I cannot connect my two computers

[Claudio]

I connected two computers with an Ethernet crossover cable but they cannot communicate. One computer runs Windows 2000 and the other Windows XP. Both computers have the network services and TCP/IP protocols installed. Both are part of Workgroup. I cannot assign static IP addresses as Windows 2000 is connected to a cable modem for internet access.
The computer that runs Windows 2000 can see the other one but not the shared files.
The computer that runs Windows XP cannot see anything.
Please help.

 

[bradthegreat]

I know for a fact you can set a static IP in Windows 2000. Go into Control Panel>Network Connections and right-click and go to the properties of your Ethernet connection, not your cable modem. In the first Tab, there should be a drop down box - double-click Internet Protocol TCP/IP v4, or whatever (I am on Vista and am trying to remember what everything is called).

Do the same for XP, then set the static IPs to be 192.168.1.100 and 192.168.1.101, one on each computer obviously, and tab down to get the default subnet mask. OK everything and you should be able to type the name of the computer into windows explorer and a list of shared folders will show up. You may need to mess with firewalls...not sure if they take affect for LAN connections. That should be all you need to do - the connections should be good to go both ways. I have done this many times, so it should work if they are both on Workgroup.

 

[Claudio]

I cannot connect...

I did set static IP addresses on both computers (192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2 with subnet mask of 255.255.255.0) but with no positive result. I also am afraid that I could loose my internet connection as the IP address in Windows 2000 computer is dynamic and assigned by the ISP.
However I tried and nothing happened...
The network connection status is OK in Windows 2000 but not in XP.

 

[Po`Girl]

Make sure the Computer Browser service is running on both machines.(services.msc)