LAN stands for local area network. LANs used to be mainly utilized in offices and educational institutions, but now inexpensive home routers make for quick-setup LANs at your home. A LAN allows you to share computers and resources. Connecting a laptop and other computers with a router creates the simplest of LANs. It’s a quick process that is well worth the time.
Instructions
- Plug your desktop into the modem, router or gateway that provides your Internet service access and home network. Most modern computers will connect via Ethernet or Cat5 cable.
- You should be able to connect remotely to a wireless access point if your desktop computer is fitted with a wireless networking card.
- Boot the desktop computer and prepare to share files residing on that system. On a PC, right-click the file location you want to share file access to. For example, most documents are stored under the “My Documents” hierarchy. Click “Share” from the drop-down menu.You can add existing user IDs to the list of those who may have access. If you are the only one who has a user account on your PC, you can skip this step. Click the Share button and wait a few moments for the process to finish. Click the Done button when it becomes available.
- Power up your laptop and prepare those files for sharing. Follow the same procedures as above. Open the home Network and Sharing Center from the computer to which you want to copy or transfer files. The Network and Sharing Center is available from the Windows Start menu on computers using the Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems.
- Browse to the files you want: Click the computer name that is currently housing the files. When prompted, enter the user name and password for your account on that PC.
- Right-click and drag the files onto the other computer’s desktop or other location. Select “copy” or “move” as appropriate from the popup menu to transfer files.
