How to Connect PC To Router In Cisco Packet Tracer

If you are new to using packet tracer, you might find it very hard to do some of the basic things like connecting a PC to a router, connecting a switch to a router, or connecting a PC to a switch. Though you might find the location of these devices (as they are closely positioned), knowing the correct cable type to use and configuring the IP address so that they can communicate is the problem.

In this post, I will show you how to connect a PC to a router, either directly or through a switch.

In addition, I will also show you how to configure IP addresses for both the router and the PC so that they can communicate.

How to Connect PC To Router

Connecting PC to a router is very simple. The steps to do that is shown below;

Step 1: Add the Router and the PC to the Simulation Window;

From the bottom left corner, select “network devices” and drag and drop one of the router series into the network simulation window. Alternatively, you can hold the “control key” and select one of the routers and add it to the simulation window by clicking on the blank window.

To add PC to the window, Select “End Devices” from the bottom left corner and drag one of the PC to the simulation window;

Repeat the above step to add the second PC to he simulation window.

Step 2: Connect the PC to the Router using the connection cables

From the bottom left corner again, select “connections” and then Pick copper cross over cable to join each of the PCs to the router;

Step 3: Configure IP address to the interfaces of the router

Select the router and navigate to the “config tab”. Then select the GigabitEthernet0/0/1 interface and assign Ip address as shown in the image below.   Remember to turn on the port status.

Then select “GigabitEthernet0/0/0” and assign the ip address; 192.168.1.1 and subnet mask; 255.255.255.0 to it as well.

Step 4: Configure IP address to the PCs

Select PC0 and navigate to the “config tab” to assign an IP address to it. First, assign the default gateway IP address by following the steps in the image below. Remember, the default gateway IP address is the IP address of the interface of the router the PC is connected to.

Then navigate to the fastethernet0 to assign IP address to the PC;

Repeat the above step to assign the IP address, 192.168.2.2, with the default gateway of 192.168.2.1, to PC1.

Step 5: Test the connectivity of the 2 PCs

Open one the PCs “Command prompt” and Ping the Ip address of the other PCs to confirm connectivity between them.

How to Connect PC To Router Through a switch

Another way to connect a PC to a router is by adding a switch between them. This is the normal practice as the switch helps with scalability by providing more ports for devices to be connected to the network.

One switch normally has up to 24 ports, and these ports can be used to connect other devices to the network. Here is how you can connect a PC to a router through a switch:

Step 1:Add a PC and a router

Using the steps I have shown you above, add a PC and router to the simulation window

Step 2: Add A switch

Using the illustration on the image below, add a switch to the simulation window;

Step 3: Join the switch to Router & PC to the Switch

Select the copper straight-through cable and use it to join the PC to the switch and the switch to the router.

Step 4: Assign IP address to the PC & Router

Using the same step I have shown above, assign IP address to the GigabitEthernet0/0/0 interface of the router and then to the PCs. The IP address of the GigabitEthernet0/0/0 interface should be 192.168.2.1.

The default gateway of the PC should be 192.168.2.1 and the IP address should be 192.168.2.2

Step 5: Test connectivity

Open the “command prompt of PC0” and ping the interface IP address of the router to verify connectivity.