XP Home. I am using a crossover cable, no hub. I have run the network connection wizard on both computers. When i go into properties for the LAN connection on the desktop, then tcp/ip settings i have an ip of 192.168.0.1 mask of 255.255.255.0. when i go into LAN properties on the laptop the general tab at the top shows the ethernet card, but the section that normally says "This connection uses the following items:" is blank. There is no tcp/ip listing for me to select. the two computers do not seem to be networked after running network setup wizard.

you need the hub!!!!!

The hub is not going to magically resolve the issue.. You should be able to setup a simple peer to peer network with a crossover cable. Try posting @ the network forum for further help. Goodluck.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11280 http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=63 You don't need any special software. You can configure the computers to share files. Each computer's drive will be accessible as if it was on the other computer. Just conenct the two computer's NICs together using the crossover cable. Since is doesn't sound like you're using broadband internet the easiest thing to do is install the NetBEUI network protocal and "Client for Microsoft Networks" on both computers. Both computers also need to have the same Workgroup name in the Indentification tab in Network Neighborhood (for Win98) or My Network Places (for WinME). Then to share a drive on one computer so it's accessible to the other, right click on the drive in My Computer and select "Sharing". Click on "Share As" and use the default drive letter. That's it. When you open that computer's icon in Network Neighborhood (or Network Places) on the other computer, you'll see it's drive. Click on that to open the drive in Explorer like any other drive. You can drag and drop and do whatever you'd normally do from Explorer.

http://www.helmig.com - excellent tutorial site for basics upwards networking - be it peer-to-peer or otherwise. Covers all flavours of M$ OS networking.

I'm sorry, I didn't mention in the original message, I am trying to share a dsl connectioon, thanks for any help.

Check the status of both NIC's in Device Manager. When they are both active connect the crossover cable and run the Networking wizard. That is all it should take. XP will set it up for you. Good Luck