How do i connect a laptop to desktop

On your desktop, share a folder where you want to place your files from your laptop. Make sure that you write-enable the folder on your desktop. Then, you can disconnect your monitor from the desktop and connect it to your laptop (VGA port). Once you turn your laptop on, you'll see the output on the external monitor.

Open windows explorer and just type on the address bar the shared folder name after \\ . (example. \\myfolder )

And you can just copy and paste from there.
Hope this helps.

I forgot to mention to first ensure that the laptop and desktop are networked either through a hub or a crossover cable and have proper IP addresses.

with a network!

i di what u said techaddict and i see my laptops screen loading on desktop screen then desktop screen had a box that said "no signal" with a R,G,B. after that the desktop monitor turned off. now what?

before the laptop gets to load the OS, press F8 and load the OS in "safe mode with networking". BTW, are you running Windows?

yes i am. ok i will try that now. tks.