Crossover Cable Network

Part:   1  2  3  4 

(Continued from previous part...)

4. On the desktop, go to Start > Control Panel > Systems. The "System Properties" dialog box shows up.

5. Go to the "Computer Name" tab and make sure "desktop" is in the computer name field.

6. Edit file c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts to add an entry for the desktop computer:

127.0.0.1       localhost
192.168.0.1	laptop

7. Open a command window and run the ping command:

>ping laptop

Pinging laptop [192.168.0.1] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
...

8. On the laptop, open a command window and run the ping command:

>ping desktop

Pinging desktop [192.168.0.2] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.0.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
...

This is good. I don't have to remember the IP addresses now.

Sharing Files with Windows Explorer

Since my two computers are running Windows systems, I can also share files with Windows Explorer. Here is how:

1. On both laptop and desktop, go to Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Local Area Connection.

2. Right mouse click on "Local Area Connection", and select "Properties". The "Local Area Connection Properties" dialog box shows up.

3. Make sure that "Client for Microsoft Networks" is checked.

4. On the laptop, go to Start > Programs > Accessories > Windows Explorer. The Windows Explorer shows up to allow you to manage all your directories, files and other storage resources on your computer.

5. Open the root directory c:, and a new sub directory called c:\share. Copy some files to this directory to share with the desktop computer.

6. Right mouse click on c:\share, and select "Properties". The directory properties dialog box shows up.

7. Go to "Sharing" tab. Select "Share this folder" and make it checked. Make to give permission to everyone with read and write rights.

8. Click OK to close the properties box.

9. On the desktop, go do Start > Run. The "Run" dialog box shows up.

10. Enter "\\laptop\share" in the Open field, and click OK. A Windows Explorer window shows up with the shared directory from the laptop computer open.

11. Enter "\\laptop\share" in the Open field, and click OK. A Windows Explorer window shows up with the shared directory from the laptop computer open.

12. Copy some files out of the shared directory into a local directory.

13. Copy some files into the shared directory out of a local directory.

Perfect, right? I can easily move files between both computers now.

Conclusion

• Crossover cable can connect two computers together without using any other network devices.
• Private network settings use static IP addresses in the format of 192.168.*.*.
• MS firewall, Norton Internet blocking and other similar settings should be turned off, because computers are not connected to the public Internet, and those programs may interfering the networking tests.

Part:   1  2  3  4 

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