Hi Tony,
In XP it should be fairly simple, as the Network Connection Setup =
Wizzard also supports those direct link options. (Sorry don't know how =
that little helper is correctly called and which options to use, as I'm =
only familiar with the German XP version.)
However, you must of course use a cross-over LAN cable. Hold both jacks =
of your cable next to each other, there may not be the same wire colors =
sequence. As your network adaptors likely support 100Mbit/s it may be a =
good idea to use a good quality though it shouldn't matter too much for =
a short pt-to-pt link. Same at far lower speed can of course be achieved =
with parallel or serial so called Lap-Link cables.
hth
Gert
--=20
Greetings from peaceful "old Europe"

"Tony Thompson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag =
...
Have a look at this http://www.wown.com/
=20
" MS" wrote in message
...
Although fairly computer literate, I am pretty ignorant as far as =
networks
go. So, sorry if the following question seems like a "dummy" =
question.

Two laptops, both running Windows XP Home Edition. Both have =
built-in
network adapter cards and jacks for a network cable.

Can they be networked, for transferring files between them, by =
connecting
them to each other directly with a network cable, without any =
additional
network hardware?

If so, how do you set it up? I tried to do it, connected them, used =
the
"Add
New Connection" wizard, but couldn't get it to work. Always got an =
error
message like "network cable is unplugged", although it was plugged =
in to
both laptops.

If it's possible, please tell me how to do it.

Does it matter what kind of male-male network cable--Cat 5e, Fast =
Cat 5e,
Cat 6?

Thank you for your input,
Mike


=20