How To Connect 2 PCs Directly

Easy Instructions for Windows XP and Windows Vista Users

Sometimes people need to connect two PCs. When and why?

Imagine this situation. You come to your friend's house with your laptop to show him the video about your last vacation in Brazil. He wants to have this video, too, and he wants to have it now. What can you do? Use your 2GB USB flash card? No, the size of the video file is much larger. Burn the video on DVD? No, that would take several hours.

Here's another situation. Your elder son found a new PC strategy game. It's so cool, and he wants to play network game with you next weekend. You have a laptop  and home computer, but how do you connect them for this network game?

So many different situations...

What you need in order to connect 2 PCs:

In networking two computers. both computers should have network adapters. You also need an ethernet crossover cable to connect PCs. Ethernet crossover cables can be purchased in any computer shop; the cable looks like normal patch cord, but it is used for the direct connection of 2 PCs. Ask the shopkeepers -- they know what you need. 

How To

Okay, you connected your computers using crossover cable. But now you need to set up network properties on both computers to help them to 'see' each other.

We will show how to do that under Windows XP and Windows Vista. You should do these actions on both computers:

1. Setup network properties on both computers.

• Windows XP: Press Start -> Settings -> Network Connections. Windows Vista: Press Start -> Connect To -> View network computers and devices -> Network and Sharing Center.
• Windows XP: Find Local Area Connection in the window (it must be connected) and right-click it. Select Properties, and the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box appears.Windows Vista: Select Manage Network Connections, find Local Area Connection in the window and double click it. Press Properties button, Local Area Connection Properties dialog box appears.
• Windows XP: Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and press Properties button. The Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties dialog box appears. Windows Vista: Select Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP/Ipv4) and press Properties button. The Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties dialog box appears.
• Both systems: Select Use the Following IP Address.