Easy Ways to Set Up and Connect to a Local Area Network (LAN)

This article was co-authored by Mitch Harris. Mitch Harris is a Consumer Technology Expert based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mitch runs his own IT Consulting company called Mitch the Geek, helping individuals and businesses with home office technology, data security, remote support, and cybersecurity compliance. Mitch earned a BS in Psychology, English, and Physics and graduated Cum Laude from Northern Arizona University.

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A local area network (LAN) is a network of devices that are all connected to each other in a single physical location, like a home or office building. This wikiHow will teach you how to set up a LAN to connect multiple Windows PCs.

Connect a modem to the WAN port on the back of your router. Plug your computer into an open LAN port on your router with an Ethernet cable. Test your network connection, and turn on sharing for files or printers so any connected computer can access them.

Setting Up the LAN

• If you are connecting four or less computers, you'll just need a single router, or one switch if you don't need internet.
• If you're connecting more than four computers, you'll want a router and a switch, or just a switch if you don't need internet.

• You'll need one Ethernet cable for each computer you want to connect to the LAN, as well as an Ethernet cable to connect the router to the switch (if applicable).

Obtain the network hardware. To create a LAN, you'll need a router and/or a network. These pieces of hardware are the "hub" of your LAN, and all of your computers will be connected to them.

The easiest way to create a LAN where every computer has access to the internet is to use a router, and then add a network switch if the router doesn't have enough ports. [1] X Expert Source

• You can skip this if you're setting up a LAN without internet access.
• You don't need a router at all to create a LAN, but it makes things easier. If you just use a network switch, you'll need to manually assign IP addresses to each computer after connecting them.

Connect the switch to a LAN port on the router. If you're using a network switch to connect more computers, connect it to one of the LAN ports on the router. You can use any open port on the switch to make the connection. When connected, the router will provide IP addresses for every computer that is connected to either device.

Connecting Your PC

• Slim laptops may not have an Ethernet port, in which case you'll need to either use a USB Ethernet adapter or connect wirelessly if your router allows it.

Plug one end of an Ethernet cable into your computer. Make sure you're using an Ethernet cable (RJ45), not a telephone cable (RJ11).

Plug the other end of the cable into an open LAN port. This can be any open LAN port on either the router or the switch, depending on your LAN setup.

Test out your network (router only). If you're using a router, your work is complete. Once all of the computers are connected to a LAN port, they will be assigned IPs automatically and will appear on the network. If you set up your LAN for gaming, you should be able to start your LAN game and have each computer connect. [2] X Expert Source

• If you're using a switch and no router, you'll still need to assign IP addresses to each computer.

Enable file and printer sharing. You won't be able to access resources on a networked computer until file and printer sharing is enabled. You can select specific files, folders, and drives to share on each computer, as well as share access to printers.

Assigning IP Addresses (No Router)

• Think of an IP address as a mailing address. Each computer on the network needs a unique IP address so that information sent across the network reaches the correct destination.

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Click OK . This will save the settings for that computer. This computer is now configured on your network with a unique IP address.

Open the Internet Protocol Version 4 properties on the next computer. Follow the steps above on the second computer to open the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties window.

Type 192.168.1.51 into the IP address field. Notice that the final group of numbers has incremented by 1.

Enter the same values for Subnet mask and Default gateway . These values should be the same as they were on the first computer (255.255.0.0 and 192.168.0.0 respectively).

Give each additional computer a unique IP. Repeat these steps for each additional computer, incrementing the IP address by 1 each time (up to 255). The "Subnet mask" and "Default gateway" fields should be the same on each computer.

Expert Q&A

Mitch Harris is a Consumer Technology Expert based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mitch runs his own IT Consulting company called Mitch the Geek, helping individuals and businesses with home office technology, data security, remote support, and cybersecurity compliance. Mitch earned a BS in Psychology, English, and Physics and graduated Cum Laude from Northern Arizona University.

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Mitch Harris is a Consumer Technology Expert based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mitch runs his own IT Consulting company called Mitch the Geek, helping individuals and businesses with home office technology, data security, remote support, and cybersecurity compliance. Mitch earned a BS in Psychology, English, and Physics and graduated Cum Laude from Northern Arizona University.

Make sure that you've entered a DNS server—if you haven't, you'll receive an error related to DNS and you won't be able to access any webpages. You can enter Google's free server with "8 8 8 8" or "8 8 4 4". If you use Comcast, enter "7 5 7 5 7 5 7 5" or "7 5 7 5 7 6 7 6".

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Properly configure the IP of the printer, and connect it to your switch or router -- preferably a router (it will assign an IP that is compatible to your network). Make sure the port you are using is open.

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