Peer to peer connection

Hello,

Can you please tell me what the steps are to connect 2 Windows 2000 pro PCs without a hub. Both have a NIC installed, are members of the same workgroup and are connected with a CAT5 cable but cannot see each other (Task Bar icon displays "LAN connection cable unplugged ").

Thanks very much for any help and Happy Holidays
Nicole

 

Nicole

Welcome to the BBS. Best of the best!

Your problem is most likely that you have the wrong cable.

The cable that connects thru a hub is stright thru. But when you don't have a hub (NIC to NIC) you need a crossover cable. The transmit and recieve wires are crossed. A hub normally does this.

If your NIC's are OK then if using a stright thru cable it would not be connected. If you do have a crossover cable then it may be bad, have it checked or get another. Again this assumes the NIC's are OK!

Check with the Radio Shack or have someone make a CAT5 crossover cable.

Let us know!

Mike

 

I see what you mean. Before I go to Radio Shack, would a standard telephone cable do the work?

Thanks for your reply.

 

No!

You need a CAT5 crossover cable!

How far apart are the computers?

Anyway after you make the connection do you know how to set up the users and sharing etc?

mike

 

PCs' are about 7 feet apart.
Both users are in the Admin Group.
LAN connection is setup for:
-Client for MS network
-File & printer sharing for MS net
-NetBEUI
-TCP/IP

Anything else I need to activate?

 

Looks like you have everything.

Both computers should be logged on with the EXACT same usename and password!

You can set it differently later which will require adding users to both computers. But if both users are trusted then use the exact same name and password on both.

But first the connection! Smile!

Mike

 

Hello again Mike,

Partial success!

1. Installed the crossover cable. LAN connection status on both PCs now shows "connected ", but no received activity.

2. When checking My Network Places/Computer Near Me, following message is displayed:
"Workgroup not accessible. List of servers for the workgroup is not currently available ".

3. However, taking one PC down displays the "LAN connection network cable unplugged" message on the remaining PC.

4. Did a successfull IP loopback on each NIC.

What have I missed?
Thanks
Nicole

 

Nicole - sounds like you are almost there. The physical connection (via the NICs and the new cable) are working fine if one PC can tell you when it loses the other one.

Probable remaining issue:

Network Neighborhood will only show you other PCs if they have an open (non-hidden) share. So you would need to have at least one folder shared on each for them to see each other that way.

As a quick check of connectivity, you could manually look for the hidden administrative shares that 2K will always create at the root of each drive. Try this - and assuming that your PCs are named PC1 & PC2 and the logged on user is Nicole (OK, I know the names are wrong but you can change as needed) and the user [/b]Nicole[/b] exists on PC2.

From PC1 and Windows Explorer, go to tools~map network drive and in the box that pops up, put in \\PC2\c$ and then click to connect as a different user. When that window pops up for you, put in PC2\Nicole as the user and your password.

You should now have a connection on PC1 that shows up as a new drive letter like Z or something and it will be the entire C drive on PC2.

BTW - putting a $ at the end of any share name "hides" the share so it does not show up on network neighborhood.

 

Hello Nicole

Give us a status report! How's it going?

Mike

 

Hello Gentlemen,

Connectivity check suggested by Newt was successfull. Drives mapped to hidden root dir on both PCs.

However, "workgroup not accessible message" still occurs in Net Neighborhood.

Have also shared printers on both PCs (full control access), but same message displays when trying to add those printers (even entering manually "\\PCname\printername ".

What is the logic?

Thanks for your help and Merry Christmas
Nicole

 

Hello Nicole

Gentlemen..... Me too?

Merry Christmas to you!

I am glad Newt was available to help while I was away.

To fix this

On both computers conrtol panel-system-network Identification-Network ID. Make sure these match exactly. Should already work if exactly match???????????????

Mike

 

Mike,

I'm pretty sure they match but I will double check and let you know tomorrow.

Thanks again
Nicole

 

Hello again,

Big Success!!

Network IDs were identical but I found the missing link. Computer Browser service was set to manual; as soon as I started it the miracle happened!

Thank you so very much for your help
Nicole

 

10-4

I now appoint you Jr. Systems Analyst! Smile!

Mike

 

I had a similar problem when I upgraded one of my three home networked machines to WinXP (for its much improved LCD text display handling). I was using the 'easy way out' NETBEIU protocol throughout my Win2K network. But WinXP did not install with NETBEIU available so I was trying to setup a 'pure' TCP/IP network system. (I figured out later that NETBEIU could be manually installed off the WinXP CD but that M$ no longer supports the protocol.)

Anyway, I was also getting the "workgroup not accessible message" occurring in Net Neighborhood on one Win2K machine. Two hours later I figured out that I had the TCP/IP settings configured to "Disable NETBIOS over TCP/IP" when it should be "Use NetBIOS setting from the DHCP Serverâ€. You find these options in the "WINS" tab after selecting "Advanced" button on the TCP/IP properties setup for the network card. I'm not sure what all this means, but it fixed my network problem.

Good Luck
Top Dog