I live in the middle of nowhere... well, not really, but DSL, Cable,
and WISPs are all still a way off, so dialup's what we have in our
area.
I was given a Linksys BEFW11S4 Wireless Router a while back, and I
have a Wireless card for my notebook, so I thought I would give it a
shot. I'm doing it now, so I can tell you it's possible!
Here's how I did it using the Linksys and WinXP Internet Connection
Sharing.
1. First, on the computer that dials out to the Internet (I'll call
this PC1), install a 100Mbps LAN card. After setting up the card
(Automatic IP or static is fine for now), run the Network Setup wizard
to allow other computers to connect to the Internet through "this
computer." After the wizard runs, it will assign the IP address of
192.168.0.1 to your LAN card.
2. Now dial out to the internet. Once you are connected, open a
commmand prompt and type "ipconfig /all" You should get one result
for your LAN card and another for the dialup connection. Make note of
your two DNS servers, they'll come into play later.
3. Next, connect the wireless router up. Plug a CAT5 patch cable from
the LAN card in PC1 to the "Internet" port on the router.
4. Now, from a DIFFERENT computer (PC2), you need to connect to the
wireless router. I did it by booting my laptop and letting the
wireless NIC automatically detect a Wireless network. After the
wireless connection is confirmed, go to a command prompt on PC2 and do
an "ipconfig /all" Your wireless connection will probably be assigned
an address like 192.168.1.100. If not, you may need to press and hold
the router's "reset" button for about 5-10 seconds and redo this Step
4 process.
5. Now, once you have a 192.168.1.something address on PC2, open your
web browser software and type
http://192.168.1.1 and press Enter.
6. You will be prompted for a username and password. Skip the
username and type in the default router password "admin". You'll
probably want to change that later for security.
7. You should be looking at a "Linksys Setup" page. The SSID will be
"Linksys" and WEP will be disabled. You'll probably want to change
that later for security, too. NOT NOW!!!
8. Make sure the "Internet connection type" is set to "Obtain an IP
automatically". PC1 will give this router its necessary data.
9. Click on the "Status" tab at the top. You should see something
like this:
LAN: (MAC Address: 00-00-00-00-00-00)
IP Address: 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
DHCP server: Enabled
Internet: (MAC Address: 00-00-00-00-00-00)
IP Address: 192.168.0.100
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.0.1
and so on...
If your internet settings aren't filled in, PC1 isn't configured
properly for Connection Sharing OR you don't have a standard patch
cable connected OR PC1's LAN card is misconfigured.
10. Click on the "DHCP" tab. Find the DNS server addresses you wrote
down in step 2. Make the first one DNS 1, and the second DNS 2. I
put the IP of PC1 into DNS 3 and WINS, but that's so I can tinker with
an in-house testbed Linux/Apache server I have, so you probably don't
need those... feel free. Click "Apply" and wait until the screen
comes back.
11. Go back to the "Status" tab. Click "DHCP Release" and then "DHCP
Renew". Your new DNS entries should show up.
12. Open a new browser window on PC2 and go to a favorite web site.
You should be on the web!
12a. If this fails, check to see if you are running McAfee Firewall.
If so, disable it and try step 12 again. McAfee Firewall can't share
connections through a router due to its inability to detect the other
computers' names. I haven't tried other Firewall softwares for
compatibility. Remember, XP has one built in, but I can't vouch for
it's capabilities or performance.
13. If this process stops working in a few days, weeks, or months, go
back to PC1 and do an IPCONFIG /all again. If your ISP ever changes
their DNS settings, you'll have to redo steps 10-12.
) into desktop and set to autoconnect with ICS.
..but it's through mistakes that we learn things.
Guess I proved him wrong.