Heres a tutorial that I did for my website.
With many household having multiple computers and networking materials plummeting in price it has become smart and economical to have a home LAN. The following will attempt to explain the basic's of creating a small network. First of all lets get some terminology out of the way.
NIC- Network Interface Card, Board that provides network communication capabilities to and from a computer system. Also called an adapter.
HUB- A hub is basically an extension of cable which crosses over the transmitting wires with the receive wires.
SWITCH- Same functions as a hub only can do basic addressing through MAC address.
ROUTER- Does all functions as a switch, but can address according to IP address and can be programmed.
Straight through cable- Cat 5 cable which has the same wiring pattern at both ends of the cable going into the RJ45 ends.
Crossover cable- Cat 5 cable which switches the transmit and receive wires at the cable ends.
Cat 5 cable. 4 twisted pairs of wires.
Ok, lets get down to business
First of all all of the computers you want to network together are going to need a NIC installed, If you do not already have one installed you can purchase a PCI or USB ethernet adapter, Both of which have there Pro's and Con's.
PCI- Connects internally through a PCI slot. You have to take computer apart to install.
USB- Universal Serial Bus Plugs into USB ports usually located on the back of your computer. Could cause problems in the future if you buy additional devices that connect through USB.
Next, cabling and devices depend upon how many computers you want to have networked together. If you are only networking two computers together you will only need a crossover cable. If you are networking more then two computers together you will need straight through cable, and a hub, switch or router, depending upon how much money you are willing to spend. I recommend going with a 10/100 switch, as most people really don't need a router, although a hub will still work fine if you're trying to do this cheep.
Time to configure the computers
These instructions are for Windows 95/98 with XP instructions coming soon.
Step 1
On your desktop right click on N.N. (Network Neighborhood) then click properties. A window will pop up showing you your installed protocol's and adapters. First of all lets get identified, if you're not already. Click the Identification tab and then type in data relevant to the computer you are on. This is the name that will show up in N.N. after we get all done. Very important, whatever name you choose for workgroup you must use the same name on all the computers you wish to connect to this network.
Step 2
Now, click the configuration tab to get back to where we started. Search through the list for your Ethernet adapter's name, followed by TCP/IP. One note, if you do not have any other adapters installed besides your Ethernet adapter then it will only say TCP/IP. If TCP/IP is not there for you to select then click add, protocol, Microsoft, TCP/IP, and then click ok, it will take you back to where you selected protocol, just click cancel. Now you should see TCP/IP listed. Select TCP/IP and then click properties. Check the box that says specify an IP address. Next type in your IP address, I recommend using 192.168.x.x because these are address's that will never appear on the internet and were reserved for the purpose of creating small LAN's. In the subnet mask box type 255.255.255.0. click ok, that's it for there.
Step 3
If you want to share files or printers, (isn't that the point of doing this beside playing quake???) click the file and printer sharing button and select which features you wish to use. Last thing to do here is to click the primary network logon menu and select client for Microsoft Networks. If it is not there then click, add, client, Microsoft, Client for Microsoft networks and click ok, click cancel at the next window. Now this computer is almost finished.
Step 4
Click OK, the computer will do it's little song and dance and may ask for your Windows CD. Once this is finished it should prompt you to restart, if not then just do it manually. The computer will startup and there will be a little window that will pop up that will say logon to microsoft network, type in anything you feel like, and click ok, since you don't have a server it won't make a difference.
Step 5
If you enabled file and print sharing continue reading, if not, repeat steps 1-4 on the other machines you wish to network together. If you did enable file sharing you need to decide which file you want to share, for my home LAN I enable full sharing of the entire C:, you may only want to share a single folder, just remember if you share a folder, all folders inside of that folder are also shared. To share your folder right click on the folder you wish to share, and select sharing, here you can also select your permissions you wish to impose upon users accessing your folder. To share printer open my computer, printers, right click on your printers icon, select sharing. Once you get your other computer(s) set up go to my computer, printers, add printer, click network printer. Select the printer you set to share, click ok, the computer will load the drivers from the machine the printer is connected to. That's it you should be good to go.
