Setting up Internet Connection Sharing (Windows 2000)

Internet Connection Sharing is built-into Windows 2000, although its presence isn't nearly as obvious as it is in Windows 98 Second Edition. Thankfully, it isn't nearly as complicated, either. If you have Windows 98, Windows Me, or Windows XP, return to the Internet Connection Sharing main page. www.tartoos.com

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. www.tartoos.com

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. www.tartoos.com

Jump to:

• What You Need
• Cabling Overview
• Setting Up the Host
• 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: www.tartoos.com

• 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. www.tartoos.com
• 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!)
• 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. www.tartoos.com
• 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 2000; if you have another version of Windows, return to the ICS main page and view the directions appropriate to your OS.) www.tartoos.com

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.