Getting Started

Please understand this information is provided as a courtesy. We provide technical support for the software. Networking is hardware and the responsibility of the users. The software will run in a networked environment created by the users. You must have local resources available to assist you in networking. Configuring your computer is a prerequisite for running Auction! in network mode and is not part of the Auction! software or technical support agreement.

Install Auction! V4 on the remote computer for fastest performance.

Step by Step Instructions

1. TURN ON SHARING ON THE HOST COMPUTER
a. Find the Host PC name. Right click Computer/This PC, left click Properties, look for name. If the computer name is too generic, e.g. “My Computer” or “Dell”, then change it to a specific name for each PC so you can tell them apart.

b. Open Windows File Explorer
Go to C:\Users\Public\Public Documents
Right click on Public Documents, choose Share With
Choose Advanced Sharing Settings

c. Find & Open Guest & Public Network section (you may need to close the Private section)
Turn on Network Discovery
Turn on File and Printer Sharing

d. Find & Open All Networks
Find Public Folder Sharing
Turn on Sharing so anyone with network access can read/write files in public folders

e. Find Password Protected Sharing and turn it OFF

f. Click Save Changes.

g. Still on the HOST computer, start a Notepad file. Notepad can be found in Accessories.
Type the words “this is the host PC” and Save As with a filename like “Network Test.txt” in the C:\Users\Public\Public Documents location.

2. CONNECT HARDWARE
a. Connect each computer to router with Ethernet cables. Typical routers have 4 ports, plus an internet port.
Plug Ethernet cable only into one of the 4 ports. Do not use the internet port.
Disable wireless capabilities on laptops. This step is CRITICAL – many networking slow-down issues stem from a computer using too many resources to hunt for a wireless connection that you’re not even using. You may be able to disable the wireless networking by flipping an
external switch on the side of your laptop. When there is no external switch, then look for a command in My Network Places or Network Center to disable the wireless connection.

3. TEST WHETHER THE HOST COMPUTER IS PROPERLY SHARED

On a CLIENT computer:
a. Go to Computer or This PC. Look for Network on the left in the Navigation Pane (if it doesn’t
appear, look for View, and enable Navigation pane)

b. Click to open the Network locations. You should see the HOST computer’s name as a network location.

c. Click on the Host PC name to open it.

d. On the right, double click on Users, then on Public, the on Public documents. You should see the Network Test.txt document. Open it, write another sentence to it, like “this is client #1” and Save.

when you can write to the text document and **save **it, this means you have shared this location properly.

4. MOVE THE AUCTION! PROJECT TO THE SHARED LOCATION

a. Back to HOST PC:
Go to C:\Users\Public\Public Documents
Create a new folder named “Auctions” in that location

b. Open your project in Auction! and switch to Exclusive Access if in Shared
Click File, Maintenance, Move Project
Move it to C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Auctions
Switch back to shared Access.

5. ON EACH CLIENT COMPUTER (CLIENTS ONLY!) MAP A DRIVE LETTER TO THE PROJECT ON THE HOST.

On Windows 8:
a. Go to This PC.
b. On the Computer Ribbon Click Map Network Drive.

On Windows 7:
a. Go to Computer.
b. Click Map Network Drive under the address box at the top
On both Win 7 or Win 8:
c. Choose a letter near the end of the alphabet (we recommend X or Y, not Z, since Z sounds like C on the phone or in a noisy environment)

d. Browse to find the HOST PC name on the network.When the name of the Host computer does not show, use the arrow to expand Users

e. Use the arrow to expand Public.

f. Use the arrow to expand Public Documents.

g. Highlight the Auctions folder and click OK.

You may wish to check the box to Reconnect at sign-in
You do NOT need to check the box to Connect using different credentials.

h. Click Finish.
Typically, Windows will now display the contents of this new drive letter; you may close the window.

6. TEST TO SEE IF COMPUTERS ARE IN SAME PROJECT.

Still on one CLIENT PC:
a. Start Auction!
b. Click File, Open Project.
c. Use the dropdown arrow to choose your new mapped drive letter (eg X or Y).

You should see the project and be able to open it.
d. Insert a new invitee name and only put in a Last Name “AAAA” and Save.

On the Host computer if project is closed open project and see if AAAA is in the top of the list of invitees. When the project is already open, click File, Refresh Screen to see that new name on the other computer.

Open the project on any other client computers to look for AAAA. Refresh Screen when the project is already open on the client.

When all computers can see the AAAA name, all are in same project. You may delete the name once the test has assured you that you are working in the same project simultaneously.

NETWORKING USING A SERVER.
When using Auction! in an office environment with a shared server location or when using a server at your event rather than a peer to peer network, on a SERVER, you can share your project over your internal network (you **do need** to install Auction! on your server for fastest performance.) To move the project from a local computer to the server, open the project in Exclusive Access, then click File, Maintenance, Move Project and choose your server drive letter and desired folder location on the server. Click Move Here to put your project on your network. Other computers in in the server network must have permission to access the shared drive on the server and each computer must have Auction! installed and licensed.