Connect two PCs without using a Hub

By Gerald dela Cruz on August 14, 2010, 15:24 PHT 7

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Have you ever imagined playing DOTA or Counter Strike or any LAN games with your friend, or even transfer large files from one PC to another without using a hub/switch? It is possible if you use a crossover cable connecting two computers via point-to-point.

Here is how it’s done.

1. Provide yourself a cable

You can buy it on stores or you can create your own. If you choose the later, you will need a CAT5 UTP cable, two (or more) RJ-45 jacks, and a crimping tool. Note that you have to follow the color coding below.

2. Connect the two computers

This is extremely simple. You just have to plug the cable to each of the computer’s Ethernet port. So you’ll end up having a point-to-point connection between two PCs.

3. Configure your network settings.

Steps below are very very important (as others do only the first two steps and end up at nothing). Pls. follow it carefully.

Open your Control Panel and go to Network Connections.

Right click the Local Area Connection then click Properties.

A window below would appear. You must click the Internet Protocol version 4 as seen highlighted below. [I use Windows 7 here. In older versions of Windows you may not see an Internet Protocol version 6. Anyway you don't have to choose that.]

Here comes the IP subnetting. But don’t worry coz you don’t have to learn it right now (as it is a little mind-toasting). You just have to use the IP address and the Subnet mask I indicated below. Leave the Default gateway and the DNS servers blank.

Do I have to say that you have to click “OK”? =)

Repeat the process on the second PC but use 10.0.0.2 as your IP address. Also note that you have to use the same Subnet mask which is 255.255.255.252.

And now, to check if the two PCs are now connected, we should do a ping test. [ping test is a protocol used to verify the connectivity between hosts]

Open your command prompt, for example in first PC, then type ping 10.0.0.2.

Note that if you encounter a Request timed out as you can see on my first ping it can mean three things. First is that you are not physically connected; check your cable. Second is that you didn’t follow my instructions above; which i doubt. And lastly, the firewall of PC-2 is activated; temporarily de-activate the firewall.

It can be seen on the captured screen above that the second ping to 10.0.0.2 went ok. It is because i turned off the firewall on the second PC (which is my laptop). See? It just worked.

The two computers are now connected. You can now play any LAN games with your friend.

. . .

A Plus tutorial:

How do I transfer files after following the steps above?

Open Run (or you can just use the hot-key “window key”+R)

If you’re sitting on the first PC, type \\10.0.0.2 c$ to access the second PC.

If you’re in the second PC, type \\10.0.0.1 c$ to access the first PC.

. . .

I hope this has been informative for you and thank you for reading. =)