In this tutorial we see how to connect to computers together to share files and resources. We can go about it either the wired way or the wireless one. But the wireless way is pretty expensive. So in this tut, we consider the wired way.

To do it the wired way, we need a RJ45 crossover ethernet cable. We choose this  instead of hubs and switches as it is more cost effective.

To create a LAN network using a crossover cable, we just need a crossover (Cross crimped RJ45 / CAT5) cable and a LAN (Ethernet) card in both computers. Most computer motherboards have onboard ethernet these days.

We refer to the 2 computers as First PC and Second PC.

First of all, we connect the cross crimped ethernet cable in the LAN RJ45 ports of both the computers.
Now we start with configuring the computers.

First PC:

1. Just right-click “My Computer” and click Properties.
2. Select the “Computer Name” tab and click the “Change” button.
3. Change the computer name to whatever you want, here we name it First PC. Change the workgroup to WG. (The workgroup name should be the same in both computers)
4. Click OK.

Now, to configure the TCP/IP connection settings,
1. Goto “Control Panel” >> “Network connections”
2. Right-click on your LAN connection and click “Properties”. In the “General” tab, select “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)”. Click the “Properties” button.
3. Set the Values
IP Address – 192.168.0.1
Subnet Mask – 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway – 192.168.0.2
4. Click OK and you are done for First PC.

Second PC:

1. Just right-click “My Computer” and click Properties.
2. Select the “Computer Name” tab and click the “Change” button.
3. Change the computer name to Second PC. Change the workgroup to WG. (The workgroup name should be the same in both computers)
4. Click OK.

Now, to configure the TCP/IP connection settings,
1. Goto “Control Panel” >> “Network connections”
2. Right-click on your LAN connection and click “Properties”. In the “General” tab, select “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)”. Click the “Properties” button.
3. Set the Values
IP Address – 192.168.0.2
Subnet Mask – 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway – 192.168.0.1
4. Click OK and you are done for Second PC as well.

If you have done the above part correctly, the computers will have detected each other. If they don’t, just restart both the computers.

You can access the other computer in “My network Places”. You can also play multi-player games using this connection.

Remember:

On windows xp click start/my network places / view network connections. Right click on ”local area connection”, Then click on properties. Double click on ”internet protocol (TCP/IP)”

On windows vista, click start/network/network and sharing center /manage network connections, right click on ”local area connection” , then click on properties. Double click on ”internet protocol (TCP/IP)”

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