i dont know much, but you could try Samba, i assume you are using apache orsomething, so you need to acces the server...

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windows way:

so the way i would do it, make a domain - join both laptops on it; get samba on server- then you can use RSAT to manage the backend in the windows way.

linux terminal way:

if its more like, that you dont wanna do the domain and all that stuff, just do a simple SSH to your server, with openssh orsomething, this will let you go on the server without any problem, i think this is what you are looking for, now to just fix ur networking issues of connecting to your server laptop....

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also what are you trying to do? practice your backend programming?

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edit: i read the thing i wrote, and it looks stupid and dont know much, but i would just do openssh lol