ICS does not work without a proxy

[Dario de Judicibus]

It looks like ICS does NOT work, even if MS says differently.

I have two laptops: A and B.

Laptop A has WinXP Pro SP1
Laptop B has WinXP Home

Laptop A is connected to laptop B through an Ethernet hub
Laptop B is conneced to Internet through an ADSL connection
ADSL connection *is* shared

Laptop B IP address (on Etherned side) is always 10.0.0.3
Laptop A IP address depends on the network it is connected.
When laptop B is connected to laptop A, I use

@NETSH INTERFACE IP SET ADDRESS "Local Area Connection 2" STATIC 10.0.0.2
255.255.255.0 10.0.0.3 1
@NETSH INTERFACE IP SET DNS "Local Area Connection 2" STATIC 10.0.0.3

to set IP address and dns.

I spend weeks, months, to find a way to navigate in Internet from laptop A
thru laptop B. No way. At last I partially solved the problem by using a
free proxy on laptop B, but the result is not the same of a REAL ICS.

Should I think that MS promises of an easy ICS failed?

DdJ

 

[phoenix]

It looks like ICS does NOT work, even if MS says differently.

I have two laptops: A and B.

Laptop A has WinXP Pro SP1
Laptop B has WinXP Home

Laptop A is connected to laptop B through an Ethernet hub
Laptop B is conneced to Internet through an ADSL connection
ADSL connection *is* shared

Laptop B IP address (on Etherned side) is always 10.0.0.3
Laptop A IP address depends on the network it is connected.
When laptop B is connected to laptop A, I use

@NETSH INTERFACE IP SET ADDRESS "Local Area Connection 2" STATIC 10.0.0.2
255.255.255.0 10.0.0.3 1
@NETSH INTERFACE IP SET DNS "Local Area Connection 2" STATIC 10.0.0.3

to set IP address and dns.

I spend weeks, months, to find a way to navigate in Internet from laptop A
thru laptop B. No way. At last I partially solved the problem by using a
free proxy on laptop B, but the result is not the same of a REAL ICS.

Should I think that MS promises of an easy ICS failed?

DdJ

When you setup ICS on your laptop 'B' the LAN connected NIC will have an IP
address of 192.168.0.1 and any client connected to that will get an IP of
192.168.0.x via DHCP from the ICS host. That's how ICS works and is very
easy to set-up.

I'm slightly confused by your statement "Laptop A IP address depends on the
network it is connected". Are you saying that laptop A is connected to
different networks (Domains)? If so then you need another solution to your
problem, perhaps one like this www.netswitcher.com

Regards

Bill

 

[Jerry]

BY default, ICS uses the IP address 192.168.0.1 so your LAN is on a
different subnet. Change your PCs to use DHCP or maually set them in the
192.168.x.x range.

 

[Unnamed]

To whomever posted this - ICS works fine here.

 

[Dario de Judicibus]

When you setup ICS on your laptop 'B' the LAN connected NIC will have an IP
address of 192.168.0.1 and any client connected to that will get an IP of
192.168.0.x via DHCP from the ICS host. That's how ICS works and is very
easy to set-up.

This is true only if use DHCP. However you can use static IP address for
your domestic LAN. A common setting is in the 10.0.0.0/255.255.255.0 subnet.
In my case the desktop connected to Internet thru ADSL is 10.0.0.3, whereas
laptop is 10.0.0.2

This is documented in MS knowledge base. You do not need necessarily to use
192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0 subnet.

I'm slightly confused by your statement "Laptop A IP address depends on the
network it is connected". Are you saying that laptop A is connected to
different networks (Domains)? If so then you need another solution to your
problem, perhaps one like this www.netswitcher.com

If you have a laptop, you usually have only one Ethernet card. Unless you
prchase an additional one, your laptop should behave correctly according to
the LAN it is connected to. If I connect it to an office LAN, I must switch
to DHCP, but if I connect it to my domestic LAN, I must switch to a static
IP address.

That can be easily done by creating various .BAT scripts executing NETSH.
Not many users know NETSH. It is a very powerful command that gives you full
control of your network parameters onWinXP/2K Pro/Home.

DdJ

 

[Dario de Judicibus]

To whomever posted this - ICS works fine here.

If you have a domestic LAN with one or more laptop connected, you cannot use
the DHCP mechanism developed by MS. A laptop has different IP addresses
depending to which LAN it is connected. In fact, by definition, laptops are
intended to be moved from a place to another. Unless I use a proxy on
desktop, laptop never see the shared internet connection on desktop.

DdJ

 

[Dario de Judicibus]

BY default, ICS uses the IP address 192.168.0.1 so your LAN is on a
different subnet. Change your PCs to use DHCP or maually set them in the
192.168.x.x range.

Yes, I know, but MS docs says that it is NOT necessary to use that subnet.
You can use any subnet and NO DHCP according all PCs are in the SAME subnet.

DdJ

 

[Unnamed]

If you have a domestic LAN with one or more laptop connected, you cannot use
the DHCP mechanism developed by MS. A laptop has different IP addresses
depending to which LAN it is connected. In fact, by definition, laptops are
intended to be moved from a place to another. Unless I use a proxy on
desktop, laptop never see the shared internet connection on desktop.

Domestic lan here and business lans that I administer on a "needs" basis.
Eg, I am not their employee, just go there periodically to make sure all
works OK. All LANs I touch as none of them are wi-fi at this point, are all
manually configured. Static IPs with XP are much better simply because it
can take anything up to 10 minutes to let an auto numbering LAN do it's
thing and get it's act together as opposed to about 5 seconds on a manually
numbered one.

You need to rethink what you are doing and how you are doing it. There's no
use complaining something isn't working. Take the alternative. I would have
preferred auto assigned IPs but it was just too much of a pain.

 

[phoenix]

To whomever posted this - ICS works fine here.

Wouldn't you have been better posting a reply to the o/p with some useful
help or information? I know ICS works. ;-)

Regards

Bill

 

[phoenix]

This is true only if use DHCP. However you can use static IP address for
your domestic LAN. A common setting is in the 10.0.0.0/255.255.255.0 subnet.
In my case the desktop connected to Internet thru ADSL is 10.0.0.3, whereas
laptop is 10.0.0.2

This is documented in MS knowledge base. You do not need necessarily to use
192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0 subnet.

I'd be interested to know exactly which MS KB article refers to changing
the IP address of LAN Adapter on the Windows XP ICS host.

If you have a laptop, you usually have only one Ethernet card. Unless you
prchase an additional one, your laptop should behave correctly according to
the LAN it is connected to. If I connect it to an office LAN, I must switch
to DHCP, but if I connect it to my domestic LAN, I must switch to a static
IP address.

That can be easily done by creating various .BAT scripts executing NETSH.
Not many users know NETSH. It is a very powerful command that gives you full
control of your network parameters onWinXP/2K Pro/Home.

DdJ

I'm perfectly well aware of what NETSH does, it might have helped if you
had described your requirements and set-up at the start. ;-)

Regards

Bill

 

[Unnamed]

Wouldn't you have been better posting a reply to the o/p with some useful
help or information? I know ICS works. ;-)

What would you think would have helped better than an incentive to try
again, which is what I posted? If the person SAYS it doesn't work in spite
of the fact that it does, they have, quite obviously, decided that "it
doesn't work for me thus no-one will get it to work". That attitude has to
change prior to anything else being of help with the exception of someone
grabbing their keyboard and doing it FOR the original poster. Why? Well, the
person is obviously pissed off. Anger doesn't get a computer to work.

 

[phoenix]

What would you think would have helped better than an incentive to try
again, which is what I posted? If the person SAYS it doesn't work in spite
of the fact that it does, they have, quite obviously, decided that "it
doesn't work for me thus no-one will get it to work". That attitude has to
change prior to anything else being of help with the exception of someone
grabbing their keyboard and doing it FOR the original poster. Why? Well, the
person is obviously pissed off. Anger doesn't get a computer to work.

Well merely posting that 'it works' is just about as helpful as the o/p
post that 'it doesn't work'.

He may be angry, he hay be confused or he may have his setup screwed but
trying some questions to find out *what* his problem is might, just, be a
little more useful than your previous post. Your previous post of 'it
works' was abot as effective as a fart in a thunderstorm. ;-)

Regards

Bill

 

[Unnamed]

Well merely posting that 'it works' is just about as helpful as the o/p
post that 'it doesn't work'.

Well, take the time to reread that which I posted above and you will
understand.

 

[Dario de Judicibus]

Domestic lan here and business lans that I administer on a "needs" basis.
Eg, I am not their employee, just go there periodically to make sure all
works OK. All LANs I touch as none of them are wi-fi at this point, are all
manually configured. Static IPs with XP are much better simply because it
can take anything up to 10 minutes to let an auto numbering LAN do it's
thing and get it's act together as opposed to about 5 seconds on a manually
numbered one.

You need to rethink what you are doing and how you are doing it. There's no
use complaining something isn't working. Take the alternative. I would have
preferred auto assigned IPs but it was just too much of a pain.

I do not understand. I *use* static IP on my laptop when I am in my domestic
LAN. Of course I use DHCP in my business LAN because I am *requested* to do.
I have no problem in business LAN. When I am on my domestic LAN I use this
simple script to switch to static IP:

@ECHO Ethernet configuration for HOME
@NETSH INTERFACE IP SET ADDRESS "Local Area Connection 2" STATIC 10.0.0.2
255.255.255.0 10.0.0.1 1
@NETSH INTERFACE IP SET DNS "Local Area Connection 2" STATIC NONE

All my PC's in domestica LAN are in 10.0.0.0/255.255.255.0 and there is no
IP addres collision. Domestic LAN works fine for file sharing. The problem
is ICS. My laptop is 10.0.0.2, the desktop connected to Internet is
10.0.0.1. On that desktop internet connection *is* shared, but I cannot see
Internet from laptop. However, if I install a proxy on desktop, I can see
Internet. But the proxy solution prevents me to do a lot of activities in
Internet, since the free proxy is limited. And by the way, why a Windows XP
cannot see Internet from another Windows XP??????

DdJ

 

[Dario de Judicibus]

What would you think would have helped better than an incentive to try
again, which is what I posted? If the person SAYS it doesn't work in spite
of the fact that it does, they have, quite obviously, decided that "it
doesn't work for me thus no-one will get it to work". That attitude has to
change prior to anything else being of help with the exception of someone
grabbing their keyboard and doing it FOR the original poster. Why? Well, the
person is obviously pissed off. Anger doesn't get a computer to work.

I do not understand what you mean by that. II am not saying that no one will
get it work. I am simply saying that it is more than one year that I try to
make ICS to work in different LAN and with different computers, and I never
seen it work. Please, consider that I do *not* use the XP wizard because I
need to set the PC config manually. What I did is:

- set desktop A to 10.0.0.1/255.255.255.0
- set laptop B to 10.0.0.2/255.255.255.0 *when* it is connected to home LAN
- set laptop C to 10.0.0.3/255.255.255.0 *when* it is connected to home LAN
- set desktop D to 10.0.0.4/255.255.255.0
- set desktop E to 10.0.0.5/255.255.255.0

Desktop A is WinXP Home Italian, its ADSL connection is shared
Desktop D is Win98 Italian
Desktop E is Win XP Home Italian
Laptop B is WinXP Pro English
Laptop C is Win2000 Pro English

Net firewall is disable. I use ZoneAlarm on personal machines, ZLID on
business ones.
Disabling firewalls does NOT fix the problem.

Laptop are NOT always connected to LAN, of course. Desktop D is often off.
Desktop A is always on. No way to see Internet through A unless a proxy is
loaded on A. In such a case I have to configure applications to use 10.0.0.1
as a proxy. Really annoying. For example, on laptop B I have IE configured
for business proxies, so that I use IE if it is connected to business LAN.
When I am at home, I switch to static configuration and I use Firebird which
is configured to use 10.0.0.1 as a proxy.

My impression is that Windows does not give FULL control of network
configuration, so that some parameter is still set to prevent ICS when I
switch from DHCP to static config.

I am not "angry", but surely I am upset by the fact that Windows is always a
black box. I would like to have the control of my operting system, not to be
controlled by it. It is so hard to troubleshoot Windows. You never know
where info are stored, which are your config, what a registry key means. It
is a CLOSED system.

DdJ

 

[Dario de Judicibus]

I'd be interested to know exactly which MS KB article refers to changing
the IP address of LAN Adapter on the Windows XP ICS host.

I do not remember the number of article, but in one of the many KB articles,
it is said that you do not need to set 198.... but that 10... is also ok.
There was an explicit example. It was on MS site, English KB.

DdJ

 

[Dario de Judicibus]

No reply?

I do not understand what you mean by that. II am not saying that no one will
get it work. I am simply saying that it is more than one year that I try to
make ICS to work in different LAN and with different computers, and I never
seen it work. Please, consider that I do *not* use the XP wizard because I
need to set the PC config manually. What I did is:

- set desktop A to 10.0.0.1/255.255.255.0
- set laptop B to 10.0.0.2/255.255.255.0 *when* it is connected to home LAN
- set laptop C to 10.0.0.3/255.255.255.0 *when* it is connected to home LAN
- set desktop D to 10.0.0.4/255.255.255.0
- set desktop E to 10.0.0.5/255.255.255.0

Desktop A is WinXP Home Italian, its ADSL connection is shared
Desktop D is Win98 Italian
Desktop E is Win XP Home Italian
Laptop B is WinXP Pro English
Laptop C is Win2000 Pro English

Net firewall is disable. I use ZoneAlarm on personal machines, ZLID on
business ones.
Disabling firewalls does NOT fix the problem.

Laptop are NOT always connected to LAN, of course. Desktop D is often off.
Desktop A is always on. No way to see Internet through A unless a proxy is
loaded on A. In such a case I have to configure applications to use 10.0.0.1
as a proxy. Really annoying. For example, on laptop B I have IE configured
for business proxies, so that I use IE if it is connected to business LAN.
When I am at home, I switch to static configuration and I use Firebird which
is configured to use 10.0.0.1 as a proxy.

My impression is that Windows does not give FULL control of network
configuration, so that some parameter is still set to prevent ICS when I
switch from DHCP to static config.

I am not "angry", but surely I am upset by the fact that Windows is always a
black box. I would like to have the control of my operting system, not to be
controlled by it. It is so hard to troubleshoot Windows. You never know
where info are stored, which are your config, what a registry key means. It
is a CLOSED system.

DdJ

 

[Dario de Judicibus]

He may be angry, he hay be confused or he may have his setup screwed but
trying some questions to find out *what* his problem is might, just, be a
little more useful than your previous post. Your previous post of 'it
works' was abot as effective as a fart in a thunderstorm. ;-)

Well, really what's upsetting me is that Windows does not allow me to
troubleshoote and control my own system. I am not a newbie to Information
Technology, but it is extremely hard to understand why things work or does
not work in MS Windows system. Peer to peer networking is one of this. For
example, sometime my domestic LAN does not work. No apparent reason for
that. Simply a system refuses to see another system. Non necessarily true
vice versa. It is not a problem of authorizations or setting. The day after
the LAN works, and no change was applied. I have no way to monitor network
parameters.

So, in my case, I have a domestic LAN with static IP addresses. I can share
files, share resources as printers, but I cannot share Internet. ICS simply
does not work. Why? Where are the parameters to check for understanding
where is the problem? Mistery! I use a proxy and it works! Why? When you
spend days, weeks, to make something work, and on yor OS box MS says that
it's really easy to share Internet connections, I get upset! Anybody would
get upset.

By the way, the problem is still there. I described my LAN in detail,
proivided all parameters and value I know, and still nobody cannot tell me
where is the problem. So I thanks Phoenix for reminding Unnamed (sic) that
it is not worth to criticize without providing value.

DdJ

 

[Dario de Judicibus]

I looked at all info on Internet and MS Knowledge Base. There is no reason
why this configuration should not work BUT it does NOT. Is there a tool too
analyze why ICS on laptop B is not seen by the laptop A without a proxy? Are
there OS files to read (config, host, anything else)?

Thank you in advance for any info that may support me to analyze why ICS is
not seen by the laptop. Note that laptops' IP addresses are set each time
they connect to domestic LAN, since they needs to have different IP address
on different LANs. On some LAN they can use DHCP, on others static
addresses. On my domestic LAN I use 10.0.0.0/255.255.255.0 subnet.

DdJ

----

 

[Robert L [MS-MVP]]

try to use 10.0.0.1 as ICS host ip. does this fix the problem?

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