Vista - Sleeping computer but still with network connection

I'm sharing my PC internet connection to my Apple Mac Pro
now i am starting to use the mac a lot more and was wondering if there was a way to put my PC to sleep but still have the connection alive for my mac pro to stay connected to the internet.

Can you elaborate a bit on how you're set up? Are you sharing through a wireless USB on your PC?

You can try adjusting your USB Power Settings.

1) Go to Start Menu > Control Panel > Power Options
2) Find the Setting you are using (on a desktop PC it should be High Performance)
3) Click "Change Plan Settings"
4) Click "Change Advanced Power Settings"
5) Expand the USB section twice.

Otherwise, please elaborate on your internet/network setup. Thank you.

Alright here is my set up.

My Windows PC is connected to my router and internet wirelessly and my mac pro is connected to to my PC via ethernet cable and i enabled sharing the internet connection for my PC so that i can access the internet through the mac.

now what i am trying to do is keep the shared connection alive but without my PC computer being on but by just sleeping it.

Ah, alright. Let's give this a try.
On your PC, perform the following.

1) Go to Start Menu > Control Panel > Device Manager
2) Look under "Network Adapters" to find your Ethernet adapter.
3) Right click it and go to Properties
4) Click on the "Power Management" tab
5) Uncheck the following box:



This should no longer allow sleep mode to turn off your ethernet. Theoretically, this should work, though it doesn't always.

Let me know how it goes!

nope tried that and i still get the same results.

my computer doesn't sleep now, it just sleeps the display and the fans are still running and everything.

There are several routes you could go.

You could switch the ethernet cable from the back of the PC and connect the Mac directly to the router.

You could add another ethernet cable from the Mac Pro to the router (the Mac Pro should have two NICs).

You could spend $50 for an airport extreme card (or find one less on ebay).

Simply enabling the ethernet jack on the PC to not be turned off doesn't work, because your wireless controller still goes to sleep. Is your wireless connection built into the PC's motherboard, or is it via an add in card?

Yes i know i can just plug in the Mac Pro into my router but the thing is the router is upstairs and both the mac and pc are downstairs so it would be pointless to have a cable running all the way upstairs.

About the airport extreme card..
i'm trying to find other ways i can connect to the internet before i have to buy one.

This may or may not be what you are looking for, but on the XP do a Log Off > Switch User. This will effectively make the XP secure so that other people cannot use it, but allow programs to run on the XP in the background.

No that's not what i'm trying to do, what i am trying to do specifically is be able to put my PC into sleep but still have the connection internet connection and wireless connection alive so that my mac can access it.