Create a LAN Connection and Share Files

Between Multiple Computers

Do you use multiple computers at your workplace? Dont you think it would be a good idea to
create a Local area network connection (LAN) between them so that you can quickly copy files,
folders and documents from one computer to another. Lets learn how!
To create a Local area network connection between two computers, you will need the following
things:
1. An Ethernet Cable
2. Network drivers and adapters
Following are the steps involved to create a local Area Network connection between multiple
computers using the Windows XP or Vista Operating system.
1. Plug in one end of the Ethernet cable to the Ethernet port of Computer1. Next, plug in another
end of the Ethernet cable to the Ethernet port of computer2.
2. In computer 1, click Start Menu, right click My Computer and choose Properties

3. If you are using Windows Vista: In the Computer name, domain and Workgroup settings,
choose Change Settings.

If You are Using Windows XP: Navigate to the Computer Name tab as shown below:

4. Click Change and enter a assign unique Workgroup name to computer1 as shown below:

5. Click OK and you are done setting up the first computer. Now carry out the exact same
settings for Computer2. The Workgroup settings of Computer name must match exactly with the
Workgroup settings of Computer2.
6. Once both the computers are assigned the same Workgroup name and the ethernet cable is
connected, restart both the computers.
7. After a reboot, both computers will detect the workgroup settings automatically and now you
are ready to share files, folders and documents across computers using LAN.
Sharing Files in a Local Area Network
Following are the steps involved to share files among the two computers connected in a local
area network:

1. Copy a file or folder in computer 1 and click Network from the start menu. If your computer is
on Windows XP, click My Network places from the start menu.
2. In the Network window, you will see a shared folder icon as shown below:

3. This is your second computer, which is showing in the Network window. Double click the icon
and browse to Shared docs > Docs folder and paste the file which you copied in step1.

4.To get access to this file on your other computer, go to My Network places and open the
Shared docs folder. You would see the file which you copied in the above step.

That concludes the tutorial on setting up a local area network connection on two windows
computer. You can now share files, documents and folders and do not require any software or
router to do the job.

How to connect multiple computers for file

sharing.
The need for a mediator.
One solution to the challenge of connecting multiple computers would be to design a new
physical communication port every time there is a need for a new computer to be added as
shown in the figure below.The black dots represent physical connection ports.In (a) we have
added a third computer and things are still manageable,our computers are communicating.

(a)3 PCs connected

(b)4 PCs connected

In (b) we have four computers to connect ,each computer has three neighbors and we are
starting to see that the number of connection ports would easily become unmanageable:with
this design idea,every time we want to connect n computers for communication,every
computer in the network is to have n-1 physical communication ports.To put numbers on our
findings,in a network of 10 computers each PC would have 9 RJ 45 communication ports.This
can be achieved but its not practical.
A better idea would be to design a device in the middle that can act like some kind of mediator
or one of those traffic control guys that working in the following way: Computer A wants to
communicate with computer B.It sends the message,our traffic guy processes the message and
sees that it should go to B,sends it and B receives it.The same process keeps repeating when B
sends messages to C and so on.

Device in the middle mediating

Designers have liked this idea and it has had many applications throughout
history.Hubs,bridges, switches and routers ,are all based on this mediator idea.In this article,a
router will be used to connect our computers.

The router.
The router can be simply thought of as a device that mediates the network traffic. I plug one
end of the cable into my computer and the other end to the router and hop! I am able to
communicate with any computer that is connected to that router!

IP Addresses.
Remember when we said that our traffic guy processed the message he got from computer A ?
To understand what we mean by processing lets open the message and see what is inside as
shown in the following figure.

Message information
From the figure ,we can see that computers have addresses.We call them IP addresses,short for
Internet Protocol addresses.It is by looking at these addresses that the router knows where the
message is from and its destination.So by processing we mean figuring out the source address
,the destination address and actually sending the message!Notice the format of these computer
addresses,for groups of numbers separated by periods.
There are two different ways we can assign IP addresses to computers:One is to manually
assign the address to the computer and the other is to let the router hand out addresses to the
connected computers.In the former we say that the computer has a static IP address and in the
later we say that the computer has a dynamic IP address.The system that manages these
dynamic IP addresses is called DHCP for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.

Connecting multiple computers using static IP addresses.

Step 1.Connect your PCs to the LAN ports of your router
Step 2.On your PC ,navigate to your network card and choose to manually assign IP addresses.
On windows 7 you can follow these instructions:Start -> Control Panel->Network and Internet>Network Connections.Right click on the network card and choose properties.In the pop up
menu that appears click on Internet Protocol Version 4(Do not uncheck the box )and then click
properties.The window in the figure below pops up.Choose Use the following IP
address.Another thing to be careful about is that windows 7 PCs have to be on the same home
group for file sharing to be possible.
On windows XP you can follow these instructions:Start->Control Panel->Network and Internet
Connections->Network Connections.Right click on your network card and choose properties.In
the window that pops up,select Internet Protocol(Do not uncheck the box) and click
properties.In the new pop up window choose Use the following IP address.

Manual IP address configuration(Windows 7)

Manual IP address configuration (Windows XP)

.

It is worthwhile to mention that the IP addresses you give to your computers have to

be from the same sub network.Subnetting is fairly advanced topic in network configuration
and I want give any specifics here.If subnetting is foreign to you I recommend to use the
dynamic IP address configuration as we are showing in bit.
Step 3.Log in on your router.this involves checking the manual of your router and finding the
log-in address o.It is also written at the bottom most routers.Once you have found this address
do the following:
Step 3.1 Open your browser and in the address bar,type the address you have just found
Step 3.2 Type in the user name,it is admin by default
Step 3.3 Type in the password,which is also admin by default.
Step 3.4 Navigate to the DHCP Server configurations and disable DHCP.

Connecting multiple computers using dynamic

addresses.
Step 1. Connect your PCs to the LAN ports of your router
Step 2. Log in on your router and enable DHCP
Step 3. Navigate to the network card properties in each of your computer and set them to
obtain IP addresses automatically.

Testing connectivity.

Good design practice dictates that you test your work to see if things work as desired.Network
design is no exception to that.In a previous post we have used the ping command to test
connectivity.In this one we add the ipconfig/all command that allows us to see which IP
addresses were assigned to our network card in the PC.So lets not wait;fire up your cmd
window and type ipconfig/all as shown in the figure below.

ipconfig/all command output

We can see that our network card was assigned the IP address:
So here are the steps to test the connectivity of your network:
Step 1. Log in on each computer and use ipconfig/all to see its IP address
Step 2. From each computer ping all the others in the network to see if the pings are
successful.If computer A has the IP address 192.168.1.00 and computer B has the IP adress
192.168.1.101,from from computer A you can ping computer B as shown in the figure below.

Ping command output

Step 3. Enjoy your network!

If everything worked as expected ,congratulations!You now have a network of multiple
computers and you can even connect more!The only limitation is the number of ports on your
router and we will see a way around this in subsequent articles.Let us know if you ran into any
difficulties while setting up your network so we can try and make it work for you.Ideas and
suggestions are also more than welcome.We hope this has been informative to you and we
would like to thank you for reading.

How to Network Connection Hub:A network hub is a device used to connect multiple computers. It is a simple and inexpensive solution when
small networks that require file and printer sharing, like ones in homes or small offices, are needed to be
made. Most common hubs today support the Ethernet standard. These hubs usually come with 4, 8 or
sometimes 16 Ethernet ports.
Materials Needed:
- One (1) 4-port or 8-port 10/100 Mbps Ethernet hub (depending on the number of computers to be
networked)
- two (2) or more computers with Windows installed
- 10/100 Mbps Network Interface Cards (NIC) or built-in Ethernet ports installed on each of the computers
- two (2) or more straight through Ethernet cables (depending on the number of computers to be networked)

Step 1
Turn on the computers and wait for Windows to boot properly.

Step 2
Supply the hub with power if the Ethernet hub requires power. Plug the AC power supply into the hub and
the power cord into any sufficient power outlet or wall outlet. Most hubs do not have on/off switches and only
require to be plugged into an outlet to become active. Make sure that proper voltages are applied to the
hubs power supply to avoid damaging the device. Voltage ratings are typically printed on the underside of
the device, alongside the model and manufacturer information.

Step 3
Connect the first computer to the Ethernet hub when all systems are running properly and the Ethernet hub
is powered on. Proceed to Step 5 if the computer has a built-in Ethernet port. Proceed to the next step if the
computer has no built-in Ethernet port.

Step 4
Install a compatible 10/100 Mbps Ethernet card when the computer has no built-in Ethernet port. Install the
drivers of the network card and turn the computer off. Install the network card into the system. Ask for
assistance if difficulty in the installation is encountered. Boot up the system when the hardware installation is
finished. Follow succeeding instructions that may appear in the Operating System after restarting the
computer to install the network card properly.

Step 5
Take the Ethernet cable and plug one end into the computers port when an Ethernet port is already
available in the system. Plug the other end into one of the network hubs ports. Make sure the ends are
plugged in tightly and properly.

Step 6
Repeat Steps 3 to 5 to connect the other computers to the network. It is then time to configure the systems
when all computers are connected to the network hub.

Step 7
Open the Local Area Connection Properties of the system. In Windows Control Panel (click Start > Control
Panel), look for the Network Connections icon. Double click on the icon to view all available network
connections. An icon for a Local Area Connection should be available if the network card was properly
installed and is properly working. Right click on the icon and select Properties. Under the General tab, a
small area should show the available protocols Windows is using. Look for Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), click
on it, and then click on the Properties button just under the selection.

Step 8
The Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties window now appears on the screen. Select 'Use the following IP
address:' by clicking the radio button beside it in the General tab. Type in the IP address and Subnet Mask
for the system. Typical IP addresses for small home networks have the pattern 192.168.0.X, where X can be
any number from 1 to 127. The Subnet Mask for this network will be 255.255.255.0. Click on OK to close the
current window. Click on Close to exit the Local Area Connection Properties.

Step 9
Repeat Steps 7 and 8 for each computer connected to the hub. Each computer must have different IP
addresses in Step 8 but the Subnet Mask for all computers must be the same. The systems are now ready
for sharing files across the network after Steps 3 to 8 are successfully done.