How To Create a LAN connection between 2 PCs

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 either 2 normal ethernet cables and a Hub / Switch. OR a crossover ethernet cable. We choose the 2nd way 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 PC1 and PC2.

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.

PC1:

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 PC1. 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 PC1.

PC2:

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 PC2. 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 PC2 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. For easier access you can map a drive on the network to a local drive by “Tools” >> “Map network drive”.