Vista - Internet connection sharing problem between XP and Vista

I want to share the internet connection of my Desktop onto my Laptop.
The Desktop is running XP and connects to the internet using the GPRS connection of my cellphone via Bluetooth. The Desktop is connected by cable to a router and from router over wifi to my laptop which has Windows Vista Ultimate.

Both the pc's can ping each other and I've successfully configured them for sharing files and folders. But even though I've shared the gprs dialup connection on XP and selected the corresponding local area connection, Vista is not letting me access to the Internet! I have even disabled the firewall but it's still showing Local only.

Any suggestions?

Hi Godric,

Vista needs to get the connection via DHCP from the XP machine, also try disabling the XP firewall and see if it has any effect.

Steven

You could hardset your IP, subnet mask, gateway, and DNS servers on each device. I do this so I can easily use MAC filtering and IP forwarding for my Fedora 7 web server.

Static config never usually works with ICS on XP

I use static connections on all home networks. You just need to know the router IP address (gateway), the DNS servers for your ISP.

Router 192.168.0.105

First workstation
IP: 192.168.0.110
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.0.105

Second workstation
IP: 192.168.0.120
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.0.105

Third workstation
IP: 192.168.0.130
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.0.105

Use IPconfig/all to get the MAC address for each and put it in the MAC filter table of your router.

My home network is Fedora 7 web server, XP Pro SP2, Vista x64 SP1, and adding a XP x64 SP2 this weekend. I use port forwarding for port 80 to my Fedora 7 box. I used to have IIS running on XP Pro SP2 and port forwarded to it. I have a static IP on my cable modem for my www.SCSIraidGURU.com and www.MichaelMcKenney.com web site. It costs $10 per month extra and never changes my cable modem IP.

In Windows, you have to configure the Windows firewall to allow file and print services to allow traffic on your subnet only. You can setup a hosts. file for pinging each box since you don't have DNS for local network.

My home network is CAT 6 1 Gbps. I can backup to tape from my XP Pro SP2 tape server in the basement to my Vista x64 SP2 on second floor. I can access all the boxes with a common account.

Shared network need a common login and password on each box. Same workgroup.
Same Subnet. Windows firewall to allow traffc on that subnet. You setup your directory shares for only that common login. I usually change the router IP from the default along with all its settings. I disable wireless because I don't use it. Too slow. I use MAC filtering and other security features on the Dlink router to protect the network. Only box left on 24x7 is my Fedora 7 web server. Check out my vacation pictures from Europe and my computer section. I am still updating it.

Once I added my Vista x64 Ulitmate workstation to the workgroup and MAC filter list. It was up and running. I can see all the shares. I use NTFS security on the partitions. I shut down at night. Keep Avast Pro up to date along with Windows patches.

If you are going from

PC1 connected to PC2 NIC 1

PC2 NIC 2 to WLAN.

You need to setup PC2 as a router for two NICs. They would need to be able to forward and route.

PC1 would need to use the PC2 NIC 1 address as the gateway.

PC2 NIC 2 would use the WLAN as the gateway.

You would need two private networks with different subnets.

It is better to use a switch and put both PC1 and PC2 on same subnet using WLAN address as the gateway.

You can find your gateway, ip adress, DNS etc etc in command prompt type ipconfig!! Thanx Julian

I think the problem here may be the router in the middle. Although you have successfully shared the GPRS connection, the connection you are making from the router is *getting* an IP address via DHCP *from* the router, instead of actually *giving* an IP address via XP's ICS, which is how ICS is set to work. In this respect, Mike (SCSIRaidGuru) is correct, in that you'll want to set up static IPs, or else convert your router into 'switch' mode.

[OT]Converting router to switch mode - I have done that successfully with my D-Link routers here at the house, in that I use my main DGL-4300 (GamerLounge) as my actual router, and a pair of D-Link DI-524s are mere switches, by switching off the DHCP in the DI-524s and then simply using all ports *except* the 'Internet' port, and then the DI-524s act as a 'switch'. This reduces the number of available ports, since you have to use one of the regular LAN ports as the 'uplink' port to connect the 2 routers on the DI-524, and same for the GamerLounge, but it works for me just fine. 2 of my GamerLounge ports feed my dual NIC motherboard, and the other 2 feed (each) a DI-524, which (each) then allow 3 more devices to be connected. Currently, one DI-524 feeds my Ricoh networked printer, and then it feeds the other DI-524 via a drop I installed (the other DI-524 is located in a different room) and it also feeds a drop I installed that feeds a third room.[/OT]

In your case it seems a bit simpler - simply get into the router settings, disable the DHCP server, and then see if the Vista machine gets its IP address from the XP machine - you will need to reboot the router, and in addition, you may need to reboot both computers as well - start by rebooting the router after making the appropriate changes, then rebooting the XP machine, and finally rebooting the Vista machine.

Caveat - I am not 100% sure that this will work, nor am I sure how this will affect file sharing between the two computers - you may need to re-set all that up again after making these changes.

BTW - what model router are you using?