How to connect 2 computers,share files by using crossover cable

December 20th, 2008 | by admin |

If you have 2 computers at home and don’t have any switch to connect both of them for file sharing or playing games as all of us know the power of LAN so it is much better to connect 2 computer using crossover cable rather than spending money on buying an expensive switch.

For connecting 2 PCs via crossover cable first of all you have to make a crossover cable or you can purchase and pre made cable from market but it is always fun to create things by yourself.

To create a crossover cable follow the link given below.

http://www.duxcw.com/digest/Howto/network/cable/cable5.htm

The first end of your crossover cable should be looking like the following image.

The second end of your crossover cable should be looking like the following image.

Note: Look carefully on color coding as a single mistake in color code can cause data loss.

Now as your crossover cable is ready now what you need to do is to connect First end and second to First PC and Second PC respectively.After connecting the cable the network should be enabled.

Go to > Start > Settings > Network Connections and right click on network connection and click on disable.You must be thinking why i am saying to disable the LAN just disable the LAN i you will get to Why in the next step.

Now as you have disabled the LAN on both PCs.Its the time to assign IPs to both of the PCs as there is no DHCP server available.

Right click on LAN connection on PC1 and Click on properties

Double Click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

Select Use the following IP address and in the IP address field enter 192.168.1.2 when you will click on subnet mask it will auto filled.Click on OK button

Now repeat the same process for PC2 the only change will be in IP address field enter 192.168.1.3 in the IP address field for PC2.

When you are done with assinging IPs you are almost done.You need to enable the file and printing sharing to share files accross the PCs.

To Enable file sharing go to > folder options > click on view tab > scroll down your mouse at the end you should see enable simple file sharing check the box and click OK do this for both the PCs.

How to share files.

Right click on any folder which you wanna share and select Sharing and security.

Select the checkbox share this folder on network and click OK your folder will be shared and can be access from another PC.Suppose you have share a folder from PC1 to which we have assigned the IP 192.168.1.2 So you can access the share from PC2 by typing \\192.168.1.2 in Run.