How to setup a simple network between 2 PC + 1 phone

[creatip]

Hi everyone,

So initially I have 1 PC in my bedroom, on the second floor of my house, with 1 router. For convenience, let's just say they're PC1 and router1. I successfully connected my smartphone to the same network (via router1's wi fi), so I can access and send files from my phone to pc1 (mainly for work purposes)

Now I'm setting up the 1st floor of my house for a private office. So I got another pc, and a router, let's just say pc2 and router2. I managed to setup router2 as an access point, connected to router1 via LAN cable. So pc2 is now connected to internet via router2 - router1 - WAN. From reading around, I setup the SSID and password of router2 as the exact same as router1.

What I want to ask is:
- my phone only recognizes pc1, and not pc2. Understandable, because I set the SSID of router 2 the exact same as router1. So I can still access and send file to pc1, but not pc2, while I want to be able to access both pc from my phone. Should I change the SSID of router2? I'm afraid doing so may lead to a problem (I don't know anything about networking)

- I want to have communication between pc1 and pc2, meaning I can access files of pc1 from pc2 and vice versa. I know they're now considered in the same network, but how do I do that (access files)? Where should I setup in windows?

Edit: 3rd problem just presented itself. Now I can't access router2 menu from my pc. So initially, out of the box, router2's IP is set to 192.168.0.1. After reading about setting up an access point, I turned off DHCP, and changed it to static IP 192.168.100.50 (so as to have the same subnet as router1). Now I can't access router2 with both IPs. Tried turning off-on, still the same. It's working, meaning I still have internet on pc2, but I just can't access the menu of router2

OS:
PC1: Windows 7 32bit
PC2: Windows 7 64bit

Thank you in advance

 

[SkyNetRising]

I don't really understand, why you need a second router. Just connect both pc to the same router.

If you absolutely want to use second router too, then
1st - disable dhcp service on second router,
2nd - connect it to first router using lan ports (on both routers).

 

[WKIRBY]

Just use router 2 as an access point. You have setup a network. Allow both pc's to share files across your network

 

[Fait]

Router 2 need to be in bridge mode not AP mode.

 

[creatip]

Hi, thanks for the answers

I don't really understand, why you need a second router. Just connect both pc to the same router.

If you absolutely want to use second router too, then
1st - disable dhcp service on second router,
2nd - connect it to first router using lan ports (on both routers).

I'm using router2 as to have a stable wifi signal on the first floor. There were a lot of blank spots when I was relying the wifi from router1 on the second floor.

Did the 2 steps mentioned, and it's working, i.e. I got internet on pc2

Just use router 2 as an access point. You have setup a network. Allow both pc's to share files across your network

Yes, but where do I go to 'see' PC1 from PC2 (and vice versa)? Which menu in windows 7 do I click?

Router 2 need to be in bridge mode not AP mode.

The manual guide only specified the router to be used as: wireless router, access point, and wireless extender. I want to dive further into the router2's menu, but a new problem just presented itself:

Now I can't access router2 menu from my pc. So initially, out of the box, router2's IP is set to 192.168.0.1. After reading about setting up an access point, I turned off DHCP, and changed it to static IP 192.168.100.50 (so as to have the same subnet as router1). Now I can't access router2 with both IPs. Tried turning off-on, still the same. It's working, meaning I still have internet on pc2, but I just can't access the menu of router2

 

[SkyNetRising]

Can you post output of ipconfig /all from your pc?

 

[failboat]

Did you make sure that .50 was a free ip? It might be conflicting. The old one won't work anymore after changing it.
You have to factory reset it to get it back or just only connecting one pc into it and navigating to the ip.

Are you trying to create file shares in windows? File shares have a few things, connecting to it via ip/localhost or searching for it with discovery turned on. If it's setup for users you have to log into it.

Try netstat -a to see what is on your network. It might be there, but you are having issues with connecting.

https://www.digitalcitizen.life/command-prompt-advanced-networking-commands

Only the modem should be plugged into a WAN port. Everything else down from that into LAN. LAN-> LAN from router to AP

 

[creatip]

Hi, thank you again for the answers

Can you post output of ipconfig /all from your pc?

Tried tinkering some more, and the post below gave me an idea, and I think it worked. So far so good.

Did you make sure that .50 was a free ip? It might be conflicting. The old one won't work anymore after changing it.
You have to factory reset it to get it back or just only connecting one pc into it and navigating to the ip.

Are you trying to create file shares in windows? File shares have a few things, connecting to it via ip/localhost or searching for it with discovery turned on. If it's setup for users you have to log into it.

Try netstat -a to see what is on your network. It might be there, but you are having issues with connecting.

https://www.digitalcitizen.life/command-prompt-advanced-networking-commands

Only the modem should be plugged into a WAN port. Everything else down from that into LAN. LAN-> LAN from router to AP

Your answer, especially the first paragraph gave me an idea. Every time I turn off-on the router2, after some time initializing, it would give an error message 'conflicting ip detected'. I didn't think much of it before, but after reading your answer, I double checked the settings of the router1.

So yesterday I did 2 things (concerning IPs):
- set the router2's IP to static IP 192.168.100.50
- on router1's menu, set the DHCP reserved IP to 192.168.100.50 (from what I read, to make sure no other gadgets would use that IP)

Now after double checking, this is where I took the wrong step: I set the reserved IP to PC2's mac address, when it should be router2's mac. Corrected the mishap, and it's all good now. Thank you again for all the answers