How to connect Windows XP and Windows Vista computers using Ethernet cable?
INTRODUCTION
Direct connection using Ethernet
crossover cable is a simple and quick solution for Windows users
to transfer/share large files between two computers. While
the first
tutorial on this topic focuses on connection between two
computers running Windows XP or older Windows versions, this
tutorial focuses on connection between Windows Vista and Windows
XP computers.
Because both PCs used in our test have Gigabit Ethernet cards
with auto-MDI/MDIX feature, a crossover cable was not required, so a standard Ethernet cable was used instead. If your network cards don't have
auto-MDI/MDIX, you have to use an Ethernet crossover cable.
In the demo for this tutorial, we connected a laptop running Windows XP
Professional to a desktop PC running Windows Vista Ultimate. The
computer running Windows Vista was chosen as the ICS (Internet
Connection Sharing) host and the one
running
Windows XP as the ICS client. The result is the same when Windows
XP computer was chosen as the host. Either configuration can be
used for sharing files/folders, printers, Internet connection, and
doing popular LAN activities such as networked game and media
streaming.
Picture:
The map of the direct connection using Ethernet cable
between two computers and the ICS in this tutorial.
For ICS we decided to share
a home hotspot, i.e. wireless (Wi-Fi) connection to a broadband DSL Internet
service. This was meant to clarify the ICS concept by using
different types of network adapters, i.e. an Ethernet card for the direct
connection and a Wi-Fi card for Internet connection. However, you can
follow
a typical configuration, that's the ICS host computer is
connected to an Internet gateway device (broadband modem/router) using Ethernet/USB cable.
In this case, if the computer that's going to become the ICS host
connects to the Internet gateway using Ethernet cable, it must have
two Ethernet ports. One for the direct connection to the client
computer and the second adapter for connection to the Internet
gateway.
Windows Vista introduces some important improvement to
Windows XP in IPv6 support, network discovery, file/folder/printer/media
sharing, and computer security. During the direct connection
setup, Windows Vista was faster in recognizing a new network
connection and setting up the new IP settings for that connection. Windows Vista also puts network
map in Network and Sharing Center which shows this computer, Internet gateway device (modem/router/access
point), and Internet globe in a connected or disconnected state.
But unlike Windows XP, Windows Vista doesn't provide a network
setup wizard for setting up a direct cable connection.
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