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Setting up Internet Connection Sharing (Windows
XP)
The Internet
Connection Sharing service built-into Windows XP is nearly identical to its
counterpart in Windows 2000, and is therefore very easy to set up. If you
have Windows 98, Windows Me, or Windows 2000, return to the Internet
Connection Sharing main page.
ICS allows two or more networked computers to
share a single Internet connection, and it's not that hard to set up, as
long as you do it properly. If you perform the following steps, in order,
you should be able to get it right the first time.
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Note: don't
be intimidated by the length of this article. It shouldn't take you more
than 20 minutes or so to set up ICS (assuming you have the proper hardware
installed). A lot of what's here covers various "what if" situations.
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Jump to:
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What You
Need
-
Cabling
Overview
-
Setting Up
the Host
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Setting Up
the Clients
-
Troubleshooting
-
More
Information
What You Need
In order to get ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) to work, you'll need the
following items:
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At least
two computers.
-
A
functioning ethernet card properly installed in each computer. Refer to
the documentation that comes with your ethernet cards for proper driver
installation and setup.
-
If you're
sharing a DSL, cable modem, or other ethernet-based Internet connection,
the computer with the connection must have two ethernet
cards installed. (Microsoft doesn't tell you about this one!)
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The
network must be cabled correctly. 10base-T or 100base-T, category-5 patch
cables, and an ethernet hub are recommended. If you have only two
computers, you can forgo the hub, and use a Category 5 crossover
cable instead.
-
One of the
computers must have a dial-up internet connection, properly set up, or a
high-speed connection, such as DSL, a cable modem, or T1.
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There is
no minimum connection speed, but you should keep in mind that when two
users are downloading using the shared connection simultaneously (the
worst-case scenario), each user will experience half of the original
performance. In other words, you probably don't want to bother sharing a
14.4k analog modem connection.
-
The
computer with the Internet connection must be running a version of Windows
that supports Internet Connection Sharing. (Note that the directions on
this page are for Windows XP; if you have another version of Windows,
return to the ICS main page and view the directions appropriate to your
OS.)
Cabling Overview
Once you have the correct protocols and drivers set up on the host and each
of the clients, the next step is to figure out the cabling. Without the
internet connection, your network should look something like this:
(Naturally, the number of PCs and printers on your network will probably be
different.) The next step is to figure out how the Internet Connection will
be wired. For ICS to work, your setup should look like this:
Note that
the Internet connection can be in the form of a phone cable plugged into an
analog modem, an ethernet cable plugged into a second network card, or some
other connection plugged into the appropriate card.
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Setting Up the Host
The first step to setting up ICS is to configure the host, the computer with
the Internet Connection that will be shared. All the other computers are
called "Clients," and are discussed in the following section.
-
Open
Network Connections in Control Panel, or right-click on the My
Network Places desktop icon and select Properties.
-
Here, you
should have at least two connections listed: one for your Internet
Connection, and one for your Local Area Connection. If they're not there,
your network is not ready - install the proper hardware and software
(described above) and try again.
-
By
default, the available connections will named for the network adapters
they represent; to make things easier, I recommend renaming them as shown
in this screenshot:
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Right-click on the entry corresponding to your Internet connection, and
select Properties .
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Among the
installed components listed in the General tab, the following should be
checked here
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Client
for Microsoft Networks
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Internet
Protocol (TCP/IP)
-
If you
don't see one or more of these items, you'll need to add them by clicking
Install.
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If there
are extra entries, just ignore them. The exceptions are NDISWAN or any ATM
protocols - if you encounter a problem later on, you might have to remove
these to use ICS.
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If you
have any other Internet sharing solutions (more information) installed on
any of the machines, make sure they have been removed or disabled on each
machine.
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At this
point, it's a good idea to make sure your current Internet connection is
operational by testing it (load a web page or something). If all is well,
then you can continue.
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Choose the
Sharing tab, and turn on the Enable Internet Connection Sharing for this
connection option.
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There's
nothing useful behind the Settings button, so just click Ok when you're
done. That's it! (Most likely, Windows will not make you restart, although
if you are prompted, do so now.)
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Setting Up the Clients
The client machines don't require any special software; just a properly
installed, network-capable operating system (such as Windows
95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP ) Do the following for each client machine that will be
using the shared connection: (Note that these details are for Windows XP
clients; check out the main ICS page for other platforms.)
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Open
Network Connections in Control Panel, or right-click on the My
Network Places desktop icon and select Properties.
-
Here, you
should have at least one connection listed for your Local Area Connection.
If it's not there, your network is not ready - install the proper hardware
and software (described above) and try again. Any other connections can be
ignored, although you may want to disable them for now (right-click and
select Disable).
-
Right-click on the entry corresponding to your local area connection, and
select Properties.
-
Among the
installed components listed in the General tab, the following should be
checked here
-
Client
for Microsoft Networks
-
Internet
Protocol (TCP/IP)
-
Next,
highlight the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) entry and click Properties.
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Choose the
Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address
automatically options.
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Click
Advanced, and make sure the various lists in the IP Settings, DNS, and
WINS tabs are all empty.
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Click Ok
and then Ok again when you're done. (Most likely, Windows will not make
you restart, although if you are prompted, do so now.)
-
Once these
steps have been performed, Internet Connection Sharing should be in
effect, and all connected and properly-configured client computers should
have access. You can test each client by loading a web page or using some
other Internet application (e.g. Ping, telnet, etc.).
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Troubleshooting
Ideally, you shouldn't have to
install any software or do any more configuration on any of the clients.
However, this isn't an ideal world, so if this doesn't work as expected, try
the following:
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