Anyone installed Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Network link?? (PC-to-PC)

[On edge]

I got one of these off ebay - one of the cheap (<$10) ones that they ship directly from Hong Kong. The pictures show what I received; the cable, and a disk with a bunch of semi-random USB-related drivers. I've included a screen shot of the contents to give you some idea of what's there. The main two apps seem to be PCLinq2 Hi-Speed USB Bridge Cable (ANSI and UNICODE modes), but I've had no luck making the actual interface work for connecting between computers.

The other software is USB SuperLink. It allows the installation of either a direct cable link or virtual network mode, but not both. The former is supposed to install a "USB SuperLink Adapter" under USB Controllers in Device Manager, plus a SuperLink interface program that may (in theory) be used to transfer files. The "virtual" option should install a "Virtual Network Adapter" under Network Adapters, but no interface program accompanies it; I assume that's where the PCLinq2 comes in.

There's also some other software (GeneLink or such, but apparently it's slow, and hasn't worked for me either). Plus there are various other USB device drivers.

In any case, the only adapter I can get to show up (under network adapters) is a "Hi-Speed USB-USB Network Adapter," rather than either of the two device names mentioned above. That's in conjunction with the Virtual Network option. I've given up on the direct link mode; the drivers are just not there, or the cable itself doesn't allow that option. The Virtual Network might still work, but it's driving me insane because it won't install the way shown in any of the manuals, and I've already managed to lose my wireless connection twice in this process leading to time consuming recoveries. If anyone has successfully installed one of these on a Windows XP, please let me know how.

P.S. Don't buy one of these. If you are in the market for one, buy the kind you can just plug into the two computers, and transfer files immediately without complicated driver installations or virtual network setups...

[On edge]

I tried Windows Easy Transfer in the network mode -> it recognized both computers, but refused to transfer files because it said both computer were "old." The utility is meant to transfer files from an older win XP machine to a Vista machine, and they even sell USB cables to go with it, but in case anyone was wondering, it requires Vista on at least one machine at this point in time. (The irony is my (new) laptop came with Vista, but I went back to XP because people said Vista was buggy & resource hungry).

I also tried PCLinq2 again, but with no luck, and my laptop crashed again (blue screen flashed with some text and then nothing) -> I used System Restore, but my wireless was gone again. I'm now convinced this cheapo-cable and software were behind my initial wireless troubles (in my previous threads...). This thing had changed my TCP/IP wireless adapter setting away from automatic, changed my static IP slightly, and I needed to restart NDIS Usermode I/O Protocol and WZC manually to get my wireless connection back. I'm thinking I should just toss this cable...

By the way, is it unsafe to set my Local Area Connection to Shared mode? Apparently that's required to use the cable in Virtual Network mode, but I'm just wondering if it's a security risk. For example, one of my computers has eMule running in the background all the time, so eMule users connecting to my computer and accessing the eMule folders I've designation for sharing couldn't now also share my local area network too?

[foogoo]

I have tried the cheap ones like from BAFO, I do have one like the one you have there but it has a file explorer built in http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...B20-DL&cat=CBL - you just plug it in and "Thunderbird" explorer pops up and you can move files - no drivers - no software to install.

But back to yours, if you install the driver on both PCs and plug the cable in and it is recognized then you need to launch the "explorer" software they have somewhere on that disk on both systems to move the files.

The best were made by LPT.com called NetLinq but they're gone now. No more use for high speed LPT & USB cables anymore I guess?

Also if it is a *Net*linq and you want to share net access then you have to select the usb and NIC in your network adapters and select bridge connections.
But since it is a PClinq I'd say it is just for file transfer.

[On edge]

UPDATE: I finally got the USB Transfer Cable to work, sort of, though I have feeling it should have been easier. Here's what I did:

1. Got an updated driver from Prolific's website. I'd add a link, but can't find the site now; I think it's down... The file was called PL2502NW_v20044.exe, or -IO Cable-PL-2501-Drivers-Windows-sp_pl2502NW_v20044.zip for the original download.

2. Once that was installed (preceded by appropriate cleanup of old drivers, reboots, etc), a "Local Area Connection 2" appeared in my Network Connections when the cable was attached. I used Everest Home Edition (hardware info tool) to see an IP and Subnet mask assignments to the USB cable, which I had to put into LAN2's TCP/IP properties. Now the cable connection was "connected", but I still couldn't transfer files.

3. To access the other computer, I had to install (a) NetBEUI from Windows XP CD, (b) assign something (drives or folders) to "Share" on each computer from properties of those folders/drives, (c) tweak my firewall settings to allow the IP's of the other machines through, (d) assign each computer to the same 'Workgroup' from 'My Computer -> Properties -> Computer Name', and (e) 'Map Network Drive' under 'Tools' in Windows folder.

4. Now I'm not sure if all that was necessary, or maybe I forgot something, plus it took a lot of tweaking with properties of everything involved, but now it works. I get fast transfer when the USB cable is attached, and as a bonus I can transfer files slowly between computers using just the regular LAN connection. I didn't end up using PClinq2 or Superlink or any other software - never got any of it to work, but I can just go to 'My Computer' open a 'Network folder' there to another computer, and drag and drop files. However, it seems to be a 1-way relationship, or at least I'm only able to use one computer at a time to access another.

5. It doesn't matter to me anymore, but I'm sure this is not how the cable was meant to be setup. If someone knows a way to use it easily, I'd be curious to know, and for anyone considering one of these I'd say don't bother, at least not with this model. I'd prefer one with the drivers embedded so that you can just plug it into any computer, say from your laptop, and receive instant access - I think they have those now...

[On edge]

UPDATE: Just wanted to add that I recently moved to a new place that only has the type of cable modem capable of providing internet service to one computer at a time (without additional equipment), but with this cable I'm able to use Internet Connection Sharing, which is pretty sweet.

I'm still experiencing a few hiccups though; namely, I need to disable the host computer's firewall to use the internet, although I'm sure there's some way to tweak ZoneAlarm settings to allow access without completely disabling it.

Question: Any suggestions for a cheapo Ethernet router/hub or something to add to the Cable Modem (Motorola SURFboard SB5120), so that multiple computers could use it simultaneously (wireless would be a plus)? I need to hook up to 4 computers on this cable modem, and my USB network cable only allows for one extra + length it's only about 5 or 6 ft long.

[Devildog86]

Thanks for this post, I had been using the "high-speed" 2.0 USB network link cable to network my laptop to my desktop(which had the LAN connection to the network) for quite awhile and recently reinstalled XP. I suppose over time I had forgotten the process I had taken to install it the first time; and you're right about the instructions provided could have been much clearer.

In my case, the software was right on the cd the entire time in the 2501NW directory. The MSI in that directory installs the virtual network adapter, the files in the USB Netlink Cable 2.0 (which also has an installer you can use) provides the drivers for the bridge or simple-transfer mode's.

Thanks for resolving my headache

-Mike

Oh, by the way, for others who also turn to the USB solution to easy networking:
I originally attempted to use one of the rather expensive Belkin XP File Transfer cables for windows, assuming that since it was more expensive than any other USB network cable that it would support both types of USB networking (both transfer and network bridge) Well, I found out that 60 dollars doesn't buy you both, it just bought the software that came with it. The 2.0 certified USB brand of cheeper networking cable was about 10 dollars and supported both. Go figure!

[ashleydkennedy]

Has anybody tried this USB 2.0 Netlink with Vista? I'm wondering if its compatible? I seem to be having trouble... like everyone else who uses this product.

thanks