How to create a network between computers?

If you have several stationary computers installed at home, creating a local network will be more than a practical solution. Indeed, to transfer funny pictures to each other, you no longer have to use flash drives, links or cloud storage. Interested in? Then let's find out how to create a network at home, spending a minimum of time and money on it.

What is a local area network and what is it for?

A local area network is several independent PCs combined for fast data exchange. Using this technology, you can collect some semblance of a personal server for home use or a small office. Similar can be observed in computer clubs, offices, small enterprises.

You can organize this at home. Strange as it may seem, creating a network between computers is not an overwhelming task; it is only important to carefully understand everything and try not to miss key steps.

Kinds

The local network can be connected to the Internet or not, and this does not affect the operation of the network itself. And it may also contain a different number of computers connected in different ways, for example, a laptop is connected wirelessly, and a stationary PC is wired. In general, a network can contain any number of machines combined in different ways.

In general, the configuration methods are not very different for different types of networks and most likely will not cause you any difficulties, except when IP addresses cannot be issued automatically and user intervention is required.

Components

To organize a network you will need:

• One or more crimped pieces of UTP cable, required length. Since the creation of the network will occur between computers, it is necessary to crimp / buy a cable specifically for the local network.
• If you plan to build a network of two or three computers, then you can use a router as a network switch, but such a network will be slightly different.
• To create a network with one main computer and distributing the Internet, it is from it that an additional network card will be required, since one adapter cannot simultaneously work at the reception and delivery. For these purposes, there are special dual adapters.
• Well, and, of course, two or more computers.

In addition, some components may be needed in specific cases and may not be listed. Well, let's get started on creating a home web.

Home Group Setup

First you need to give all the computers on the network different names, but the same workgroup is usually WORKGROUP. You can change the settings at: My computer / Properties / Advanced system settings / Computer name. By clicking on the “Change” button, enter the desired values.

Starting with Windows 7, such an activity as creating a network looks disgracefully simple - with the help of a home group. It happens like this:

1. On the host computer, open the Network Control Center. To do this, simply right-click on the Internet connection icon in the tray, select the appropriate item.
2. Select the link “Home group” at the bottom left of the window.
3. Select “Create Home Group” and follow the instructions in the wizard. In the last window, an automatic password is generated, which must be remembered.

If no errors follow, then the home group has been successfully created. Now connect to it from the second computer:

1. We go to the same center of networks.
2. Click on the join point (near the active network).
3. Follow the prompts of the wizard and enter the previously recorded password.

A complete network is created, as well as ready for work. It is worth saying that you can connect a group to the Internet in several ways: through a router (having one network card), through an ordinary wire (having two network cards).

Creating a connection between two PCs

To create a network between two computers, as in the previous method, you need only one UTP cable to connect the network card connectors. For the host computer, it looks like this:

1. We open the network control center again.
2. On a network connection that is indicated as inactive, click RMB and go to Properties.

Then in the properties of the TCP protocol. If you use a direct connection of the computer-to-computer format, you should switch to manual control and enter the following data:

1. IP Address: 192.168.1.1.
2. Subnet Mask (automatically set): 255.255.255.0.
3. The main gateway: 192.168.1.1.
4. In the parameters of the DNS server, you can specify the Google server: 8.8.8.8 or the main gateway. You can skip this item because the DNS is not used in the created local network.
5. In the "access" tab, you need to put a daw in front of both items.

We save the settings and exit the control panel. We pass to the second computer. Here you must enter all the same data, except for the IP address. It must be made unique, for example, 192.168.1.2.

Done! We set up a stable connection between two PCs. To exchange information, you just need to enable file sharing for all members of the group.

And if there are several computers?

To combine three or more computers will require a network switch - Switch. It processes network traffic and distributes it across the channels. Roughly speaking, this is a rather complicated cable splitter. Some switches have a dedicated port for connecting the host computer. The circuit with the switch looks like: router-switch-computers.

Since this method is slightly different, let's look at how to create a network through Switch:

1. First, install the network card driver if the system for some reason did not do this itself.
2. LAN connection settings will not differ from the previous version. On the host computer, specify IP - 192.168.1.1. It is important to note that it is this IP that must be indicated on the host computer, with a unit at the end. On all subsequent computers, it will be different: for the second 192.168.1.2, for the third 192.168.1.3, etc.

Now adjust the Internet connection. In most cases, the connection is automatic, using automatically generated IP addresses. In other situations, you may need to enter data manually after consulting with your provider first.

We open access

You can open access to any files by clicking on them with the right mouse button and hovering over the “Sharing” line, select the desired item. You can also open access in the folder properties in the taskbar. You can allow other users to use not only individual folders, but the entire local drive.

How to create a Wi-Fi connection?

Creating a Wi-Fi network is a fairly practical solution if you only have a router and a bunch of laptops that need to be combined. This will help save not only tons of cable, but also organization speed. In some aspects, creating a network via Wi-Fi is very similar to building an ordinary LAN, but it has several differences:

• Of the equipment required only a router and computers.
• There is no confusion with wires.
• Can be arranged even in isolated rooms.

In principle, all computers connected to the same network are already interconnected, and only a small setup is required:

1. In the network control center, create a new wireless connection, following the prompts of the wizard.
2. A new connection will appear, to which you can connect using the password specified during network registration.
3. You can share files in the same window.

This completes the simulation of the home network.

Now you know how to create a WiFi network between several machines using only a router and a pair of laptops or computers with Wi-Fi adapters.