conecting two computers

bockster

hi,

can anyone help me with an idiots guide to conecting a vista laptop to a pc running xp so as to transfer files between the two? i.e. network the two??

i thought it was going to be easy, probably it is and i'm missing something.

have a sky wireless router (pc has wireless dongle) or can i simply conect the two with network cable rj45? or even usb to usb??it only really needs to be a temp' conection

sorry if this is stupid question, tried the onboard help to no avail.

please ask if any more info is req'd.

thanks in advance.

M4RKM

this assumes both computers are on a network

you need to share a folder on one of the machines
you need to get the IP address of the one you've shared
on the other computer, go into my computer
tools, map network drive

and type in

\\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx\sharename

where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the ip address of the computer, and sharename is the name of your shared folder.

then it should pop up on your computer, and you can drag and drop files

M

gaming_guy

the ideal way to do it would be to connect the laptop to the network over the wireless connection.

make sure that the 2 computers are in the same workgroup. to check this, click start, right click my computer, click properties (vista should display the workgroup here, for XP you need to click computer name).

create a folder on the computer that has the files you want to share > copy files into the folder thats going to be shared > right click the folder > properties > click the sharing tab and share the folder.

on the computer that you shared the file on, press the windows key & r > type cmd in the box that pops up & hit enter > when command propmt opens, type ipconfig & press enter. you should get a list of settings, the one you need is the one that starts 192.168 (192.168.0.10 for example) and it should connect to the other computer with the shared folder.


go to the computer that you want to copy the files to, press the windows key & r and type \\[ip address of computer]. for example \\192.168.0.10


HTH

bookduck

Great advice from markymoo and Gamimg_guy, however a usb disk or stick is far more easier than those two methods, jus tno sharing network connection though

bockster

thanks so far,
gaming guy, could you clarify, in your fourth paragraph, which computer is which? that bit is confusing me:rolleyes: :rolleyes: , probably me.

thanks

Jay08

He is saying go to the computer with the shared files and find out the ip of that computer. Start --- Run --- Cmd --- when the window apprears type in ipconfig. you are looking for 192.168.X.X

Go onto the machine you want to access the files from then in Start --- Run --- type in \\192.168.X.X\nameofthesharedfolder (were X are is the ip from the other computer ) You can do it without the name of the shared folder and it will show you which files are shared and printers.

Am not sure on a standard workgroup as I run a domain controller at home but you should be able to map the network drive for easier access next time. If you want to do this right click my computer then map network drive to the same steps above with the folder bit, chose any letter you want.

M4RKM

Jay08 wrote: »

Am not sure on a standard workgroup as I run a domain controller at home but you should be able to map the network drive for easier access next time. If you want to do this right click my computer then map network drive to the same steps above with the folder bit, chose any letter you want.

that's what i said... always easier!