One of my assignments was to share a folder between two windows machines. Now, I'm curios if the two machines

Question

A long time ago I configured two windows machines to share a folder.
I did that on school's computers. And, it went fine.

What I failed to take a look is whether or not the two machines have to be connected by a hub (or something else?). I didn't pay close attention to the hardware part b/c I was not responsible for it. And, I'm now curious if the two machines need to be connected by any device.

Thanks in advance

Thanks (both of you).

Anotersilly...., when you said "it needs to be configured to allow those types of traffic". How do you do that? Where do you go to?

Answer 1

As the previous people have already alluded to, the PCs need to be on the same physical network and have IP addresses on that network.

It will be a great help to make them members of the same Windows Workgroup (or Domain on a larger network). You then should set up the corresponding usernames on each machine. If you make the same username on each machine you should avoid being prompted when you access the shared resource.

It is a little clunky in XP home or on a home network. Assigning permissions is a lot more cut and dry on a domain or active directory.

This site provides a good bit of detail:
http://home.woh.rr.com/yso/xpsharing.html

Answer 2

If you are using Windows XP, turn off the Windows firewall. You can connect the computers together using a crossover cable or (by using two patch cables and a hub or switch).

Next you have to create user accounts on each system with identical usernames and passwords. otherwise anyone connecting to the share is considered a guest.

Answer 3

The machines need to both be connected to a network, and not have an firewall between them, or if they have firewalls, they need to be configured to allow that type of traffic.