On 26 Jul 2007 at 13:30, Loy Pressley wrote:

> I want to connect two computer for file and printer sharing.  There is 
> an Ethernet connection on both computers. I bought a crossover cable 
> with RJ45 connectors on each end and connected the two computer using 
> the cable.  When I made the connection, one of the computers began 
> flashing that a network cable was disconnected.  I ran the network setup 
> wizard and told it to ignore the disconnected cable.  It doesn't flash 
> any more but neither do the two computers appear to be able to see each 
> other.
> 
> I am a complete buffoon at this.  All I want to do in connect two 
> WinXPSP2 computers. One has WinXP Pro and the other WinXP Home.  
> According to everything I could find, all I needed was the right 
> crossover cable and I was ready to go.  I ordered the cable and hooked 
> the two computers together and no joy.  For this simple network  I think 
> I have all the hardware I need.  I certainly do need some help setting 
> it up, though.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

  Although it is possible to use a crossover cable to make a point-to-point 
connection like this, Ethernet is designed to use a hub or switch to 
interconnect multiple host machines.  So each machine will need an IP 
address configured for its Ethernet adapter.  These addresses need to be 
distinct, but within the same address range.

  The default configuration is going to say "Obtain address automatically", 
but this requires that some machine, with an address configured, be set up 
to hand out addresses to other machines.  If you enable ICS (Internet 
Connection Sharing) on one of the machines, it can do that, but that may 
require that t also HAVE a separate Internet connection.

  A simpler approach is to assign each machine an address in a common 
private range.  If you go through the Network config to the properties of 
the Ethernet connector, and look at TCP/IP proertires, you'll see three 
boxes -- address, subnet mask, and default gateway.

  All addresses that start with "192.168." are private, and are intended to 
be used with a mask of "255.255.255.0".  Many retail network procts such as 
routers come preconfigured to use the 192.168.0.x or 192.168.1.x ranges, so 
let's use 192.168.2.x, where x is 1 on one machine and 2 on the other.

  The default gateway is the address of a devide that connects this private 
network to other address groups, including the whole internet.  Since you're 
not connecting it, you can leave that blank.

  Once that is set one each PC, they should be able to see each other.  From 
the one that is 192,168,2,1, open a command prompt and type "ping 
192.168.2.2".  You should get four responses showing a very brief time for a 
packet to reach the other machine and a response to be received.

David Gillett

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