Connect 2 Computers

ddgm · Apr 20, 2022

I have a Dell XPS 8940 with Windows 11 Ver 21H2 build 22000.613 with a wireless lan that I want to connect to a ASUS CM 6870 with Windows 10 Pro Ver 21H2 Build 19044.1466 that doesn't have wireless lan but does have wired lan. I used to connect with a router with cat cables to both but now the router ( new Fibre Optics System) and the router has been moved about 30 feet away to another area. Can I connect both computers with a cat cable and make this work. I want to access the hard drives on the Win 10 computer from the Win 11 . What is my best option for doing so? The Win 11 is connected wireless. The computers are about 4 feet apart and I have connected them with a cat cable, the Win 10 seems to see the connection as unidentified. Help!

glasskuter · Apr 20, 2022

No you can't connect with a cat cable. Your best and quickest route would be go buy a usb wireless adapter for less than $20 ($10 on Amazon)

glasskuter · Apr 20, 2022

I forgot to say you will need to set up network sharing on both computers if you have not already done so.

Ed Tittel · Apr 20, 2022

There is another way to use RJ-45 cables between two machines: it's called a CatX (Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6, etc.) "crossover cable" as available for purchase and as shown in wiring diagrams through this Google search. Note: you can ONLY use a crossover cable to hook 2 devices together. They won't work in a router (or anything else that's expecting a normal RJ-45 CATX cable of one type or another). That said, they're quite cheap.
HTH,
--Ed--

tomdsr · Apr 20, 2022

ddgm said:
I have a Dell XPS 8940 with Windows 11 Ver 21H2 build 22000.613 with a wireless lan that I want to connect to a ASUS CM 6870 with Windows 10 Pro Ver 21H2 Build 19044.1466 that doesn't have wireless lan but does have wired lan. I used to connect with a router with cat cables to both but now the router ( new Fibre Optics System) and the router has been moved about 30 feet away to another area. Can I connect both computers with a cat cable and make this work. I want to access the hard drives on the Win 10 computer from the Win 11 . What is my best option for doing so? The Win 11 is connected wireless. The computers are about 4 feet apart and I have connected them with a cat cable, the Win 10 seems to see the connection as unidentified. Help!

yes, you can use a cat6 cable from computer a to computer b. no router needed. no need for a crossover cable anymore (used to require this for pc to pc but windows is smarter now)

it is unidentified because it doesnt see an internet connection, just set it to private or ignore that

tomdsr · Apr 20, 2022

Ed Tittel said:
There is another way to use RJ-45 cables between two machines: it's called a CatX (Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6, etc.) "crossover cable" as available for purchase and as shown in wiring diagrams through this Google search. Note: you can ONLY use a crossover cable to hook 2 devices together. They won't work in a router (or anything else that's expecting a normal RJ-45 CATX cable of one type or another). That said, they're quite cheap.
HTH,
--Ed--

doesnt need to be a crossover cable anymore :)

Ed Tittel · Apr 20, 2022

@tomdsr: Learned something new from this. Here's an article that explains how to make a conventional (non-crossover) cable work to interconnect two Windows PCs (it talks about Win10, but looks like it should work for Win11 as well): StackPath.
HTH and thanks!
=Ed=

tomdsr · Apr 20, 2022

Ed Tittel said:
@tomdsr: Learned something new from this. Here's an article that explains how to make a conventional (non-crossover) cable work to interconnect two Windows PCs (it talks about Win10, but looks like it should work for Win11 as well): StackPath.
HTH and thanks!
=Ed=

i lkearned it from someone else here too :thumbsup:

glasskuter · Apr 20, 2022

Maybe I read his post wrong but I think he's needing internet access on the computer that has no wireless access so that computer will need it's own ip address. How is using a crossover cable going to accomplish that? Then he wants to have access to its drive permanently from the other one.

ddgm · Apr 20, 2022

Thanks for all the replies. I just remembered that I have a Linksys N600 Router. I am going to try that between the 2 computers and see how that goes. I think that I will try tomdsr suggestion first, but it may be a few hours from now. Just saw glasskuter's reply, I don't want or need internet access on the Win 10. Thanks again everyone.

tomdsr · Apr 20, 2022

glasskuter said:
Maybe I read his post wrong but I think he's needing internet access on the computer that has no wireless access so that computer will need it's own ip address. How is using a crossover cable going to accomplish that? Then he wants to have access to its drive permanently from the other one.

ddgm said:
I have a Dell XPS 8940 with Windows 11 Ver 21H2 build 22000.613 with a wireless lan that I want to connect to a ASUS CM 6870 with Windows 10 Pro Ver 21H2 Build 19044.1466 that doesn't have wireless lan but does have wired lan. I

:)

glasskuter · Apr 20, 2022

ddgm said:
but now the router ( new Fibre Optics System) and the router has been moved about 30 feet away to another area.

@tomdsr I read it again and still see the same thing in his question. His router was moved, his ethernet cable is not long enough to reach it and it's in another room..

tomdsr · Apr 20, 2022

glasskuter said:
@tomdsr I read it again and still see the same thing in his question. His router was moved, his ethernet cable is not long enough to reach it and it's in another room..

ya, he was using it for file sharing but moved it and the 2 computers are about 4 feet away. tail end of the op mentions accessing the hard drives on the win10 pc from the win11pc

cereberus · Apr 20, 2022

glasskuter said:
No you can't connect with a cat cable. Your best and quickest route would be go buy a usb wireless adapter for less than $20 ($10 on Amazon)

Sure you can connect the two pcs with an ethernet cable to network them.

If pc does not have an ethernet port, you can use a usb/ethernet adapter.

If both ethernet ports are gigabit, and you use a cat6 cable, you can get speeds close to 900+ Mb/s for data transfer - no other network solution can come close.

ddgm · Apr 22, 2022

So, using the connect with cat cable between the Win 11 Pro and the Win 10 Pro computers, I have some success. I can see and access the Win 11 from the Win 10 computer but not The Win 10 from the Win 11 computer, which is of course the way I want to do it. I used to be quite good at these things, but this seems hard to get a handle on. I'll keep reading and trying. I have an abundance of time available to work on this.