I have 2 computers side by side each other. I want to make a quick peer-to-peer network connection between both computers so both can surf the net at the same time. Is that possible? How am i supposed to do it? What kind of cables do i use. Both computers do have a LAN port installed already. I'm sorry if i use non-descriptive words in this sense because I'm totally poor in networks... If anyone can help me I'll be really glad!!

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Here's what you need:

Hardware
1. Two ethernet cards(aka NIC or Network Interface Card) on the two systems - from your post it seems you've already got
them installed (Probably the one you are refering to as LAN Ports).
2. A small 8-port HUB (I don't know if you get cheaper ones with lesser ports. Maybe you do - infact you get USB based
extremely cheap HUBs these days). A HUB is a must for connecting these two computers.
3. A pair of UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) cables (if possible CAT-5 or Category-5: that's the highest grade of cable
you get in the market now). There was a method of connecting the two systems even without a hub through a special
crossover-patched cable, but I forgot the wiring configuration - so can't help you there. HUB is a must.

Software
1. Windows Whatever installed on both the systems.
    [/tab]If you have both the network cards installed properly you should be able to see a connection named Local
Area Connection in your StartMenu > Settings > Network & Dialup Connections. Also make sure that you have the following
protocols installed and bound to your card. If you righ-click > Properties on the Local Area Connection you should get a
panel with 3 protocols/devices installed:
a. Client for Microsoft Network
b. File & Printer Sharing Services
c. Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
[tab]If these aren't installed then you have to install them using the Install button in the same panel. If you need to install these you'll find them under Client/Services/Protocols in the panel that pops up when you click Install. Also make sure that the checkbox titled Show icon in taskbar when connected checked.

    [/tab]Once you've got all these set, you have to make sure both your computers have been assigned different names. You
can find your computer name by right-clicking on My Computer on the desktop. Follow My Computer > right-click Properties > Network Identification. This panel will show something like Full computer name: <Somename>, where <somename> is the name
of your system. These should be different on the two systems - or else they won't be able to connect due to naming conflict.
If we were to use the NetBEUI Protocol and not TCP/IP you wouldn't normally require to assign any specific IP addresses to these systems, but NetBEUI is very limited in its networking capabilities and TCP/IP has many distinct advantages over it. So we're using TCP/IP here and it'd do good if you assign any two distinct IP addresses to these systems.

[tab]You can assign IP addresses following this: Local Area Connection > right-click Properties > Select TCP/IP > Click Properties Button. That'll get you a panel where you can allot IP Addresses. Click on the radio button titled Use the following IP Address and in the IP Address field enter any IP in the series: 10.19.x.x or 192.168.x.x - these are the IP ranges reserved for Local Area Networks. Feel free to use any numbers - however they should ideally be in the same series. Remember you've to set this on both the systems. As for Subnet Mask, set it to: 255.255.255.0 You can leave the Default Gateway & DNS Servers as it is - no change needed.

    [/tab]One more thing you need to ensure is that both the computers are in the same WorkGroup. You can find out the present workgroup by b]My Computer > right-click Properties > Network Identification[/b]. You'll find it right at the bottom of the panel. Set the SAME workgroup for both the systems and REBOOT both.

[tab]Upon next boot - your systems should be visible to each other by their Computer Names when you click on the Network Neighborhood/My Network Places Icon depending on the version of your Windows. If they didn't show up yet try searching for all computers (*.*) in your network and they'd surely come up. Otherwise something has gone wrong and you should start right from the beginning.

    [/tab]Now to share files/folders you need to select a drive or folder on each of these systems and right-clickon it and select Sharing. In the ensuing panel click on New Share and enter a name (any short name) as your Share Name. This is the name that the other computer will refer to your particular drive/folder as..

[tab]For sharing the Internet connection - you can do it with the Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing Services - but it's really bad and I find using a local caching proxy server much easier and better. You can get a good free proxy server called Proxy+ at: http://www.proxyplus.cz/ . The unpaid version limits the number of attached system to two - but that shouldn't cause you any hindrance right now. Install proxy+ on the computer that's dialling out to the internet and follow the setup instructions. It's quite easy and can be managed through your browser itself (the admin panel can be called up by doing a http request to the IP of the machine hosting the proxy server at a certain port) - you'll find all details in the Proxy+ manual. On the other system, in your browser and all other internet clients, you've to set the proxy address/port to whatever you configured. The proxy address should be the IP of the system hosting the proxy server and the port is whatever proxy port that you configured.

    This is from an example of what I did and it works perfectly for me... Give it a try and let me know if you're getting hiccups in any part.. Will try to help you out

All the best and Happy Networking

 

 

 

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wow...just buy a patch cable (a cable where the wires on one end go 12345678, and on the other end go 87654321) and use internet sharing. (right click on the connection for inet in network connections and go to properties.) windows does the rest.

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my apologies to earthling but that is way to fricken long...PM me if you have issues with me cause i don check topics twice.

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