wired to the router and the laptops connect wirelessly. Downstairs i want to do the samething, have a home group between the 4 PCs. But i want them to be independant of each other.

I've had a look online regarding DHCP settings and i've played about but nothing seems to work. Anyone have any ideas?

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For the BT 2700HGV downstairs + Belkin Share N300 upstairs setup described by , the simplest reliable way to get two independent networks is to let the Belkin act as a second router (connect the Belkin WAN port to a LAN port on the BT hub) and place it on a different private subnet. That creates two NAT'd networks (upstairs isolated from downstairs) while both retain internet access. This is effectively "cascading" routers and is the least intrusive option compared with VLANs or managed switches. ()

Practical example (minimal steps):

  1. Change Belkin LAN to a different subnet (e.g. 192.168.2.1/24) and enable its DHCP for 192.168.2.100–200.
  2. Leave the BT hub on its existing subnet (e.g. 192.168.1.0/24) with DHCP on.
  3. Connect an Ethernet cable from the BT LAN to the Belkin WAN. Optionally give the Belkin WAN a static IP on the BT subnet for easy management.
    After this, upstairs machines get 192.168.2.x and stay separate from 192.168.1.x hosts.

If the goal is a single shared network (easier file/printer sharing), put the Belkin into Access-Point / bridge mode or disable its DHCP and connect LAN-to-LAN to the BT hub — that makes one flat subnet and removes the isolation. Vendor guides cover both AP-mode and LAN-to-LAN methods (disable DHCP, assign a static LAN IP outside the primary router’s DHCP range). (tp-link.com)

Important note about HomeGroup: Microsoft retired HomeGroup in Windows 10 (version 1803). Use Windows file-and-printer sharing, mapped network drives, OneDrive, or a network printer instead; Microsoft documents those alternatives. (support.microsoft.com)

Troubleshooting / cautions: confirm IP ranges with ipconfig/router status pages; test isolation by pinging devices across subnets (should fail when isolated). Cascading produces double-NAT which can break inbound port forwarding, UPnP, or some VPNs — if those are needed, consider bridge mode on the primary gateway or using AP mode instead. For a long-term, centrally managed solution that requires multiple isolated subnets with routing between them, a VLAN-capable router/switch is the proper approach (but requires more hardware and config). (kb.netgear.com)

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Member Avatar for JorgeM

So, I would need some clarification... Why do you want to connect two routers? Is it because you are trying to set up two homegroups and need to have two different subnets? If so, there is a work-around to creating two homegroups on the same subnet. There are various postings on microsoft related forums that suggest this as a solution...

  1. Go to Network and sharing center. Change network type from Home to Public. Click Close.
  2. Click "Change Advanced sharing settings". Click OK or Cancel.
  3. Change network type back to "Home" and then press Next.
  4. After this you may create a a new Homegroup automatically.

Put the DHCP question aside for a moment... For clarification, can you explain or provide a drawing of how you have this network connected? Do you also have one of these routers connected to the internet? How did you go about defining the two subnets on each router?

If each router has its own subnet, when you hook up two routers to each other, you need to configure the routing tables on each device so that they know about each other's subnets. For example, upstairs, you may define the 192.168.1.x/24 subnet, while downstairs you define the 192.168.2.x/24 subnet.

I hope that I am not confusing you further, so please provide some clarification on your configuration.

Member Avatar for ricksingh

Thanks for getting back!
This is the setup at my warehouse and the wifi reception everywhere is poor, thats the reason I've opted to have a belkin wifi router upstairs and leave the BT hub downstairs. I've uploaded an image of the all the connections and the network below as well as the setup downstairs:


I've reset the both routers now, and as it stands they are both in default settings. How should i proceed from here?

Member Avatar for JorgeM

So, if your goal is to create two seperate subnets, you would actually need to have a router with the ability to define two vlans, or two routers that can be connected to each other so that each router has their own network segment independent from each other.

Otherwise, if your goal is just to create two homegroups, the steps above should allow you to do that.

Now, if you just want to create two logical subnets on the same physical network (1 vlan), you can do so by cofiguring the devices with static IPs. DHCP is not going to be an option on one VLAN because the DHCP packets are broadcast based and on one VLAN all of the hosts will receive the packets. In this scenario, for example, the hosts upstairs would be configured with 192.168.1.x/24 and the downstairs with 192.168.2.x/24 addresses. The downstairs and upstairs hosts will not be able to communicate with each other if the hosts have no default gateway to route the traffic betwen them.

So in re-reading your post, if the goal is independence, why not physically disconnect the downstairs and upstairs network from each other?

Is there something else you want for them to share such as an internet connection?

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