link 2 pc's, one with no screen/kbrd/mouse?

  • Thread starter Thread starter kk
  • Start date Start date
K

kk

I have two pc's, both with XP Pro. Both have identical 10/100 cards.
I would like to use the older/slower one as a fileserver/backup;
ideally i would like to set it up so that it was just turned on at the
wall, and the only leads going into the back were the power cord and
the 10/100 cable; no screen, no kbrd, no mouse (obviously i would have
all these attached while setting it up). then, it would be left
"always on", and whenever my main machine (where half the ide's are
used for dvd and cdrw) was in use, it would "see" the old redundant
hard drives i have lying about the place, and which were placed in the
second machine, as extra networked drives, and i could just access
them like on a normal network in the office. Is this
possible/feasible? do i need either special program or extra
hardware (eg router/base hub/switch). thanks kkk
 
yeah, it is possible..
My network server, which is also used as router,gateway,file server etc,
doesnt have anything connected except power and network cables. I'm using a
remote administration software (eg. pcanywhere, remote admin, etc) to
administrate it from my own machine. our network has a hub connecting all
computers, but i dont think thats necessary, as long as your machine can
boot without error messages (no mouse/keyboard found).

hope that was what you wanted to know,

jo
 
Hi, kkk -

The software solution suggested by jo is a good one - but
I use a KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switch to accomplish
the same thing without remote control software. A KVM
switch connects two or more computers to a single mouse,
monitor and keyboard and you either tap a button on the
switch or a hotkey on the keyboard to switch between
machines. If price is an option Linksys makes a couple
that are pretty inexpensive and the one I have works just
fine.

hth -
 
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