Problem setting up ad-hoc wireless internet sharing

[cloudyclown]

Hello,

I am trying to set up an ad-hoc wireless internet sharing network. I have an ADSL internet connection on my desktop (more on that later) and want to share it with several laptops (not at the same time). My desktop uses Windows XP Professional (with SP2) and has a wireless network adapter. There are two laptops I want to eventually connect with: one uses Windows XP Home edition and the other is a Mac (I am first working on the Windows XP laptop).

I followed instructions on the Microsoft website and managed to set things up so that the laptops connect with the ad-hoc wireless network set up on my deskptop. However, the internet does not work in either of the laptops. I have enabled my ADSL connection to be shared and the IPs, etc... are all set to automatic in both my desktop and in the Windows XP laptop. What could the issue be?

There is one thing to note about my internet connection on the desktop. It is an ADSL connection but works like (and is listed as) a dialup connection. I think, then, that my situation is like that of someone with a dialup connection.

Thank you so much for your help.

Regards,

R.

 

[ccumbie2889]

If you share the connection from the ADSL card to the wireless NIC card, and then create an ad-hoc network from the wireless NIC card, then theoretically that should work. Try connecting to the laptop from your desktop, and then ping the laptop to see if it's there.

 

[DelJo63]

How do you connect to the ADSL Modem; wired or WiFi?

You're attempting to create a SERIAL network like:

modem----system#1 ...wifi ...System#2

where system#2 will be a different system at different times.

System#1 needs Internet Connection Sharing to be started and to share into the wifi device.

Performance will be poor and system#2 will always need #1 to be running.

For the price of a cheap router you could have a PARALLEL network like:

adsl modem ----router ---- wired or wireless connections to (4x) systems

 

[cloudyclown]

Thank you both for your reply.

Ccumbie: How do I ping the laptop? As I said, the laptop does connect to the wireless network set up on the desktop - its just the internet that does not share.

Jobeard: The connection from the desktop to the ADSL model is through USB; the ADSL modem itself connects to the rest of the world using a telephone-type wire.

If there is no other way to make it work, I will consider getting a router but from what I understand it is possible to do this without a router and wanted to try this a bit more before giving up. I don't need to use this wireless internet sharing to often and so would prefer to avoid buying a router. Also it doesn't matter that System 1
has to be connected since it pretty much always is.

I think there is some small configuration detail that is causing the problem because the wireless network does work but the internet does not share.

Thanks again and take care!

 

[DelJo63]

I think there is some small configuration detail that is causing the problem because the wireless network does work but the internet does not share.

that is a routing issue and the ICS feature should correct that. Use the Network Wizard and note the picture showing the setup you are describing -- that will then prompt for the second interface (ie in your case the WiFi) and selecting it should then allow the required routing