I have two computers at home, which I want hooked up together. Could someone tell me how to go about doing it, assuming I have all the hardware in place? I run WinXP Pro on both machines.
I know very little on how to set these things up, and obviously not enough since what I’ve done isn’t working:
Server TCP/IP settings:
IP address: 192.168.0.1
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default gateway: (blank)
DNS server address:
Preferred: (blank)
Alternate: (blank)
Client TCP/IP settings: I’ve left both IP and DNS addresses as “select automatically”
The server machine is connected to the internet, and I’d like to share this with the client machine. Since I already have Zonealarm running on the sever machine, is it necessary to install it on the client as well? Is Windows Firewall good enough?
If you want to share an internet connection, typically the “server” machine will have one network that connects to the internet (this is the one you want to share) and another connection to the local network. It’s not clear to me that you have two seperate networks. Usually the connection to the internet will use DHCP (set to automatically obtain TCP/IP address).
In this case, the “server” on the local network must first enable internet connection sharing on the internet connection (it’s a check box under network settings). Then on the local network connection, the TCP/IP address should be set to 192.168.0.1, with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 (which is what you have). The default gateway should be left blank.
The “client” can be set to receive it’s TCP/IP address automatically, but I always set it to be static. In my opinion, that’s just one less thing that can possibly get screwed up. If you set it static, then it should have an address of 192.168.0.x, where x is some number between 2 and 255. Set the gateway to be 192.168.0.1 (your “server” machine is the “client” machine’s gateway to the internet). The subnet mask should be 255.255.255.0. You can use 192.168.0.1 for your DNS server on this machine. Alternately, you can use whatever DNS servers your ISP gives you, assuming that they are static and don’t change.
I’ve had trouble with firewalls on the “server” preventing the “client” machine from accessing the internet. You may have to disable zonealarm on that machine to get it to work. You may have to find another firewall or use the pay version of zonealarm to get it to work. You’ll still want a firewall, virus protection, etc. on the “client” machine.
I should’ve made the hardware part clear :smack: I do have separate networks for the internet and the LAN.
The internet works on the server machine just fine. I have enabled internet sharing, and this shows under the ‘status’ bar as connected, shared, firewalled. In the LAN settings, is the DNS field to be left completely blank?
On the client machine, I’ve put in the IP settings as suggested by you, and the DNS settings as given by the ISP.
It doesn’t seem to be working - neither machine can see the other.
You can only set the client to configure itself automatically if the server is running a DHCP service. I don’t believe Windows ICS will do this. I would manually set the IP address to 192.168.0.2. The gateway should be set to the server’s address.
The DNS must be set too if DHCP isn’t configured. If I remember correctly, ICS will act as a DNS proxy, so you can set the DNS server as the server on your network.
After having had a ICS network for a couple of years, I would recommend picking up a router for $40 to $50 and set that up. It makes life so much easier. I went wireless to add a laptop to the network, but but you could just use a wired router. What makes it convienent is their built in firewall and the fact that your network is invisible to the outside world. Plus, the router takes care of staying connected to your internet (assuming broadband, like PPPoE)
The router also has a DHCP service so you have no IP settings on the computers. Pretty simple to run and setup.
Both computers have to have a unique name and be members of the same workgroup or they won’t be able to see each other.
If that doesn’t work try pinging each computer. If the low level stuff like ping doesn’t work then the higher level stuff doesn’t have a chance either.
By using one machine to serve the other, you are requiring that both be running to use the client. In addition, you are relying totally on the software firewall (not that that’s bad).
If I were starting from scratch, my choices would be either:
a) Buy a wired router, as Ford said. Setup is much easier than with the wireless router. You get that hardware firewall as part of the package. Your machines can talk between themselves as trusted local machines, behind the firewall.
b) Buy a wireless router and two wireless network cards for a total of $150 or so. The settings are a bit tricky, but it is definitely worth it, as you now can use each machine independently; add a wireless print server that can be shared by any computer; add a laptop with the flip of a switch; and much more.
I did option A, then went up to option B a few years later. A couple of months ago I turned an old Pentium II 200 machine into a Linux file server running Samba and plopped it on my network effortlessly and without fear of hackers since it’s behind the firewall. Now all of my machines can access my whole library of MP3s.