Connecting a laptop straight to a desktop to share content ....

B

bulla

New Member
I hope you can help me with a question .... (set up info is later on)..... I've got a desktop that everything is on, but I recently got access to a laptop and what I'd love to do is be able to get a chord and connect the 2 of them so that I have access to the hard drive of the desktop while I lay elsewhere in the room with the laptop......

Now you'll all be saying " why doesn't he just install a wireless router and to hell with a chord ...."...

Well, in the house there are 2 desktops and we already have a wireless router to share the cable internet. We've had the router/cable internet like this for a few years, and last month after installing the laptop into the network I checked the internet usage and lo and behold..... the laptop setup somehow created a "hole" in the cable signal and a neighbour was eating into our cable internet signal and our downloads trebled in one month .... (I called up the wireless router people and they pointed out to an error in the laptop signal setup etc that caused the network to open.....)

Needless to say I'm toooo scared of further problems to setup a network sharing system between the desktop and the laptop .... worried in case something goes wrong .......

I figure that if I can limit the sharing to a cabled device, the anything without a cable won't be included .... so no neighbours will be giving me any problems (if you know what I mean.....)


So that's the reason for me wanting to connect the laptop to my desktop - will it be possible for me to plug it in, then switch on the laptop and see the hard drive from the desktop?

ANY help would be greatfully (!) received.......

Thanks
 
robina_80 said:
RJ45 cable cross over i think, and then make your hard drive in your desktop shared
Click to expand...

while what Robina_80 said is true, you might also take note that you need be on static IP and both on same range, to share contents. like example below :
PC = 192.168.0.10 and lappy=192.168.0.11 (same range)
will work

but if you do
PC=192.168.0.10 and lappy =10.39.1.19 (different range)
it wont work.

and remember to share ok !!

cheers
 
What your asking. is SIMPLE to do.

You will need

A:
If your going Directly From Computer to Computer, Without going through the Router
- A Standard Cross Over Cable.
- Little Bit of clicking of the Mouse

B:
If your going to Plug Computer --> Router --> Laptop
-A Standard Network Cable (RJ45)
-A Little bit of Clicking.

Too share folders to access them, Right Click the Folder/Hard Drive you wish to share.

Go too Sharing

Enable Sharing.

Then, On other computer

You have whats called "Map Network Drive"

This means, that a icon like the Local Harddrive Icon you currently have will be placed in My Computer (or wherever you want it)

To do this,

From Memory,

It is, Going to the folder you have shared. Right Clicking, And its Map Network Drive or something along those lines

Maybe someone can add this in (as its different for Vista)
 
Thanks everyone - I thought it would be something like what you've said but I wanted to be sure of two things.....

1. what type of cable it is (so I know what to look for when I got digging through all the wires and cables !! or else know what to ask for if I go shopping for it...........)

eg. is it this one?

http://www.cablek.com/client_file/upload/image/t1_db15_mf.jpg


2. setting up the "sharing" ....... robina you mentioned the sharing of the hard drive..... which is what I'm assuming "clicking of the mouse" is below...


K3rupt said:
What your asking. is SIMPLE to do.

You will need

A:
If your going Directly From Computer to Computer, Without going through the Router
- A Standard Cross Over Cable.
- Little Bit of clicking of the Mouse
Click to expand...

Firstly no problem with the IP - it's the same so no problems in sharing anything.


BUT I want to make sure that when I click "share" etc that the desktop won't also be letting other computers share it's contents .......

ie. I only want to share the hard disk with the computer at the other end of the cable (and, obviously, only when the cable is in)

IS THIS POSSIBLE with what you've said above?

Basically, I don't want neighbors being about to read everything on my hard drive.

Thanks
 
If the two computers have Network Interface Card in each one of them you can use the crossover cable and connect them together.
I will tell you some easy steps so you can share data between the two computers.
After you connect the cable go to Control Panel- Network Connections - Right click on Local Area Connection and click on Properties, Double click on Internet protocol.
Now set the IP address to something like "10.10.10.1" and the subnet mask to "255.255.255.0"
Now go to the other computer and do the exact same steps but this time make the IP address a little different like "10.10.10.2"

Now that you have a connection between the 2 computers you can right click on any Drive or Folder and click Sharing and Security.
Click on just enable file sharing and share the folders.
Assuming you shared a folder on computer number 1.
Go to computer number 2 and click on Start-Run and type this without quotes "\\10.10.10.1"
Now you can copy data.

The guide above was given to me by shady he's the moderator in the Computer Networking and Servers forum.
 
Thanks everyone - I haven't been able to connect them, so I'll just post what I've done so far ..... oh, i'd forgotten to mention that it's a Windows XP operating system....

- connected both computers using the cable suggested....... note that it's the type of cable that you use for a dial-up modem
BUT since the desktop is connected directly to the router, I had to connect the laptop to the router too.........

So the desk-top and lap-top are connected via the router.

Then I did the following as was suggested.....

- chose a folder on my desktop "to share" and after choosing "sharing and security" I clicked the "network sharing & security" & then "share this folder in the network"

- then went to the laptop and tried to find that folder in explorer ... to see if the access to the folder was added anywhere in explorer for the laptop user to use.

But I can't see if anywhere on the laptop.

Plus when I went to the network setup on the desktop, all it showed was a connection to an internet gateway and a high speed internet. Nothing about sharing anything from the hard drive....... (can't remember if this is supposed to show up or not.........)



So suggestions would be appreciated......... thanks very much
 
Last edited:
Just checking in .... (the thread is now on the second page so maybe it's not being seen ....?!)


I'd really appreciate help - or even a good reliable site that has the instructions for what I want ... ( specifically not setting up a network that will exist when the chord is taken out because it means that it's a network that's there for others to potentially get into if I've set it up incorrectly!!) Or is this impossible?
 
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