Library On External Drive, Fresh Itunes On Laptop

[parisphoto]

Really sorry if this has been discussed before, but I'm thoroughly confused and tired.
Here's my scenerio:
I Tunes is loaded & running on my desktop PC.
Fresh install of I Tunes on laptop.
I would like to copy my existing library from my desktop onto an external hard drive, and access the music from my laptop, keeping all the info that is shown on my desktop I Tunes.
I Do Not want to load the music onto my laptop.
I Do Not want to load the music from my IPOd.
I would be eternally grateful if someone would explain how this is accomplished.
TIA

[cjmnews]

Consolidate your music to the external drive (File-> Library-> Organize library-> Consolidate Files).
Copy your iTunes Library.itl file from your Desktop iTunes folder to your laptop iTunes folder.
Write down the drive letter of the external drive on your desktop.
Connect the external drive to your laptop.
Make the drive letter the same as you wrote down.
Open iTunes.

If you connect your iPod to your laptop it will ask if you want to erase it and sync it with the new library. You should probably answer yes. Assuming all your music is in your iTunes library already.

[parisphoto]

Many thanks.
I'll try it tonight,
Thanks again for taking the time to reply.