Clete's Blog

Recently, I have had many people inquire about how to properly set up internet connection sharing (ICS) in Windows so that the connection can be shared wirelessly and so that it is usable with mobile devices, such as the iPhone. I have done a lot of research on this topic recently and I was not able to dig up much. Most of the guides out there were outdated and didn’t describe how to properly set it up so that it would work with mobile devices. So, I have decided to compile my own guide. I hope that you will find this useful.

Let me start by saying that I do not have a Windows Vista machine on hand at the moment (I downgraded my laptop to XP Pro), so this guide is for Windows XP. However, Vista’s setup is similar to this and it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. This guide will be aimed towards the end-user. I will describe every step as vividly as I am able to (such as how to find which DNS servers you are using).

Let’s begin.

Our first step is to set up Internet Connection Sharing. Let us start by going to the Start menu. Follow these menu choices (Also, if you can’t find these options in the Control Panel, just click on “Network Connections”):

Start -> Control Panel -> Network and Internet Connections -> Network Connections -> (on the left panel) “Set up a home or small office network”

This wizard will assist in setting most of the settings that are necessary for Internet Connection Sharing.

Go through the wizard until you get to this screen (click to enlarge):

Note: In this wizard, if you get any messages saying that there is disconnected hardware, just check the box at the bottom to ignore it.

Now, tick the box at the top, as shown in the picture above. Click next to continue. You will need to choose the network connection that connects you to the other computers on your network. In my scenario, this is the wireless, as I need to connect my iPhone. You will also be asked to choose the network connection that connects you to the internet. In my scenario, it is an ethernet connection. Choose these options approporiately and complete the wizard.

Now that Internet Connection Sharing is set up properly, it’s time to gather some information about your internet connection.

Go to Start -> Run (or in Vista, Start -> type directly in the search box) and type in the box “cmd” and press enter. Now, in the black window, type in “ipconfig /all” and press enter. You should be looking at your connection to the internet that you chose in the previous wizard. Write down the two (or first two if you have more) DNS servers.

Now, we need to set up a wireless network. Go back to the window where you previously found the wizard. You should right-click on your wireless adapter and click properties. Here I will be giving a bunch of small directions. Here is a picture to aid in setting these settings up:

In the new window that appears, go into the Wireless Networks tab. Click “Add…” Now in the window that popped up, choose these things:

Name your network (I named mine “adhocsharing”). Data encryption: None (you can optionally set this up if you wish, but it is often easier to get it working first and then set it up later). Check both the “Connect even if this network is not broadcasting” and the ad-hoc network box. Click on the Connection tab and check the box “Connect when this network is in range.” Whew. Now click ok to exit this window, but stay in the underlying window.

Now, go back to the General tab of the window and scroll down to “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)” (do not bother with IPv6). Click both of the bottom radio buttons of the two sets as shown below.

Now, enter this information: IP Address: 192.168.0.1 Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 Default gateway: 192.168.0.1

Also, enter the two DNS servers that you wrote down earlier. Click ok on both menus and you should be good to go! Try to connect your iPhone or a computer wirelessly.

Now, I will introduce a caveat to this wonderful method of sharing your internet connection. If you ever want to connect to a wireless internet connection, you will have to go back into the menu pictured above and check the top two boxes and press ok. This can become a bit of a nuisance. I don’t currently know a way around this, so if any readers do, please comment.

If I have left anything unexplained, feel free to leave a comment. I hope that this tutorial works for you!

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Uncategorized by Clete Blackwell II