Hi,

I want to connect my PC and a Laptop (both having Windows XP) as a peer to peer network.

How do I do this? Both computers have network cards.

SpitefulPentium

Connect both network cards to eachother via a crossed cat 5 utp cable, or by connecting both with straight through cables into a hub. If you use the hub, do not use the uplink port.

Configure the following IP setup

machine 1)

ip address 192.168.0.1
subnet mask 255.255.255.0

machine 2)

ip address 192.168.0.2
subnet mask 255.255.255.0


TCP/IP settings are from Network and dial up connections, find adapter, right click, properties, TCP/IP.

If you are looking to have internet on both computers of your p2p network, you are going to need to add another network card to, preferably, the desktop, have your modem (adsl, dsl, cable, etc.) plugged into that network card, then have as stated by phantasm, a crossover going to the laptop.

Instead of having two NICs in desktop:
If your using DSL/Cable modem... you might be able to replace your cross-over cable (from broadband to PC) with a "straight" cable, and plug the internet connection into the hub as well... (using only 1 NIC on the desktop). But this only works if your Broadband connection performs DHCP/NAT, otherwise you will need to configure your desktop to "share" your internet connection with the laptop as PHAT outlined w/ 2nd NIC.

C