Making a Private Network Under an Existing Network

Currently I’m living at a dorm which has an internet connection. But unfortunately, to use the internet connection, I have to use the account which is given one account each room. I own a desktop and a laptop and sometimes I need both my computer connected to the internet at a same time. Besides that, I need both my computer to be able to connect one another so I can synchronize my files on both computers. Thanks to username Phechonk23, dzar, and macazart at Chip Indonesia Forum, I’m able to overcome this problem.

So this is what I do. First of all, I planned the network as shown by the picture bellow. My small network is inside the grey area.

To do this, I have to buy a new NIC for the desktop connected to the internet. Additionally, I buy an internet switch which is not really necessary. I buy it just in case I need to connect more than two computers. To connect two computers, only a crossed cable needed to do that, but when connecting more computers, an internet switch and straight cables will be needed.

All the hardware is installed properly, the next think to do is setup the network. First, I setup the desktop connected to the internet. Let the first NIC which is connected to the internet setup itself automatically to get the IP, gateway, and DNS. On the second NIC I setup the connection by copying the gateway and the DNS but the IP from the first NIC. I gave the IP 192.168.0.1 for the second NIC. What is important is setting up the first NIC to be able to share internet connection by checking the “Allow other network users to connect trough this computer’s Internet connestion” under the Advanced Properties tab.

For the other computers, I also copied the DNS but not the IP and Gateway. The IP for my laptop is 192.168.0.2 and the gateway is 192.168.0.1. By doing this, I made my desktop the server and my laptop as a client. Now, both my computers can share files, devices, and the internet connection.