How To Share Files Between Two Computers Using Cross
How To Share Files Between Two Computers Using Cross
Cross-over Cable
Step 1: Connect Both PCs with LAN Cable (using the cross over Ethernet
cable)
To enable sharing, go to the Start menu and search “Control Panel”. Once you see it,
click on it, to open it.
Once the Control Panel window opens, click on Network and Internet.
Here, you’ll find three networks – Public, Private and All Network. Public Network
is for places like airports and coffee shops, Private network is for an
organization or your home network and All Network comprises of both. To
make sure, the setup is flawless, we’ll recommend you choose “All Networks”.
Next, expand All Networks by clicking on the drop-down icon. Here, we need to
enable Public Sharing so that the PCs can access files from each other over the
LAN cable. To avoid more configuration, just Turn off password protected
sharing.
By doing so, you enable the other computer to access shared data without
providing any credentials. This is not a good security practice by since you are
sharing your data with people you trust, you can make this one-time exception.
Once you are done with file sharing, make sure you Turn on password protected
sharing.
Once done, click Save Changes. Just as I said in the beginning, repeat the same
steps for the other PC.
Step 3: Setup Static IP
Now that you have enabled network sharing on both PCs, it’s time to bring both
the computers on to the same network. We will do this by setting a static IP
address of the same class. Just like the previous step, you need to do this on
both PCs. Following are the steps.
1. To set up a Static IP, open Control Panel, browse to Network and Internet
and click on Network Sharing Center. Alternatively, you can also right-
click on the Start Menu and select Network Connections.
2. On the next window, you will see the active connections which should be
Ethernet, since both PCs are connected with a physical LAN cable. Click on
Ethernet link. A new dialog box will open, here click on the Properties
button.
3. In the next pop-up, select “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)”. Now,
click on Properties. This will open another dialogue box.
4. Here, you need to configure the two PCs with different IP settings.
What we are doing is keeping the subnet mask the same and changing
the IP address.
Next, open your Window’s File Explorer and click on Network tab at the
left side of the window.
If you have set up everything right, both the PCs should appear in this
Network window on both computers. Now, you can just click on the other
PC’s icon and browse the file. But wait, you still need to configure one last
setting.
Right click the folder you want to share and then click “Share with”, then
choose “Specific people”.
In the File Sharing window, choose Everyone from the drop-down menu.
Click on the Add button next to it and finally hit the Share button.
Once you have shared it, the next window will show you the network
location of the folder.
Just do the same steps to the other computer.
That’s it. Just go back to the other PC from where you want to access the
file, open the Networks panel and click on the other computer’s name.
Click “Advanced Sharing” and tick “Share this Folder”. Click “Permissions”.
Click the check box next to Full Control. Then click Apply then OK.
So, you should go back here.