Welcome to the Computer Hardware troubleshooting tutorial section on CoreNetworkZ Tech Solutions. Today, I will explain one question many readers asked about sharing data between two computers with a USB cord.
Have you ever wondered if we can use a USB cable to connect two laptops?
Shah Faesal, a beginner in the computer networking study, asked me about different methods in sharing data between two computer.
There are many methods to connect two computers and share data between them. Cables (wired conenction) and wireless (IEE802.11 standards) are the most popular modes to connect two devices. For a wired connection, we use Ethernet and USB cables.
With a Bridged USB cable, we can connect two PCs.
You can use a USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable to connect two computers and use the same connection to share files between them. However, for this, you must use a specific type of cable called the Bridged USB cable. Nirupama Sharma asked this question in the comment section.
We cannot use an ordinary USB cord to connect two computers.
This guide explains the difference between bridged and ordinary USB cables and the procedure to connect two PCs with a Bridged USB cable.
How to Connect Two Computers With a USB Cable?
The Universal Serial Bus cable that connects two computers directly is called the Bridged USB cable. It is available in two different standards.
They are USB 1.1 and 2.0.
The difference in standard is the speed of data transfer. In the 1.1 version, the data transfer speed is 12 Mbps, and that in version 2.0 is 480 Mbps.
It is important to note that no other Universal Serial Bus cords can connect two PCs directly. Using the wrong cords may harm the USB ports of your computers.
I read a question by Shubham Kumar about different methods of using a bridged USB cable to share data. Now let us check the two different modes of its working.
Modes of working of Bridge Cord
The bridged Universal Serial Bus cord works in two different modes. They are:
Link mode
Network Mode
In link mode, two laptops share the connection through the bridged Universal Serial Bus cord, and file sharing is enabled.
In network mode, multiple PCs share the connection, and they share the Internet ( in addition to the file sharing). It is the fundamental difference between link mode and network mode.
Now, you understand everything you should learn while connecting two computers with a USB cable. We cannot use an ordinary USB cord, but a special cord called the Bridged USB cord.
A bridged USB cord is popular with external UBS storage devices. Anyone who has an external USB storage device is familiar with this cord.
What If The Computers' Not Detecting The USB Connection?
I received a comment yesterday about complaining about an error while connecting two PCs with a USB cord. She followed the instructions and connected her two desktop PCs with a Bridged USB cord. Nothing happened.
I guess Windows 11 shows this error in common. I just received a similar complaint from David Cheramy. His computers also failed to detect the bridged USB cord.
It happens when the PCs do not have the required driver. By default, Windows 11 detects a USB connection. However, this is not always true.
The solution is to install the driver/software that comes with the Bridged USB cord.
huge applause to you sir.
ReplyDeletethank you for sharing knowledge.
:D
Hi Alex,
ReplyDeleteIt was a good tutorial, and I learned about USB bridge cables. I have one more doubt on different methods to use a bridge USB cable.
Hello Shubham,
DeleteBridge USB cables support two modes of connection. I explained it in the tutorial.
Hello Alex,
ReplyDeleteI have started my computer networking course. How many methods exist for sharing files between two laptops?
Hi Shah,
DeleteTwo methods. I explained them in the tutorial.
Can I use an ordinary USB cable to connect two laptops?
ReplyDeleteNo Nirupama, you must use a bridged USB cable.
DeleteHello Alex George,
ReplyDeleteI have followed your tutorial, but my computers do not recognize the USB cable. Is there anything I missed?
Hello David,
DeleteI have added a troubleshooting guide for you.