How to Use a Network Without a Hub
As having multiple computers in one household becomes increasingly common, the need for home computer networking to share Internet connections is on the rise. A typical way to share an Internet connection is to use a hub, splitter or router to act as a bridge between computers. There are, however, ways to network two or more computers without a hub, which can be useful for those planning to network a small number of computers together.
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Things You'll Need
- Crossover Ethernet cables Ethernet cards in each computer to be networked (or several in the main computer)
Instructions
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Shut down all computers to be networked.
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Connect the main computer to the Internet gateway (for example, the cable modem or the DSL modem) with a standard Ethernet cable.
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Connect the second computer to the main computer using a crossover cable. Connect any additional computers to the main computer using additional crossover cables. The main computer will need an extra Ethernet card installed for each computer to be connected. Alternatively, the second computer can have an extra Ethernet card installed, which is connected to a third computer, and so on for extra computers.
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Turn on all of the computers and connect the main computer to the Internet.
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Run the network setup wizard on all of your networked computers, starting with the main computer. To do this, click "Start," then "Network Places." Next, click on the "Set up a Home or Small Office Network" button. After running the network setup wizard on each computer, restart all of the computers one more time and connect to the Internet again.
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Tips & Warnings
If you have wireless network adapters in your computers, you can network the computers using a wireless router. When connecting two computers together via Ethernet ports to share a connection, you must use a crossover Ethernet cable. Standard Ethernet cables are meant for connecting an Ethernet card to a modem or other Internet gateway device like a hub or router, not to connect two computers together directly.
