Setup Two Computers Via LAN For Sharing

Creating a LAN (Local area network) connection between 2 computer systems can make sharing easy by using a LAN connection, you can transfer your GB’s of data files like documents, music, and media, quickly from one computer to another.

And not just that, by connecting two computers via LAN, you can also make your computer to play multiplayer games on it and to do that, you’ll just need to connect two computers, create a LAN connection, host a multiplayer game and Play On.

In this tutorial I’m going to show you how you can set up a LAN connection between two computers without using any modem or router, you’ll just only need a single Crossover Ethernet Cable and that’s it.

In case, you wanted to connect your PCs by using a modem or router device, then I’m also going to help with that too.

So Let’s See How To Create A LAN Connection

The first thing you’ll have to make sure is, you do have a crossover cable in your hand to connect to two computers because cross-over and straight cable both look same but works differently.

Mainly to connect two different networking devices we need to use a straight Ethernet cable and to connect two same devices we need to use a crossover Ethernet cable, and the actually different in these two different kinds of cables is the internal wire connection.

So, make sure you have a crossover cable because it’s the only way to connect two computers without a modem or switch, or otherwise you can use a straight cable if both of your computers are connected to the network device like a Router, Network Switch or a Modem.

This is how both cables internal wire color coding looks like:

If you need to connect two computers with a single wire and don’t have any crossover cable at your side then you can check out you the links given below to buy a new one yourself.

Or in case if you do have an extra straight cable for your networking then you can also use a straight to crossover converter adapter to convert your straight cable into the crossover.

In case if you need to connect more than two computers then make sure you do connect every computer with a straight LAN Wire to the local Modem, Router, Switch or Hub.

After collecting everything, now its time to see how to make things work;

Step 1 – Creating A Physical Connection

Now the first thing that you’ll need to do is to connect each end of your LAN cable into both of your computer’s Ethernet Port to connect both computers with each other. If you’re using a modem or router switch then make sure everything is connected properly.

And if you are trying to share things like transferring some files from your laptop to some another laptop, then you can also use your laptop’s Wi-Fi to share your files wirelessly. To do that, both of the WIFI enabled devices needed to connect to some WIFI router, and the rest of the whole procedure is the same as for others.

Step 2 –LAN Connection Setting

After connecting everything now it’s time to set up an IP address in both your computers to make your computer to identify the connection. You’ll just need to follow this same procedure on both of your computers or maybe laptops.

• Open your Windows Control Panel, or you can search for “Network and Sharing Center” in the Start Menu.
• Select the Network and Sharing Center option.
• From the left sidebar, click on “Change Adapter Settings” option.
• After that, open your “Local Area Connection” or I say Ethernet Adaptor’s properties.
• Now select the “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” option and then click on its “Properties” button.
• Now when the “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) properties” windows get popped up. Enter the IP address manually as shown in the picture given below and click on the “Ok” button after entering it.

This IP address given the picture is only going to works when you connected both of your computers via a crossover cable.

If you have a modem or WIFI router, then you’ll have to add the gateway IP as well. In that case, your IP should need to look like this –

Step 3 – Change Default Sharing Setting

After entering the IP Address in both of your computers, now you’ll need to change the sharing setting of your computers to permit access rights for another computer.

To do that, first, you’ll again have to go back to the Network and Sharing Center settings page of your Windows and then select the “Advanced sharing settings” option to see all your computer network sharing settings.

After when the sharing setting window gets opened, now you’ll need to change your network setting to those options as shown listed below:

• Turn on network discovery
• Turn on file and printer sharing
• Allow Windows to manage homegroup connection (recommended)
• Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can read and write files in the public folders
• Use 128-bit encryption to help protect files sharing connections (recommended)
• Turn off password protected sharing

Make these changes in all network profiles;

Step 4 – Change Default Workgroup Setting

By the use of this setting, you can create the same workgroup for both computers to starts sharing, by connected both of them in the same workgroup. Workgroup settings must be the same in both your computers but the computer’s name should be different to identify both.

• First, you’ll have to press Windows + Pause Break Key on your keyboard to open your system’s properties window. After that, click on “Change setting” in the workgroup settings category as shown in the picture given below.
• Now in the System properties, you’ll need to click on the change button, and then you will able to see the other options for changing your Computer’s Name. So first, click on the “Change” button then type “WORKGROUP” in the ‘Workgroup:’ options and then click on “ok”. After that, you’ll have to do the same thing again on your different computer which you wanted to connect(or maybe on all computers of your LAN sharing computers). And that’s how your computer can communicate with each other by working on the same LAN Workgroup;
• After that click on “Network ID” and do this manual setting as given in the picture given below:
• After that click on Finish and restart both of your computers.

Step 5- At Last, Turn On Drive Sharing

Now you will able to see your both computer in your windows network place location and to share your drive via network you’ll just need to Turn On the drive sharing by making some changes in that drive’s properties.

Here’s the list of some steps what you can follow to turn on the drive sharing in your computer or laptop:

• Right click on your drive and select Properties.
• Then, select “Sharing”.
• Then, click on “Advanced Sharing”.
• Then, tick the “Share this folder”.
• Then, click on “Permissions”.
• Then, tick on “Full control”.
• Then, click on “OK”.
• At last, click on “OK” again and that’s it.

If you having some problem with your Local Area Network (LAN), like your computer won’t able to open the shared folder, files and drive on the network place or it ask for any permission like something.

In that case, you don’t have to worry it, because with the help of my another tutorial I will going to show you, how you can give your computer permission to read and write the files and folder on the shared drive on the network place – Just click on the link given down below:

How to Fix the Network Error “Windows Cannot Access \\ Computer Name”?