Noob network problems / question (nDisplay)

Hi folks,

I really am a networking noob, sorry 'bout that.

At the moment i'm trying to get nDisplay (Unreal Engine) working on two computers.

I've set up a network and have logged into an admin account with the exact same name / password on both computers.

The problem i've been having is that the computers keep losing connection. If i restart they'll stay connected for say 10 minutes, after which they become unavailable again.

Now, being the complete idiot that i am, i thought: "ok, what happens if i just plug them directly into each other via the ethernet ports?" (normal cable, not a cross cable). And hey presto, all of a sudden they stay connected all the time, great!

So then i think: "ok, ok, so now they're talking to each other over the cat5 cable, what happens if i turn off WIFI?"........ and BOOM, network connection goes down! Could anyone shed any light on all of this for me?

The reason i need to know how they are connected (apart from sheer animalistic curiosity) is that i need to give each comp a static IP, and i don't know if i should do that in the wireless adapter on each peecee, or in the ethernet port settings.

Any nuggets of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

If i restart they'll stay connected for say 10 minutes, after which they become unavailable again.

This is a known issue since Homegroup was removed from Windows.

Last time I troubleshoot these problems the issue was with NETBIOS name resolution which did not work properly or it worked for a limited time.

Here is related information:
Enable or Disable SMB1 File Sharing Protocol in Windows

In addition there is a host of Windows services that must run, adapter setup, firewall, and a whole bunch of troubleshooting involved to set up LAN if things don't work right away.

There is no all in one tutorial or place to setup LAN, for example this may help too:
Change Workgroup in Windows 10

Other network tutorials:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/id-Network_Sharing/

I keep for reference my own LAN setup notices and troubleshooting steps that I didn't use for long time, but it's not tutorial.

If you still have problems you'll have troubleshoot them or at least investigate the issue to ask specific question.
Maybe Windows updates already resolved some of these problems already, not sure, I only know it was hard for me.

Surely someone more involved in this can give you better results.

Ah, ok, thanks, i'll look into it some more!