The laptop is beautiful for its mobility, and it is this feature that it differs from desktop computers. It can be carried with you wherever you need. Sometimes the question arises of how to connect a laptop to a laptop without a wire, if, for example, you came to visit friends who have their own laptop in order to dump some information on it. If there is a Wi-Fi router, then the problem disappears very quickly, that is, there are no difficulties with this procedure. However, the question of how to connect a laptop to a laptop without a wire becomes much more relevant if there are no network devices, and you don’t feel like buying them for subjective reasons. Here everything is solved quite simply.
The situation with modern devices
Over the past decade, all portable devices come with a built-in Wi-Fi module. Therefore, when deciding how to connect a laptop to a laptop without a wire, there are no special problems. In this case, you will not need absolutely no financial costs. So you can combine several devices into one network without even having to use any special software - Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 already have everything you need.
Network creation
First you need to choose one laptop, which will serve as the basis for a wireless network. It should run the command line with administrative rights. Now you need to type certain commands. A wireless network with a password is created as follows. At the command prompt, enter netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode = allow ssid = [network name] key = [password]. The parameters indicated in square brackets, you can set as you like.
Next, the created wireless network needs to be launched. To do this, enter the netsh wlan start hostednetwork command.
Settings
When the network is created and is already running, you need to register IP addresses on the devices. This is also quite difficult. You must enter the "Network Control Center" - "Change adapter settings." When you find yourself in the network settings of the device, you need to call the context menu of the wireless network icon. Next, you need to open the "Properties". In the window that opens, you should find "Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP / IPv4)" and then you need to check the boxes to automatically receive addresses.
Communication
After creating and launching a wireless network, go to the “Wireless Networks” item, where the created network will be displayed. It is required to call its context menu, in which you must select the "Connect" item. The system will ask you to enter a network security key , and the next time you do a device search request, you must give consent. So, if we talk about how to connect a laptop to a laptop without a wire, it should be noted that the device that became the source of the network will have an IP address of 192.168.173.1, and all the others connected to it from the same subnet. Addresses are displayed in the network connection information. This connection option makes the laptop a Wi-Fi router, to which you can connect three or more computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones or other devices. You can even distribute the Internet from it. That's all for the question of how to connect a laptop to a laptop via WiFi. There are other options, no less relevant.
Create a wired network
So, if you are interested in how to connect a laptop to a laptop via a network cable (Windows 7), then this is worth considering. This method is suitable in cases when a wireless module is missing or does not work on one of the devices, or this element is used to connect to the Internet. How to connect a laptop to a laptop via WiFi has already been considered, now you should determine how to do the same only using twisted pair. In any laptop there is a network card. You only need to purchase a LAN cable of a certain length, it is called a crossover because of the way it is crimped.
Cable for connection
The network cable can be crimped in one of two ways - direct and reverse. The first is used to pair the laptop with a router, switch, or modem. The crossover is focused on connecting two similar devices to each other. The network cable, crimped in the second type, is characterized in that the pairs of wires in it are interchanged. It can be purchased at any computer store. One end should be connected to the network card of the first laptop, and the other to the other.
After such manipulations, we can further consider the question of how to connect a laptop to a laptop via a local network. To do this, you need to enter the "Network Control Center", where you need to change the adapter settings. You must open the “Properties” of the LAN connection. Next, in the window that opens, select "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP / IPv4)." Now you should register special addresses and subnet masks on both devices. After all these manipulations, the gadgets will be visible to each other in a networked environment.
Alternatives
You can consider the question of how to connect a laptop to a laptop via USB? It is worth noting that this connector allows you to connect two devices directly, but it can hardly be called convenient. There are two types of USB-Link cables. The simplest allows you to only see the contents of the second computer, which is connected in this way, from a program that mimics a standard system explorer. From this program, you can drag and drop files to the computer using the mouse. The second is more complex, representing in fact a pair of controllers such as USB-to-EtherNet, interconnected by a network cable. In this case, a classic network connection will be obtained, but if both computers have built-in network adapters, this method can be called an unnecessary entity: it is cheaper, easier, and much faster to use a traditional network cable or transfer data using a regular USB flash drive. If we talk about how to connect a laptop to a laptop via USB, it should be noted that the speed of such a connection will be very low, which affects the work in a negative way. The ease of use of a conventional flash drive and its availability for purchase simply level all the convenience of connecting devices directly.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is another way to communicate between a pair of devices. This method can hardly be called good, since the data transfer rate is not more than 723 kilobits per second, and the range is quite small. In addition, the network in this case is difficult to configure, it is characterized by poor noise and burglar resistance, which makes it too inconvenient for data transfer between two computers.
Additional ports
LPT-Link provides direct cable connection through a parallel port. Historically, this method is one of the first, since it does not depend on the installed operating system, therefore it can be used anywhere. At the moment, it is dying due to the fact that the interface itself is practically not used. For example, if you are wondering how to connect a laptop to a laptop via an HDMI cable, it is worth noting that it is more realistic to connect them through parallel ports. The HDMI interface is designed to connect the TV to a computer to output images and sound, it is not focused on the transmission of other data. And where there are LPT ports, you can use them without problems. The cable length in this case is limited to three meters, and the speed can reach 2 megabytes per second.
Serial port
The question of how to connect a laptop to a laptop via an HDMI cable can be answered unambiguously: no way. However, there are several quite affordable ways to connect devices to each other. One of them is the serial port. This method can also be attributed to one of the oldest, but from this it has not lost its popularity. This interface gradually ceases to be used due to the low data transfer rate, as well as the withering away of the COM port itself, which is simply inconvenient to install on portable devices. But he has more chances to use for a direct connection than HDMI.
Indirect methods
Knowing which laptop ports are available, you may be wondering how to connect a laptop to a laptop via a VGA cable? And here the answer is also unequivocal - it is simply impossible to do this. But if you want to use some complicated method, you can resort to data transfer through additional storage media, for example, disks, flash drives, external hard drives and others.