What causes an unidentified network in Windows?

I have a desktop computer and a laptop; I want to make a network by cross cable. I installed Windows on my desktop PC and installed Windows 7 64-bit on my laptop PC.

On my laptop and desktop computer I set the workgroup, computer name, and IP address. I've checked the cross cable and it's correct.

If I ping the laptop's IP from my desktop PC it works, but pinging the desktop PC's IP from the laptop doesn't work. The icon in the notification area says it's an unidentified network.

What should I do to get this working?

Hussein39

Posted 2010-10-23T17:25:48.043

Reputation: 21

This may be helpful: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766017(WS.10).aspx

– LawrenceC – 2011-11-01T22:42:36.203

Answers

An unidentified network just means that the gateway isn't set on that computer for the current connection; enter a valid one and the issue will be resolved.

In your case put the other computer's IP address as the gateway.

SgtOJ

Posted 2010-10-23T17:25:48.043

Reputation: 6 843

Do you know what a crossover cable is supposed to look like? do you know the difference between 568A and 568B? What is the IP that you set on the second computer? It will need to be something like 192.168.0.2. You should have the subnet mask on both set to 255.255.255.0.

MaQleod

Posted 2010-10-23T17:25:48.043

Reputation: 12 560

1The difference between 568A and 568B only matters when making own cables, and it's usually easier to just buy one. Besides, most NICs made in the last few years support automatic crossover. – user1686 – 2011-04-28T08:57:07.377