Wireless internet connection sharing Best answer on the web

  • Please help me set up internet connection sharing between an XP laptop and a Windows 98SE main computer which accesses the internet via an ADSL link.
    I have so far done the following:

    1. Set up the wireless connections using TCP/IP. Filesharing works.
    2. Run the New Connection wizard on the XP laptop, and used the XP system disk on the 98 machine (as in the Dell instructions) to set up the access as shared on that PC. I have also loaded the Internet connection sharing component onto the main machine, from the 98 CD, using Windows Setup.
    I get a 'Cannot Find Server or DNS error' whenever I try to use Explorer on the laptop. What do I need to do now?
    Do I need to set up anything in Explorer Optionsconnection on the laptop?
    I note that the LAN settings on the laptop show 'Detect settings automatically', and do not list a proxy server. Are those settings right?
    The TCP/IP settings for the laptop wireless card are static (& seem to work ok), but the fields for 'use the following DNS server addresses' are blank. Is that right?
    In advanced TCP/IP settings, 'Enable NetBios over TCP/IP' is ticked. Is that right?


  • cerebrate-ga

    I wondered if you'd had a chance to look at this again?

    Regards


  • Sirossis

    The cards are 802.11b. See above for models.

    No hub: this is an ad hoc (peer to peer) network.


  • Dear michael2-ga,

    Okay, let's debug.

    So far, most of this looks OK, with one notable exception - the laptop wireless card. For Internet Connection Sharing, everything except for the machine with the Internet connection should be set to "Obtain IP address automatically".
    Could you make that change, reboot the laptop, and see what results you get then?
    For your IE connection settings, on the laptop, you might as well untick "Automatic detect settings". ICS itself doesn't provide a proxy server, and while you might want to place your ISP's proxy, if any, in there later, it's best to keep it simple until the connection itself is working.
    Apart from that, among the things you specifically list, you shouldn't need to set anything in the IE connection settings, and yes, for filesharing you do want 'NetBIOS over TCP/IP' enabled.
    Hopefully that change will get it working for you; if it doesn't, please come back to me with a clarification and we'll take this a little further. If we need to do that, could you include the results of an "ipconfig /all" run on the XP laptop?
    Regards,

    cerebrate-ga


  • Dear michael2-ga,

    Looking, that I have been. Unfortunately, the problem seems to be mostly in the finding: I haven't found any articles which mention this specific problem. (I have, on the other hand, found a whole lot of articles about how nicely wireless and ICS work together in Windows 2000 and XP, on the other hand, which while rather irritating aren't a lot of use in this situation.)
    As you've got a 98SE host, one thing that might be relevant is:

    "In order for the Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) host to function, you must log on to the computer running ICS." - Microsoft KB article Q229971

    which is a bit of an outside chance, but as it is peculiarly specific to Windows 9x and you may well not be logging on to both machines simultaneously, is probably worth my mentioning.
    Beyond that, it gets tricky, because you're in the position of having everything set up in a manner that should work quite happily. If that doesn't work for you, I'm afraid my next suggestion will be to remove ICS from the Windows 98 machine through "Add/Remove Programs", reboot, double-check that the Internet connection is functioning on that machine, and then reconfigure the two machines following this:
    http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/ics_98

    set of instructions, which should hopefully get it to a working state if anything went wrong the first time, or at the very least a known state.
    Sorry that this is taking so long, but it looks as if you've got a tricky one there.
    Regards,

    cerebrate-ga


  • Thanks. I'll check this out (looks like a lot of work!) and I'll let you know what happens.


  • Glad we got it working for you eventually, and thank you for the high rating.


  • Hi

    I've set things up as you suggested, but I still get the same 'Cannot Find Server or DNS error' when I click on IE on the laptop. Also, I've now lost all filesharing; though the XP can still see the wireless network OK, it can't see any files (nor vice versa).
    IPconfig/all gives:

    Windows IP Configuration

    Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : LATITUDE
    Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
    Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
    IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
    WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

    Ethernet adapter Network Bridge (Network Bridge):

    Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
    Description . . . . . . . . . . . : MAC Bridge Miniport
    Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-08-74-22-C1-58
    Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
    Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
    Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.167.16
    Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0

    Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :


  • Give a little more details:
    - What type of wireless card?
    - What type of wireless hub?


  • Apologies, the link to that Microsoft KB article is:

    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q229971


  • Dear michael12-ga,

    Not the results I'd have expected, but no matter, I shall do some more digging. As I expect you want the quickest fix possible, though, I have a preliminary suggestion/test that may help.
    Could you try restoring the old static settings, but add the address of the wireless card on the Windows 98 machine as both the DNS Server address to use, and as the default gateway address?
    This should restore your filesharing, at least, and will hopefully make some progress for you on the Internet sharing front.
    Let me know what results you get from this; in the meantime, I'll look for more information.
    Thanks,

    cerebrate-ga


  • I've got round to this at long last. After a couple of hours' work (it never goes as you expect!), the instructions on the site you mentioned have got things going properly now, and with "Obtain IP address automatically" set on the laptop. I think something was wrong with the way ICS was set up on the 98 machine initially.
    Even now, the network is pretty unstable, and sometimes I need to get the XP machine to 'repair' the connection, but as I understand it that's par for the course when using ICS via Windows 98SE, and I can live with that.
    Thanks for all your help on this.


  • Done. I have filesharing back now, but still the same message on trying to connect to the internet. In my last message, I gave you the wrong details - sorry. Those details were with Network Bridge enabled, which was wrong. The actual listing for the XP laptop is as follows:
    Windows IP Configuration

    Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : LATITUDE

    Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

    Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid

    IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

    WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

    Ethernet adapter Network Bridge (Network Bridge):

    Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

    Description . . . . . . . . . . . : MAC Bridge Miniport

    Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-08-74-22-C1-58

    Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

    Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

    Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell TrueMobile 1150 Series Wireless LAN Mini PCI Card
    Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-02-2D-70-59-A5

    Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

    IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2

    Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

    Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

    DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

    And the corresponding listing for the 98 machine is:

    Windows 98 IP Configuration

    Host Name . . . . . . . . . : MSTUDY

    DNS Servers . . . . . . . . : 158.152.1.43

    158.152.1.58

    Node Type . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast

    NetBIOS Scope ID. . . . . . :

    IP Routing Enabled. . . . . : No

    WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . : No

    NetBIOS Resolution Uses DNS : No

    0 Ethernet adapter :

    Description . . . . . . . . : PPP Adapter.

    Physical Address. . . . . . : 44-45-53-54-00-00

    DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes

    IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 62.49.29.233

    Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.0.0.0

    Default Gateway . . . . . . : 62.49.29.233

    DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255

    Primary WINS Server . . . . :

    Secondary WINS Server . . . :

    Lease Obtained. . . . . . . : 01 01 80 00:00:00

    Lease Expires . . . . . . . : 01 01 80 00:00:00

    1 Ethernet adapter :

    Description . . . . . . . . : U.S. Robotics Wireless Access 802.11b PCI Adapter
    Physical Address. . . . . . : 00-90-D1-06-55-7B

    DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

    IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

    Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

    Default Gateway . . . . . . :

    Primary WINS Server . . . . :

    Secondary WINS Server . . . :

    Lease Obtained. . . . . . . :

    Lease Expires . . . . . . . :









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    Posted inhznj.com July 30th, 2010 edit