Don’t be shy about the specifics. Or please link me to a site that covers this extensively. I’ve looked, but nothing with step by step intructions seems to be out there.
The library had simplified networking but it seems I’d have to read the books to get a basic understanding and then figure out how to do it still after that.
–Two Win 98 machines both with NIC cards that work (they both can access the internet through the cable modem, but not at the same time), no router (yet). I just want to swap files between them without having to burn cd`s. I’ve got the crossover cable.
From what I’ve heard there may or not be a connection wizard for this and I may have to manually enter IP adresses?
I would love to know this too. I tried to do the same thing yesterday with a crossover cable and two Windows XP computers and could not make it work nor could I find anything in Windows that seemed to support such a connection. The cable box said that it could be done but I could not figure out how.
I think the router solution (they are pretty cheap now) may be the best way to go if it is more than a one or two time thing.
Out of couriosity, I found this http://www.onecomputerguy.com/networking/xp_network.htm to try and find out why mine didn’t work (it doesn’t matter now for me). It is for Windows XP but it looks like all of the steps can be done in Windows 98 without much much change.
That site is pretty good, but it leaves out one important thing for Win95 + Win98 users.
You will want to install the NetBEUI protocol and make it the default. If you don’t do this, then you will have a devil of a time making it work right. Without this, sometimes your connection will work fine, sometimes only one PC will be able to find the other by name, sometimes it will be the other way around.
I had to remember this a while back. A guy I did some work for had just such a setup, and worked just a shittily as described. Someone else had set it up for him, and one day I had some work to do on his system. It drove me batty, so I thought about the early days of Windows networking and peer to peer stuff, and finally remembered what it took to make Win95 happy in a peer to peer network.
NetBeui as default. Works wonders when there’s no real server around.
Thanks **Shag **and Mort. I will try that tonite when I get home.
Mort, Right now the default is Microsoft Client for Networks. I change that to NetBEUI for this networking project and then back to MCN when I’m done…correct?
Buy and install a LAN (Local Area Network) card in each machine,
Connect the two LAN cards with a LAN cable.
READ the instructions first then proceed.
OTOH buy a router and hook it to the USB port of the first machine.
Install a compatabile wireless network card in the second.
Again READ the instructions first then proceed.
That’s all good and well, but I already have a NIC card in each machine and a crossover cable. There were no instructions as to how to network two machines via the NIC cards. I shouldn’t have to buy a router with a closed network on just two machines if I don’t want to access the internet with them. I just want to swap some files and then put them back the way they were.
Yea you shouldn’t, but you might have to anyway. Some NICs will not work with a crossover cable at all. If both the card’s instructions do not explicitly state that they will function on a crossover cable, then it is not guaranteed that they will do so–and both need to for a crossover to work. If you have tried everything with a crossover cable and can’t get it to work, then go and buy a 10/100 rounter and two regular cables and try going through that.
As far as the rest of it, I recall you use some setting like 'Microsoft Family Logon" or “Windows Logon” in the network protocols as your primary logon, and then you set both computers to the same workgroup name, and give each computer a different name. Then (if both are turned on) each should show up in the other’s “Network Neighborhood”.
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Install NetBEUI (or NetBIOS in XP) - I don’t have a Win98 machine to hand, but this is done from the Network Properties dialog - right click the Network Neighborhood icon on your desktop and select properties (you may not actually have this icon yet, in which case you can get to the network properties through the control panel)
Give each of the network cards an IP address (probably not necessary if you were attaching them both to a router, but with an unmanaged peer network, you’ll need to) - right click the TCP/IP item (the one that DOESN’T say anything about ‘dialup adapter;’, if there are two TCP/IP entries, select ‘properties’ and enter (for example) 10.0.0.1 on one machine and 10.0.0.2 on the other. Enter 255.255.255.0 in the sub network mask field.
Make sure the machines are in the same workgroup (IIRC in the ‘identification’ tab of the network properties dialog’ - give the machines different names.
Select the file and Printer sharing checkbox
Click all the OK buttons and close the network dialog - you will be prompted to restart the machine
Connect the cable
When they have been up for a minute or two, they should be able to see each other (browse the Network Neighborhood tree entry in Windows Explorer)
But you can’t yet see each others’ files - right-click a drive or folder in Windows Explorer and select ‘sharing’, set up the options you require (read-only or full access etc), apply (or OK) and you should be able to browse the shared resource from the other machine.
The static IP addresses we set up might upset your internet connection if you are later unplugging the NIC and connecting to a router/cable modem etc - in which case, set it back to ‘detect automatically’.
Sweet, thanks guys. Between Astros’ link, Mangetouts post and a phone-a-friend I was able to fumble through the process and I got the two machines to see each other. I was prompted to do about 74 re-starts (not really). I was able to do the transfers I wanted to do. Cool, now tonite I will try to get the two machines back the way they were, wish me luck. Next step, buy a router.
Just link the two serial ports (ie. printer ports) via a $1 cable, and click Accessories/Communications/Direct Cable Connection. The dialogue boxes wil ask you to call one computer ‘Host’ and the other ‘Guest’: each computers files will show up on the other for access.
If there is no DCC option available, you’ll have to enable it via Add/Remove Programs (I think it asks you to insert the W98 CD for some files).
I’ll be damned. Sounds like the easy way out. I’ll try that method too, just to see if it works, before I go configuring the systems back to square one.
Thanks.
Please keep in mind that while the serial connection will probably work, it will be SLOW. That is why I wouldn’t recommend it. However, there is a direct cable connection parallel cable that will do the same thing and is much, much faster. I wouldn’t recommend that either though.
So, if the computers were connected to each other through a network, would the file transfer speed go quickly enough to make up for the hassle of setting it up, compared to doing a DCC?