Wireless Internet Connection Sharing

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I’ve got a desktop computer running Win XP that connects to the internet via dial-up modem. My laptop, running Win 7, connects to the desktop via wireless router. I want to be able to access the internet from my laptop via internet connection sharing with the dial-up modem of my desktop, but can’t get it to work.

Following Microsoft’s ICS instructions, I enabled ICS on my desktop, checking “Allow other network users . . .,” Establish a dial-up connection . . .,” and “Allow other network users . . .,” and set TCP/IP to “obtain an IP address automatically.”

On my laptop, I set TCP/IP to obtain an IP address automatically, set my internet options to “never dial a connection,” and cleared the “automatically detect settings,” “use automatic configuration script,” and “use a proxy server for your LAN” check boxes under LAN settings. However, when I try to connect to the internet from my laptop, I get “error 797: a connection to the remote access server was not made because the modem was not found.”

Is it possible to use internet connection sharing over a wireless home network? If so, how can I get ICS to work?

Thank you,
Terry

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Give Proxy, from AnalogX, a try. I used this program years ago with an AOL dial-up account, and a wired home network.

It’s been a while, so the details are sketchy for me as I can’t access the website I’ve linked (corporate web filtering policy). If I remember correctly, you simply install this program on the computer with the dial-up account, and then set the web browser proxy settings on your other computer(s) to use the dial-up computer as the proxy server.

It shouldn’t matter whether you’re using a wired or wireless network. They only network I know it doesn’t work for is a SneakerNet

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Give Proxy, from AnalogX, a try. I used this program years ago with an AOL dial-up account, and a wired home network.

Hi Chris.

AnalogX Proxy has enabled me to web browse from my laptop through my desktop dial-up connection, where endless fiddling with Internet Connection Sharing hasn’t. However, I haven’t been able to send or receive e-mail through that connection. I’ve got POP and SMTP turned on and with the correct e-mail alias information in Proxy, and have set Outlook on my laptop to connect to my desktop, not to my IP’s servers (Proxy is supposed to handle that task). Still no e-mail access. Any suggestions? Hoping to avoid another layer of software and complexity, I haven’t tried Sockscap yet.

Thanks,
Terry

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As SC said, ICS doesn’t care whether the connection is wired or wireless.
You need to ensure your laptop is getting an IP address. Open a Command Prompt and type “ipconfig /all”. You should see an IP address and a DHCP server address.
Have you set Windows firewall to allow ICS to talk to your local network?
Do you have a 3rd party firewall on the desktop?

Scrub that, I’ll bet your wireless router is a DHCP server. This will prevent ICS working. In fact it may never work because it’s connected via a router. What model is the router?

cheers, Paul

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I’ve got a desktop computer running Win XP that connects to the internet via dial-up modem. My laptop, running Win 7, connects to the desktop via wireless router. I want to be able to access the internet from my laptop via internet connection sharing with the dial-up modem of my desktop, but can’t get it to work.

Can you bridge your modem to the wireless connection on the WinXP machine? It’s a long while since I’ve done it, and in my case we had a wired network rather than wireless one, but I think you select both items in the Network Connections Folder, right click and there is a ‘bridge connections’ option.

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Can you bridge your modem to the wireless connection on the WinXP machine? It’s a long while since I’ve done it, and in my case we had a wired network rather than wireless one, but I think you select both items in the Network Connections Folder, right click and there is a ‘bridge connections’ option.

I tried this and got the message, “To create a network bridge, you must select at least two LAN or High-Speed internet connections that are not being used by Internet Connection Sharing.” I imagine that my dial-up connection isn’t considered high speed. I made a point of turning ICS off, so that shouldn’t be the problem.

Thanks,
Terry

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Thank you to everyone who replied.

The wireless connection between my laptop and desktop is via a LinsSys WRT54G2 router. It is DHCP enabled. Does this mean I am doomed?

I have Norton Internet Security, which includes a firewall, on both computers. Windows Firewall is disabled on both. I didn’t see any NIS settings that would prevent the computers from connecting. I have no trouble copying files between the computers using SyncToy.

I ran ipconfig on my laptop. I’ve uploaded a copy of the results. I’m not sure how to interpret the results. The ethernet adapter local area connection and wireless lan adapter have physical addresses, but not the laptop. IP routing and WINS proxy are not enabled.

In the network connections window, there are entries for my dial-up provider, internet gateway (disabled), and local area connection (connected). When I select any combination of those three and right-click, there is no bridge option. All context menu options are blanked out.

Does any of this help?

Thank you,
Terry

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It is as I suspected. Off to look through the router config to see if we can make it work for you.

cheers, Paul

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I do not think that the wireless can be used, you will need to get the a cat5 cable and run it from the laptop to the desktop using the NIC cards. Then you should be able to use the sharing of the modem.

To use the wireless connection, you will need a wireless router get a signal, and they do not support dial up modem sharing.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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It will probably work if you connect the desktop to one of the LAN ports (not the WAN port) and you turn off the internal DHCP server.

1. From the laptop connect to the router with IE and login.
2. Disable the DHCP server.
3. Change the router IP address to 192.168.0.100. This will allow you to talk to the router later.
4. Make sure the desktop is connected to a LAN port.
5. Re-boot the laptop and then run IPCONFIG again. Hopefully you will still have an IP address on the wireless LAN.

Let us know how you get on.

cheers, Paul

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Once again, try the Proxy program from AnalogX.com. I used this to do just what the poster asked, a number of years ago.

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I had hoped for a simple and straightforward solution that wouldn’t involve installing new software. Lacking the time to fiddle with Windows to make it work, and knowing that changing seemingly simple settings like enabling or disabling DHCP can have unintended consequences worse than the original problem, I installed AnalogX Proxy. It has largely done the trick. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris. I still need to determine whether the configuration changes I made affect my ability to connect to the internet through a wi-fi network.

Using Proxy, I am able to access the internet from my laptop through my desktop, but only if I have first established a connection on the desktop. Trying to establish a dial-up connection from the laptop, say by trying to open a webpage in Internet Explorer, doesn’t work. Any suggestions?

Thanks again,
Terry

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If AnalogX works, so will straight ICS.
Turning off DHCP server on the router will not have unintended consequences as ICS is a DHCP server. The problem is you currently have 2 DHCP servers.

cheers, Paul

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This is from a networking newbie (me): I don’t get it, or did I miss something — how are the two machines (i.e., desktop and laptop) connected to each other?

Note: I have a desktop and a laptop, but neither is near the router (on a different floor in the same building). Can I use CAT5 cable to connect the desktop and laptop?

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You can use cable or wireless to connect the lappy to the desky. You can either connect via a router / switch or direct via a cross over cable.

What is your set up with internet access, printer etc?

cheers, Paul

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You can use cable or wireless to connect the lappy to the desky. You can either connect via a router / switch or direct via a cross over cable.

What is your set up with internet access, printer etc?

cheers, Paul

Thanks for the quick reply, Paul.

The laptop connects via WiFi anywhere in the house with no problem, the desktop was previously hard-wired to the Belkin “N” router downstairs, but since it was moved upstairs, it has no way to connect wirelessly. I already bought a Netgear “G” card and tried to get it to work in the desktop, but was unsuccessful, though I really didn’t try hard enough. Both machines are running WinXP Home SP3, by the way.

Do I correctly hear you saying I can simply plug in a CAT5 crossover cable (i.e., not a straight cable) between the two machines, then use the AnalogX program to connect the desktop to the Internet? If so, would there be any speed/throughput downside to either of the machines because of the sharing? Thanks in advance!

Frank

P.S. I don’t know if I’m “piggy-backing” on the first poster’s subject. Should I be making a separate thread?

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You should be able to get the desktop to connect via the wireless card – start with WEP and a simple key, then work up to WPA2 and a proper key. You need to connect the laptop via a cable while you test so you can talk to the router.

If you have dial up on the desktop you can turn on ICS and connect the lappy via a cross over cable. There is no speed / throughput problem as long as only one machine connects to the internet at a time, but that is unlikely given the number of things on the average PC that wants to connect to the internet unannounced.

cheers, Paul

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Hi Frank,

You mention that you’re using WiFi with the laptop, to connect to the internet. To me, this sounds like you’ve already in place a router or switch, connected to the “outside world” that is capable of transmitting via WiFi standards. It is also possible, but not always, that that router / switch is able to have more than one network connected device attached via Cat5(e) cable.

If you do have a router “in the middle”, you should not need ICS or the Proxy program to connect more than one PC to the internet. If however your laptop is the first in line connection to the outside world, than yes, you’d have to use one of these programs (or the like).

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Hi Frank,

You mention that you’re using WiFi with the laptop, to connect to the internet. To me, this sounds like you’ve already in place a router or switch, connected to the “outside world” that is capable of transmitting via WiFi standards. It is also possible, but not always, that that router / switch is able to have more than one network connected device attached via Cat5(e) cable.

If you do have a router “in the middle”, you should not need ICS or the Proxy program to connect more than one PC to the internet. If however your laptop is the first in line connection to the outside world, than yes, you’d have to use one of these programs (or the like).

Thanks, SC, yes the router can handle up to four CAT5 inputs, but I can’t run cable from the desktop to the router, since the router is installed downstairs in the house and the desktop is upstairs and doesn’t have a WiFi card. I’ll next work on installing a WiFi card if the path that I’m discussing with Paul doesn’t work.

Frank

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Quoting from myself: “I’ll next work on installing a WiFi card if the path that I’m discussing with Paul doesn’t work.”

Frank

Well, no need to go any farther (or even further ). I was able to get home today in spite of the nasty weather and work on the desktop PC. I went for broke right off and installed the Netgear wireless “G” card, following the installation instructions exactly. This time, where I had fouled up previously (thereby making my contributions to this thread necessary), I chose “Other” from the Windows Networking Wizard‘s three “Select a connection method” options, rather than either of the other two options, and then I selected “This computer connects to the Internet directly or through a network hub.” from the next dialog box. This time, amazingly, it works!!!

I apologize to those who were following the CAT5 crossover cable line of attack. I didn’t even try it, although I had the cable right there, because I finally realized that it would have meant having the laptop always available, and connected, and both of the PCs slowed down by virtue of the shared connection.

My thanks to all concerned!

Frank D

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Paul, thanks, this will take a day or two since I’m not at home right now. But I will post again with results when I get them.

Frank

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Don’t forget to select WPA2 encryption and use a good 63 bit key.

cheers, Paul

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This refers back to my original topic, not the side-thread that got added to it.

Part A: AnalogX Proxy

I am able to access the internet from my laptop using Proxy, but only if I have already opened a dial-up connection from my desktop. Trying to connect directly from my laptop doesn’t send a call to my modem to connect. Any suggestions for settings I need to change to get this to work?

Part B: Internet Connection Sharing

As per Paul’s post of 10 December, I can open my router settings page from my laptop using Internet Explorer, and disable DHCP. However, when I try to save the new setting, IE stalls out about 35% of the way through and opens an “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage” page. Any ideas why this might happen, and how I can save the new setting? Even if I am able to access the Internet with Proxy, I’d like to figure out how to make ICS work for me.

Thanks,
Terry

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B. The router is probably changing IP address when you save, so you need to connect to the new IP address to see the new config.
ICS provides it’s own DHCP server so you need to turn off the one on the router and set an IP address in the range supplied by ICS.

cheers, Paul

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At my holiday house (live in Australia) which hasnt got any landline at present, so I am accessing the internet on my laptop with a free unsecured wifi zone to log on, it is only used to do occasional browsing and read emails (no secure type work) however my house is right on the edge of the wifi zone and I only get a speed of between 2 and 11 mbps, sometimes nil depending on weather conditions.

I was wondering if by locating a wifi repeater, (such as a wifi yagi antenna which i can get on ebay) or an antenna booster of some description would work. My laptop as far as I am aware doesn’t have facility to plug in an external anntenna

If anyone can advise how I can get a better reception I would be grateful.

Alan

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Might be worth opening a new thread for this one. I have some ideas and will post in the new thread.

cheers, Paul

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