connect a laptop and desktop

[pinem1]

I recently bought a gateway laptop and I already have a compaq desktop. Is there a way to make my compaq harddrive show up onto my laptop. when I connect the computers.

First, is this possible?

Second, how do I connect these computers to do this.

each computer had ethernet cards installed and I have an ethernet internet connection that I want to be able to use while the computers are connected. But I don't won't the compaq to be seperate, i want to be able to control it from my laptop. Thanks for the help

 

[Zorlod]

You can get a crossover rj45 cable and connect the 2 ethernet cards, then assign each an ip addy of 192.68.0.1 and 192.168.0.2 subnet 255.255.255.0 for each, assign a unique name for each and the workgroup just assing as workgroup then install file and print sharing and you can share your hard drive from your compaq with your laptop, or vice versa...you may need to get extra ethernet cards for each and assign new ip addys to the tcp/ip that is bound to them. depends on how you have your ethernet set up

 

[conceptumator]

Easier way to do this: buy a cheap hub ( I assume the two computers have network cards) and just hook both into the same hub. Then share the drives on each. You won't need the crossover cable mentioned by Zorlod unless you connect the two machines together without the hub. You will need to use MS networking clients. If you don't know how to set this up, reply to thread and I will try to help you out.

 

[shiguera]

CONCEPTUMATOR: I think a lot of us would be glad to know how to set up the MS networking clients. Please do so. Thanks.

 

[conceptumator]

Easy to do. First, look for a Network Neighborhood icon on your desktop. If you don't see it, don't worry -- I'll address that in a minute. If you do see it, right click on it and choose Properties. You will see several different symbols; these indicate services, adapters, protocols and clients. If you already have NIC's installed in the machines, you should see them as adapters. Now look for clients. You want to have Microsoft Network Client installed. If you don't see it, just click the Add button, choose Clients, then Microsoft and Microsoft Networking Client (that may not be the exact name). After you click OK, give it a minute to churn, then it should go back to the original screen and will probably give you a message to restart. Hold off on the restart for a minute. Now look for a protocol called TCP/IP. If not installed, follow the same procedure as you did for the Client above. Now look for services; you will want Microsoft File and Print Sharing installed (this is one service). If you don't see it, follow the procedure above one more time, then restart your computer.

When you are in the original Network Properties screen, you will see 3 tabs; the middle tab is Indentification. Go there and give each of the computers a unique name (you can't have two machines with the same name on a network at the same time), something like PC1 and PC2 will do for this example. Under the computer name there is a box for a group name; either leave this blank or make sure it is the same for both computers.

As mentioned earlier, if you don't see the Network Neighborhood icon on the desktop, go into Control Panel and find the Network icon. When you open it, you will be at the same Properties window you get to by right clicking the Network Neighborhood icon.

After restarting, you need to turn on each machine and find the drives you wish to share in My Computer. Right click on the drive and choose Sharing, then give the drive a share name in the "Shared As" box. You will probably need to restart again after this; go ahead and hook the two machines to the hub before you restart.

If you did everything right, you should now be seeing an icon on your desktop for Network Neighborhood. Double click on it and look to see if you see both computers. Hopefully, you will have the same results on both units. Working on PC1, find PC2 in the network and double click on it. You should see the shared drive you set up earlier. Now right click on the shared drive and choose "Map Network Drive" and mark the "Reconnect at Log On" button, then choose an unused drive letter (I would use something above L) and click OK. Now close the Network Neighborhood and go into Windows Explorer; you should see the shared drive as a drive letter. Just use it like you would a local drive; there is no difference.

Write me back and let me know how things go or if you have any problems. I know this is rather long winded, but I had no choice. Good luck!