Windows Networking - Setup Direct Connection Network

 

A Direct cable connection network is used to connect two PC's together without the need of a router, hub or internet. It is useful for gaming, file backup or even resource sharing. You can share the internet like this, plus also printers, scanners etc etc. Its a very cheap way to setup a network.

What you will need
For this you will require 2 PC's with LAN cards and a crossover cable. By standard the cables are usually yellow, or have yellow plugs, (but this may not always be the case), and most modern PC's will have a built in LAN connection, but check before you buy.

Physical setup
This quite straight forward. Plug each end of the crossover cable into the LAN connector on each PC.

Software Setup
Sometimes connecting the two PC's together is all it takes to get this type of network working, but more often or not is is better to manually configure the two PC's together. To do this follow these steps:
1 - On the main computer open Network connections by Clicking "Start" then "Run" or "Press Windows key + R" (Opens run command), then type "ncpa.cpl" (No speech marks). The following screen should appear (Click on it to see larger image).

2 - Right click on your local connection and select "properties".

3 - Now click on the "Internet Protocols (TCP/IP)", then click on "Properties".

4 - Now select "Use the following IP address", and input the following:
IP address: 192.168.2.1
Subnet Mask : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway : 192.168.2.2
Now click on "Use the following DNS server Addresses", and input the following beside "Preferred DNS Server"
Preferred DNS Server: 192.168.2.2
Click "OK" and then "OK" again to complete the process
See image below for how it should look.

5 - On the other computer open Network connections by Clicking "Start" then "Run" or "Press Windows key + R" (Opens run command), then type "ncpa.cpl" (No speech marks). The following screen should appear (Click on it to see larger image).

6 - Right click on your local connection and select "properties".

7 - Now click on the "Internet Protocols (TCP/IP)", then click on "Properties".

8 - Now select "Use the following IP address", and input the following:
IP address: 192.168.2.2
Subnet Mask : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway : 192.168.2.1
Now click on "Use the following DNS server Addresses", and input the following beside "Preferred DNS Server"
Preferred DNS Server: 192.168.2.1
Click "OK" and then "OK" again to complete the process
See image below for how it should look.

9 - Your network should now be working.