Ethernet LAN Connection Problem

[prateek203]

I want to connect my laptop with desktop to copy files on it, but it seems to tough. My laptop is Windows 7 Home Premium, and desktop has Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3. They both have ethernet card and i've got the cross cable. i cannot change the workgroup name in desktop, but it's set to "WORKGROUP", so i've set it same in my laptop too. then i went to local area connection properties in both of them. in my laptop, i've set the following entries:

ip - 192.168.0.1
subnet - 255.255.255.0
default gateway - 192.168.0.2

in desktop:

ip - 192.168.0.2
subnet - 255.255.255.0
default gateway - 192.168.0.1

that's what i found on internet. but i've tried various other combinations too, like giving unique ip address to both and putting some different ip and gateway (different from both ip). but nothing works.

on my desktop, it shows connected. but not on my laptop. i really want to copy all my stuff from desktop to laptop. how can i ever do it :(

 

[Dawn]

The built in stuff is kind of lame.

I recommend downloading and using Teamviewer, which I use for this exact thing. It's a free program. https://teamviewer.com/index.aspx

You have to install it on both computers. Each one gets a unique number ID each time you start it up and you can type that into the connect box on the other PC to start things.

 

[prateek203]

I went to that page, but it seems it's all through internet...I am using the cross cable. Don't want to use internet for it, it will be too slow.

 

[Dawn]

It's perfectly fine for transferring files. If you insist on not using the internet you'll have to look to someone else for that.

 

[twocows]

Make sure the "workstation" service is started on the desktop. Windows key + R, cmd, net start workstation.

 

[prateek203]

Already tried it. But the workstation service never starts :(

I checked in msconfig, the Workstation service is ticked, but it's stopped. I did that net start workstation, still no difference. it's always stopped. even restarted my pc, still stopped. how do i start it?

 

[twocows]

It takes about a minute, sometimes more, to start. Make sure you've waited long enough.

 

[prateek203]

C:\>net start workstation
The Workstation service is starting..
The Workstation service could not be started.

A service specific error occurred: 2250.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 3547.


C:\>net helpmsg 3547

A service specific error occurred: ***.


EXPLANATION

A service-specific error occurred.

ACTION

Refer to the Help or documentation for that service to determine the problem.


C:\>

 

[twocows]

Try running CCleaner's registry cleaner. Fix all errors it finds and try again.

 

[prateek203]

Did that. Still no change :(

 

[Dawn]

Quite honestly the inbuilt Windows tools for this are terrible. I never got them to work. Couldn't be bothered when there were free alternatives that required so much less hassle.

I have a laptop with wireless and a desktop with ethernet and Teamviewer does everything I could ask for in terms of transferring files in-between them. It's usually very fast, like, as fast as my internet connection can go. (1 MB/s)

That means my average MP3 is transfered in mere seconds.

 

[twocows]

Windows networking has always been kind of a mess. I'm sorry that I can't really help more than saying that. ;_;

 

[prateek203]

I don't have that fast internet connection. That's why I don't want to go for that.

And it's alright. I moved all files using my 2GB flash drive, gradually. Now all my data is here :)