How to Connect Two Computers Directly

By

Bipul Kumar Bal

When you don’t have any HUB or Switching device, you may face problem
with connecting two computers directly with the CAT5e or Category 5 cable.
Now I will mainly focus on the case where you don’t have any hub.

Initially I will describe all the things required in short, and then it is been
described vividly.

Short Description

• Choose a network address for both the computers say 144.16.192.245

and 144.16.192.247
• Connect the two computers with the CAT5e cable. Now here is the
main difference with connecting through hub. In case of hub both end
of the cable will have the same color code (Later it has been described
as Straight Through). But in case of our case (direct connection) we
need different color code for two ends. This color code is called
Cross-Over, later it has been described.
• Configure the computers for networking, see the vivid description for
this section.

I hope you will be able to connect two computers directly. Best of luck

Vivid Description
1. Choose a Network Address

o Any network address will do for this purpose, so long as you

understand the basics of how IPv4 works as explained below.
o IPv4 (IP ver. 4) addresses are written like this:
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (four number groups separated by three dots),
in all RFC-1166 compliant countries. Each number ranges from
0 to 255. This is known as "Dotted Decimal Notation" or "Dot
Notation" for short. The address is divided into two portions:
the network portion and the host portion.

For "Classful" networks, the network and host portions are as

follows:
("n" represents the network portion, "x" represents the host
portion)

When the first number is 0 to 127 - nnn.xxx.xxx.xxx (ex.

10.xxx.xxx.xxx)
These are known as "Class A" networks.

When the first number is 128 to 191 - nnn.nnn.xxx.xxx (ex.

172.16.xxx.xxx)
These are known as "Class B" networks.

When the first number is 192 to 223 - nnn.nnn.nnn.xxx (ex.

192.168.1.xxx)
These are known as "Class C" networks.

When the first number is 224 to 239 - The address is used for
multi-casting.

When the first number is 240 to 255 - The address is

"experimental".

Multicast & Experimental addresses are beyond the scope of

this article. However, because IPv4 does not treat them the
same way as other addresses they should not be used.

For simplicity "non-classful networks" and sub-netting will not

be discussed, as we will be connecting only two devices.

The network portion specifies a network; the host portion

specifies an individual device on a network.

For any given network:

ƒ The range of all possible host portion numbers gives the

Address Range.
 (ex. 172.16.xxx.xxx the range is 172.16.0.0 to
172.16.255.255)
ƒ The lowest possible address is the Network Address.
(ex. 172.16.xxx.xxx the network address is 172.16.0.0)
This address is used by devices to specify the network
itself, and cannot be assigned to any device.
ƒ The highest possible address is the Broadcast Address.
(ex. 172.16.xxx.xxx the broadcast address is
172.16.255.255)
This address is used when a packet is meant for all
devices on a specific network, and cannot be assigned to
any device.
ƒ The remaining numbers in the range are the Host Range.
(ex. 172.16.xxx.xxx the host range is 172.16.0.1 to
172.16.255.254)
These are the numbers you can assign to computers,
printers, and other devices.
Host Addresses are individual addresses within this
range.
2. Connect the two computers together.
o To connect with a Crossover cable, simply plug an end of the
cable into the Ethernet Port of each computer.
o To connect with a Hub or Switch, use two straight through
cables to connect each computer to the switch or hub.
o See "Things you will need" section for more information on
"Straight Through" -vs- "Cross-Over" Cables.
3. Configure the computers for networking. Go to internet options
(this varies depending on the Operating System), and go to the dialog
box that lets you change the TCP/IP protocol. Change the radio
buttons from "Obtain from DHCP server automatically" to "Use the
following IP address:".

o Give each computer a different address from the host range.

Do not use the network address or the broadcast address.
o Leave the "Default Gateway" and "DNS server" fields blank.
o For the subnet mask, use the following:

Class "A" Networks

When the first number is 0 to 127
 The Mask is - 255.0.0.0

Class "B" Networks

When the first number is 128 to 191
The Mask is - 255.255.0.0

Class "C" Networks

When the first number is 192 to 223
The Mask is - 255.255.255.0

IPv4 originally used the first number (ex. 192) to determine

which part of the address is network and which part is host
based on the address class. However, the advent of subnetting
and nonclassful networking made it necessary to provide a
mask because other ways of dividing the address into network
and host portions are now possible.(More information in the
Important Notes section.)
4. Verify connectivity. The simplest way to do this is with Ping. Bring
up MS-DOS or the equivalent on other OS's, (In Windows open the
command prompt which is located in the Start Menu - Accessories -
Command Prompt) and type in: "ping [insert IP address of the other
computer here] (ex. 192.168.1.1). If you cannot reach the other
computers address, read over the steps again or contact a professional.

Tips
• To share your files, right click on any folder and choose Sharing to make them
shared.
• You can also do this with your printers to be able to print from one computer
while the printer is connected to the other.

Things You'll Need

• Straight Through -vs- Cross-Over

o Straight through is a CAT-5, CAT-5e, or CAT-6 Ethernet

Cable with the wires connected as follows:
 On both ends: Orange Stripe; Orange; Green Stripe; Blue;
Blue Stripe; Green; Brown Stripe; Brown.

o Cross-over is a CAT-5, CAT-5e, or CAT-6 Ethernet Cable

with the wires connected:

On one end: Orange Stripe; Orange; Green Stripe; Blue; Blue

Stripe; Green; Brown Stripe; Brown
On the other end: Green Stripe; Green; Orange Stripe; Blue;
Blue Stripe; Orange; Brown Stripe; Brown

The above conforms to TIA/EIA-568 standard, however, all

that is important for a cross-over to work is for pins 1 & 2
(transmit) to switch places with pins 3 & 6 (receive) on the
opposite end. For a strait through pins should be the same on
both ends. Color sets (ex. Orange Strip & Orange) mark twisted
pairs. Keeping pin sets on the same twisted pair (i.e. pins 1 & 2
on one color set, and pins 3 & 6 on another) allows best signal
quality.

o Note: TIA/EIA standard has not been established for CAT-7 or

greater cabling.

• A cross-over cable is all you need to connect two computers directly.

• You may wish, however, to purchase a switch/hub with two

Standard "Straight-Through" Ethernet Cables. This is especially
useful if you plan to add more computers later.

Note: If planning to connect 3 or more computers, hubs are less

expensive but waste bandwidth by repeating all signals out all ports -
leaving it to the receiving computers to ignore packets not addressed
to them. Switches allow more efficient use of bandwidth by sending
packets only to the intended recipient.

• Many computers can determine if you are using a crossover or

straight through cable. If you are not so lucky to have auto-sensing
on at least one of the devices connected by a cable, you must use the
correct type between them. Computer-to-switch/hub will require a
straight through, computer-to-computer a crossover.
 • Check to see if your computer has an Ethernet Adapter in the
back of the computer. Most new computers have this. You can tell
by the documentation from the computer or by looking at the back of
the computer. It looks like a phone jack, but larger, with 8-pins. Do
not confuse this with a "modem" jack for dial-up phone service.
Phone/modem jacks will have 2, 4, or 6 pins.

Important Notes
• The concept of a subnet mask. The general concept will help in
understanding what this number does, and why it matters.

Dotted decimal notation is a human way of writing IP Addresses to

make them easier to work with. What the computer "sees" is 32 ones
and zeros in a row like this: 11000000101010000000001000000000.
IPv4 originally broke this into 4 groups of 8, hence the "dots" -
11000000.10101000.00000010.00000000, each group is an "octet" of
8 bits. Dotted decimal writes the value of the octet in decimal to make
it easier for people to read - 192.168.2.0

A complex set of rules concerning the order of the ones and zeros in
the first octet was used to create the "Classful Addressing Scheme";
however, no subnet mask was needed. For all Class A's the first octet
was network, for Class B's the first and second were network, for
Class C's the first three.

In 1987, intra-nets started becoming larger and the Internet was on its
way. Wasting whole Class C ranges of 254 host addresses on small
networks became a problem. Class A and B networks often wasted
addresses because physical limitations forced networks to be divided
by routers before they could get large enough to use so many
addresses. (Class B's host range (256 X 256) - 2 = 65534 addresses;
Class C's (256^3) - 2 = 16,777,214.)

Subnetting divides a large Classful network into many smaller "sub-

nets" by increasing the number of ones and zeros used to address
networks(leaving fewer for the hosts in each network). A small subnet
can then be assigned to a small network without using a large number
of extra addresses. To say which bits are the network address we use a
1. The "mask" (ex. 255.255.255.192) when converted to binary (ex.
11111111.11111111.11111111.11000000) defines exactly how many
more bits are added to the network portion (ex. two host bit). In this
example, one Class C with 254 hosts becomes four sub-nets with 62
hosts each. Of these sub-nets only two may be assigned to networks;
the first and last cannot be used according to RFC-950.

Further discussion of the rules of subnetting is beyond the scope of

this article. What matters here is that even though we are using
Classful addresses, Windows (and other software) doesn't know this.
And hence, will still need a mask to tell it how many bits we want to
use for the network portion. By saying 255.255.255.0, we're saying
that 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000 is the subnet. By that,
we say that the first three octets are the network, and the last is the
host - we want to make it a Class C.