help with win 2000

[chockomonkey]

I'm trying to network my 2 computers... one, XP, and the other, 2000. I want my XP computer to be the host. I really know nothing about networking, so I simply tried using their network wizard. I did everything I thought to be correct, and at the end, it told me to run the wizard on the other computer using the XP CD. I did so, but it says it doesn't work with win 2000. I tried using the connection wizzard on the 2000 computer, but i can't seem to get it working. Can anyone offer me any advice given what i told you? Or ask more questions... 'cause i have no idea what i'm doing. thanks.

 

[TrueBuckeye]

Ok, let's first talk about the physical network.

How are the two computers connected? Hopefully you have a nic in each, cat5 patch cables going from the nics into a switch. If you are that far and have lights on both nics, then we can move forward.

You say you want the xp system to be the "host". What do you mean? What is the point of the network? Are you trying to share an internet connection through the xp machine or do you just want a peer-to-peer network?

If it is just a p2p network, then what you want to do is manually specify IPs on both computers. So double click on My Network Places (I hate that name), right click on the nic and choose properties. Go into the properties of TCP/IP and choose to manually set them. Set the XP machine up to 192.168.1.1 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. Set the win2k system to 192.168.1.2 and a subnet of 255.255.255.0. They should now be able to talk to each other, BUT neither will be able to get on the internet.

If you want to share an internet connection, then you'll need 2 network interfaces on the winxp machine, and run Internet Connection Sharing (ICS, on the nic properties window). On the win2k system, set the IP information to "automatically obtain" and reboot. That should do it.

This is quick and dirty. I didn't go into many options or settings. If you have questions, let me know.

 

[chockomonkey]

Hey, thanks for your reply. ok... For starters, i have No idea what i nic is. I have network a card in each computer, and i have a crossover cable that connects the two. I went into my network places and there is nothig in there.

As i said before, i don't know much about networking, so i thought that i had to have a host. But i believe, from what you described, that what i want is a peer to peer network. I have no use for shared internet. I simply want to be able to share files, and play games over the network.