Networking between 2 pc's

[Sanjay Verma]

Hi Friends,

I'm trying to connect two pc's (peer-to-peer connection) so that I can browse each other and transfer files but seems the target is still too far.

The PC's details are:
- PC1: Win 2000, Part of a Domain, IP assigned automatically.
- PC2: Win 2000, Not Part of a Domain, IP assisgned manually.

Now, when I try to browse both the pc's, I'm not being able to.

Appreciate if you can let me know if I'm missing something somewhere in the setup.

Cheers, Sanjay

Now

[Artyom Voronchihin]

1. Does PC1 have single network adapter or separate adapters for domain connection and peer-to-peer ?
2. Did you assign IP address to PC2 in the same subnet as PC1 ? For example say PC1 gets addresses from DHCP scope 192.168.0.10-192.168.0.100, netmask 255.255.255.0. So PC2 should have the same netmask and IP address must belong to network 192.168.0.0. For example let it be 192.168.0.101.
3. If you have separate network adapter for peer-to-peer connection do you use crossover cable ?

Regards,
Arty

[Jon Finley]

I'm assuming that you have either a hub in place, a cross-over cable, or 10baseT with terminators. Therefore....

Browsing in Miocrosoft products requires NetBIOS. Without WINS or a Master Browser in place, you need to place entries in an LMHOSTS file.

For 2000 the LMHOSTS file is at:
C:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc
Rename the file from LMHOSTS.SAM to LMHOSTS, then place an entry in each, for the other machine.


Jon

[Sanjay Verma]

My comments are:
1. Both PC's have one 1 n/k adapter each.
2. DHCP not configured on PC2.
3. Since it's the same n/k adapter, I'm using cross-over cable.
4. No HUB is used.

[Sanjay Verma]

Jon, To install NetBios Services on Win2k, what steps should I follow? The reason being, I'm getting only 2 services while using the N/k component - "QoS Packet Scheduler" & "SAP Agent".

[Roger Faucher]

Sanjay:

Probably the easiest way to do this (assuming the NIC drivers are embedded in Windows or at hand)is to login as Administrator, go to Device Manager and Remove the NIC (on both systems). Then reboot. Both systems should detect the NIC and try to install drivers (again, they should be found in the OS or you will insert the CD/floppy at the appropriate time). Assuming that process is successful, the necessary protocol (TCP/IP) will have been installed in default mode on both machines. At that point, go configure TCP/IP protocol for any two successive, valid IP addresses and the same subnet mask for each. E.G.: 192.168.2.2 and 192.168.2.3, each with a Subnet Mask of 255.255.255.0.

Now run a CROSSOVER cable between the two NICs and you should be able to go to a Command(DOS) Prompt on either computer and PING the other computer's IP address. If you want to share files and printers, right click the drive, folder, or printer and select Sharing, Setup a share name (Share As) and I think that's it. If you plan to login to either machine as other than Administrator, we may have to do some more steps.

I hope I've not forgotten anything but if I have someone will let us know or you'll discover it.

Good luck!

Roger

[Sanjay Verma]

Roger,
Thanks for your steps. I'm happy to configure the IP's on the desktop pc (PC2). But my laptop (PC1) has DHCP configured so that when I connect to my internal network, IP add. is assigned automatically.

Now, is there a way I can connect to my desktop (PC2) at home without changing the IP address of my laptop (PC1)?

[Roger Faucher]

Sanjay:

You could determine the IP address of your laptop (using IPCONFIG) and set the IP address of your other PC to the same address range (if your laptop is 10.0.0.23, set the other computer to 10.0.0.23 and make the Subnet Masks match one another).

So follow the procedure I posted but only for PC2, then do what I just wrote in the first paragraph.

Roger

[Roger Faucher]

Sorry, that solution will not work.

Your laptop will still look for a DHCP server and when it doesn't find one it will probably assume a 169.254.n.n address. See this MS KB article for more info: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;220874

I would connect both computers, fire up the laptop and when it's up all the way, check it's IP address (IPCONFIG) and then set PC1 to an IP address one higher and the same Subnet Mask. I think that should work.

Whew!

Sorry about my errors!

Roger

[John Collier]

Roger,

I have to ask why you would want to go through the steps of deleting the NIC cards and having the OS rediscover them in an effort to install the NetBIOS protocol? From experience, I can say that there is a much easier way to get this accomplished.


Sanjay,

If it were me doing it, this is what I would do:

I???m not sitting in front of a Win2k machine right this moment so I will have to try this from memory (when I get to the house I can confirm this unless I see a post saying it worked).

If you will right click on ???My Network Places??? and select ???Properties??? you will get a dialog box with two different objects in it. One of them will be an option to add a connection, the other should give you the option to look at your LAN settings. What you want is the one that lets you look at your LAN settings (the one on the right if memory serves me correctly). If you will right click on that one and choose ???Properties??? it should give you the protocols that are installed on the machine.

From there you would look for NetBIOS in the list of protocols. If it???s installed, then you are in business already and shouldn???t have to worry about that machine. If not, then click ???Add??? (or is it ???Install????) and you will come up with a dialog box that gives you three choices. What you are wanting is a protocol (last option I think). This will bring up yet another dialog box.

Here???s the screwy part. Even though NetBIOS isn???t a M$ protocol, you will still have to select Mickysoft on the left to bring up NetBIOS on the right. From there you select NETBIOS on the right and tell it ???OK???.

It will most likely require the install disk and you will have to be logged in as ???Administrator??? to do this. From there you still have to go through the steps of sharing the files/drives that you want to use on both machines. Since this is a Win2k machine, you may have to work on some permission issues as well, but we won???t worry about that until it becomes an issue.

One last thing I might suggest is that you click the little radio box on the first properties page (the one from ???My Network Places???) that puts the icon in the system tray to tell you when your machine notices that it has a connection. That way you will know when the hard connection is there. If that little icon never comes up and tells you that it sees a connection, then you may be looking at either a bad NIC or a bad cable and none of this will matter anyway.


By the way, I like your personal quote ;-)
In that same spirit, might I suggest that you take a look at this post from our friendly, neighborhood Forums Manager:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x356efd3f91d3d5118ff40090279cd0f9,00.html



Let us know if you have any further problems getting this accomplished. You might even let us know what method finally worked for you if you don???t mind???