Removing the IE Restriction on Concurrent Downloads Universal Plug and Play Ron Pacchiano
Universal Plug and Play
We've all heard the term, but how many of us actually know what Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) [define] is, what its benefits are, or even how to enable it on our systems? My guess is not many.
So I thought that a brief explanation of what it is and how to enable it might be helpful. Basically, UPnP is a standard that uses Internet and Web protocols to enable devices such as PCs, peripherals, intelligent appliances, and wireless devices to be plugged into a network and automatically know about each other.
With UPnP, when a you plug a device into the network, the device will configure itself, acquire a TCP/IP address, and use a discovery protocol based on the Internet's Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to announce its presence on the network to other devices.
For example, if you had a camera and a printer connected to the network and needed to print out a photograph, you could press a button on the camera and have the camera send a "discover" request asking if there were any printers on the network. The printer would identify itself and send its location in the form of a universal resource locator (URL) to the camera.
The camera and printer would use Extensible Markup Language (XML) to establish a common language, or "protocol negotiation," to talk to each other and determine capabilities. Once a common language was established, the camera would control the printer and print the photograph you selected.
Microsoft is one of 29 companies sponsoring UPnP and hopes that it will make plugging a device or appliance into a home or small business data network as easy as it is to plug a lamp into an electrical outlet. Microsoft describes UPnP as "seamless proximity networking" that provides "standardization on the wire rather than in the devices," and is based on existing Internet standards.
Windows XP has built-in support for UPnP and it can be easily enabled on your own system. In some cases you might need to have access to the original Windows XP CD to complete the installation. Now follow these steps:
Click on Start and select the Control Panel.
Double-click on Add/Remove Programs.
On the left side of the window select Add/Remove Windows Components scroll down to Networking Services and check UPnP User Interface. Click OK.
Windows will now install the UPnP User Interface software. With that done we now need to activate the service. To do so just do the following:
Right-click on My Computer and click Manage.
Double-click on Services and Applications.
Click on Services.
In the right pane, scroll down until you locate the service named Universal Plug and Play Device Host. The UPnP Device Host service provides support to host Universal Plug and Play devices.
Now right-click this service and select Properties.
Make sure that the Startup type is set to Automatic.
Click Start and then click on OK once the service has finished starting.
Now we need to locate the service named SSDP Discovery Service. This service enables the system to perform a discovery of UPnP devices on your home network.
Now right-click this service and select Properties.
Repeat Steps 5, 6 and 7 for the SSDP Discovery Service.
