Basics of Peer To Peer

Somali International University
Basics of Peer-to-Peer Networks
Connect Two Windows 7 Computers On LAN Using Ethernet

Cable
There are times when you want to transfer your important files and documents from one
computer to another. Especially, if you are to manage multiple computers on your home network
or a workgroup, transferring files between them becomes tedious. Though you can use the
following alternatives to transfer data.
1. The mostly used media to transfer files or documents is removable disk (USB drive). But the
drawback of the removable media is that if you want to transfer a large amount of data, you need
to divide that in various part as the total data would not fit in the limited space of your USB
drive. It is also slow comparatively with the hard disk.
2. You can use Dropbox to sync files across multiple computers. Dropbox is a great tool but it is
useless with out an internet connection.
Hence, you should use a fast, reliable and all time available way. One of the best choice to
transfer files between two Windows computers is connecting them with an Ethernet cable.
The Ethernet cable is nothing but a simple cable connected with RJ45 clips at both ends. Bu it
comes with two different configuration.
1. Straight-through cable.
2. Crossover cable.
You can see the configuration diagram of both types from the following image.
CMS
Lecturer: Abdikarim Abdullahi

1
Where the crossover cable can be used only for file transferring, the straight-through cable can
be used in various purposes.
Here I will discuss how to connect two Windows computers on LAN though an Ethernet
crossover cable and how to transfer files, folders, videos, pictures, images etc. between them.
Create a Home network using an Ethernet crossover cable
Things that youll need:
1. A crossover or straight-through cable. This time I am using the crossover cable.
2. Supported network card in both computer.
3. Both of the computers should have the Ethernet driver installed in it.
Configuring the computers
Below are the steps involved in configuring your computer to connect them on a LAN using
Ethernet cable.
Step 1. In order to start the connection, youll have to assign different IP address for both
computers. To change the IP address of your computers for the LAN connection, you should
make changes in the LAN adapter settings.
Open Control panel from the start menu and click on Network and Internet and click
onNetwork and Sharing center.
CMS

2
From the left sidebar, click on Change adapter settings.
Under the Network connections window select the appropriate icon for your LAN
adapter and right-click on it, then choose Properties.
A Local Area Connection Properties box appears.
CMS

3
Under the Network tab

select Internet Protocol
Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and
click on
theProperties button.
Now set the addresses as
mentioned below in each computer and click OK.

At the first computer ( say, Computer 1):
IP address:
192.168.0.1
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

At the second computer ( say, Computer 2):
IP address:
192.168.0.2
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
CMS

4
Step 2. Now, connect one end of the cable into the Ethernet port of Computer 1 and the other end
with the same of the Computer 2 and apply the following steps in both the computers.
Right-click on Computer from the start menu and select Properties.
The system properties Control Panel window opens as shown below.
Click on Change settings and the System properties dialog box appears. under
theComputer Name tab, click on on the Change button to assign a WORKGROUP.
Assign the same workgroup name for both computers otherwise it wont work.
CMS

5
Restart each computer. It does not matter which computer you restart first. After starting both the
computer, double-click on the Computer icon at the start menu and then click on Networkfrom
the left side of the explorer window.
In the computer 1, you should see an icon denoting your second computers name under
theNetwork window. Similarly, you can see that the first computer has been appeared under
theNetwork window of your second computer.
CMS

6
If they do not appear, you should get a message prompting to turn on Network Discovery and
file Sharing. Click that security pop-up and select make the network a private network. In
case, you may have to restart your computers.
Once you see the other computer in your Network computer window, just double click on it. If
the other computer is password protected, you will have to enter the exact user name and
password of that computer to get access of the shared folder.
If you want to share some files or folder of a computer with the other computer on the network,
right-click on that and select Share with > Homegroup. Even you can share a total drive by rightclicking on it.
CMS

7
How to Create and Access Shared Folders in Windows 7

Updated by Raymond - 1 year ago - Windows
Like
+1
Tweet
Printer Friendly and PDF
Windows XP by default allows anyone in the same local area network to access its shared folders
without the need to provide a user name and password. This is because the XP Simple File
Sharing mode is enabled by default and can be disabled from Control Panel > Folder Options. As
for Windows 7, the default security settings for folder sharing have been strengthened and you
cannot access anyones shared folder on the same network without providing the correct login
information. An attempt to connect to another computer will first prompt a Windows Security
dialog box asking you to enter network password.
CMS

8
This is an improved security feature because previously anyone can access an unprotected shared
folder by simply using SoftPerfect Network Scanner to scan for shared folders on the whole
subnet. However, if youre the only user on the network or your computers only connect to your
personal private network, the authentication to access shared folders is quite unnecessary. Here is
how to share folders and access the shared folders in Windows 7.
How to share a folder in Windows 7
First you need to know how to share a folder so that other people on the same network can
access the shared folder.
1. Right click on the folder that you want to share, go to Share with and select Specific
people.
CMS

9
2. By default the owner of the computer with full permission to the folder will be automatically
added to the list. If you want anyone to be able to access this folder, select everyone from the
drop down menu or manually type it in and click the Add button. You will now see that that the
Everyone is added to the list with Read permission only. You can grant them full access by
clicking on the Read drop down menu and select Read/Write.
CMS

10
3. Finally click the Share button and click Done to close the file sharing window.
Additional Tip: You may need to double check if the everyone group is also listed in the
Security tab of the folders properties by right clicking the shared folder, select Properties and
click on Security tab. Windows 7 should do this automatically when you share a folder but there
are times when it fails to add everyone in, and this causes you to be denied access to the shared
folder.
How to access the shared folder

If you have network discovery turned on (which is enabled by default), simply open Computer
from the start menu and click on Network to see the list of computers that are connected to the
network.
CMS

11
Alternatively, you can simultaneously press WIN+R to launch the Run window and type
\\computername (replace the computername with the name of the computer or internal IP address
that youre trying to access).
When you connect to a computer to access a shared folder, Windows 7 will first try to use your
currently logged in credentials on the other computer. If the remote computer doesnt have the
same credentials as the one that youre logged in to, then you are prompted to enter the network
password.
CMS

12

Authenticate to access shared folders
1. If youre logged in to Windows as a user called johndoe with a password (eg; mypassword)
and the other computer on the network also has the same user account credentials (username:
johndoe, password: mypassword), then Windows 7 will automatically use your current
credentials to login which is why you dont get the Enter Network Password dialog box.
2. If both of the computers have different user login credentials, providing a valid username and
password in the Enter Network Password dialog box will allow you to access the shared folders.
3. The tricky part is when the user account doesnt have a password (blank) associated with it. If
youre logged in to Windows as a user called johndoe with a password and youre trying to
access the other computer on the network using an account WITHOUT a password (blank), you
will get a logon failure user account restriction message saying Possible reasons are blank
passwords not allowed, logon hour restrictions, or a policy restriction has been enforced. See
the solutions below to fix this problem.
Solutions for accessing shared folders using an account without a password

1. Turn off password protected sharing
Go to Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Change advanced sharing settings >
expand the network profile that youre currently using (Home or Work / Public), select the option
Turn off password protected sharing and click Save changes.
CMS

13
Advantage: Turning off password protected sharing for your network profile allows you to login
using any random made up account without a password to access folders that are shared to
everyone. If you happen to enter a valid user account that has no password, you wont be able to
access the users folder. If you need to access all files from the users folder, use the second
solution below.
2. Disable Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only
For all versions of Windows 7: You can simply download this registry fix file and run it on your
computer to take effect instantly.
Alternatively for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate users only: Click Start, type
gpedit.msc in the search box and press enter. Expand Local Computer Policy > Computer
Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options. Look
for the following line Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon
only and double click on it to bring up the properties window. Select the Disable option and
click OK to save the changes.
CMS

14
Advantage: You get to access all of the user accounts files (C:\Users\Username) even if they are
not shared. This setting will not accept random made up user accounts.
CMS

15

Basics of Peer To Peer

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Basics of Peer To Peer

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Somali International University