Hi all, i bought a laptop today that runs vista home premium and have taken it to my girlfriends house where she has a desktop pc that runs XP home and also the internet via a 2wire USB and EThernET modem. I have attempted to network them by connecting the desktop pc via USB modem and using the ethernet cable which came with the modem to attempt to create a home network between the 2. Is it possible to network these 2 with an Ethernet cable (i do not think it is a crossover cable) and if not, can i connect my laptop via the ethernet port on the modem while the desktop is still connected via USB ?? Hence using both the ethernet and USB port on the modem simultaneously?? thanks alot

Connect both machines to the modem/router and run ipconfig from a command prompt. Post the results if you don't understand them.

If you only have a modem you can not use both interfaces at the same time. This is because the ISP usually only gives you one ip. You need two. Put in a wireless router if you want both to connect to the internet and share files between. Use a crossover cable between the two if only wanting to share files.