IP addressing

[Guest]

I have an XP Home PC with SP2. It is the dialup gateway(ICS) for another XP
machine. The ICS machine sometimes gets moved and put back which messes up
the LAN. The connection gets disabled and the dependent PC can't get on the
internet even after enabling the LAN. Is this a symptom of using DHCP? How
can I guarantee the LAN always starts after reboot and all PC's talk and can
access the internet? I thought that static addresses might solve this, but
don't know all of the parameters needed to make that happen.

 

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

Davenk wrote on 06-Oct-2004 8:49 PM:

I have an XP Home PC with SP2. It is the dialup gateway(ICS) for another XP
machine. The ICS machine sometimes gets moved and put back which messes up
the LAN. The connection gets disabled and the dependent PC can't get on the
internet even after enabling the LAN. Is this a symptom of using DHCP? How
can I guarantee the LAN always starts after reboot and all PC's talk and can
access the internet? I thought that static addresses might solve this, but
don't know all of the parameters needed to make that happen.

It sounds more like the network configuration is being changed, in which
case you need to re-enable ICS to get DHCP and Internet access working
again. Static addresses won't likely solve this problem.

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

I have an XP Home PC with SP2. It is the dialup gateway(ICS) for another XP
machine. The ICS machine sometimes gets moved and put back which messes up
the LAN. The connection gets disabled and the dependent PC can't get on the
internet even after enabling the LAN. Is this a symptom of using DHCP? How
can I guarantee the LAN always starts after reboot and all PC's talk and can
access the internet? I thought that static addresses might solve this, but
don't know all of the parameters needed to make that happen.

Dave,

if you boot a client while the ICS server is not present, it
will not get an IP address that is usable for Internet
Connection Sharing or even for local sharing. You would have to
reboot that client to obtain a valid IP address.

Fixed IP addresses would solve the problem, but they introduce
new problems, for example when another computer joins the
network. If you still want to try them, leave the normal IP
setup unchanged and enter the following into the alternative IP
setup. Enter 192.168.0.x as the IP address, but replace x with a
number from 2 to 254, a different one for each client computer.
Enter 192.168.0.1 as the standard gateway and also as the DNS
server.

The best way to avoid all these problems is to buy a router,
which is a cheap, but very useful investment. I bet you won't
regret it if you do it.

Hans-Georg

 

[Guest]

Hans-Georg,
Do I need WINS or NetBIOS?
Must the ICS computer be the lowest address?
Do the clients use the ICS address as their DNS server?
Do you specify nothing for the DNS address on the ICS system?
Is there a way to automatically enable the LAN after each reboot? The
persons that normally use the PC's do not have administrative rights.
Thanks, Dave

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

Do I need WINS or NetBIOS?

Dave,

WINS no, NetBIOS yes. In fact, you need to have NetBIOS over
TCP/IP set to automatic or enabled in the advanced TCP/IP
settings.

Must the ICS computer be the lowest address?

Yes, and you can't even change it even if you wanted to. The ICS
server always automatically assumes the IP address 192.168.0.1.

Do the clients use the ICS address as their DNS server?
Yes.

Do you specify nothing for the DNS address on the ICS system?

Normally you specify nothing and leave it to automatic, because
the ICS server obtains the DNS server IP addresses automatically
when it establishes the Internet connection. Only if your ISP
tells you to enter DNS server addresses by hand, then you should
do that.

For example, PPPoE (Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet)
connections usually obtain the DNS server addresses
automatically.

By the way, you also specify no IP address in any of the clients
either, because they obtain their IP addresses through DHCP
(Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) from the DHCP server,
which is built into ICS.

Is there a way to automatically enable the LAN after each reboot? The
persons that normally use the PC's do not have administrative rights.

The LAN connection enables itself automatically a short time,
usually less than a minute, after the other boot processes, even
if nobody logs on to the computer locally.

The Internet connection is established by the ICS server
automatically on demand, if it is set up to do that. It is
automatically interrupted after the idling time given in the
connection setup when there is no traffic.

Hope I answered all your questions (and added a little).

Hans-Georg

 

[Guest]

Hans-Georg,
Thank you very much for all of the information. You have been very helpful!
The reason I wanted to automatically enable the LAN is that sometimes the
ICS PC gets unhooked and not hooked up correctly the first time. The LAN then
gets disabled and must be manually enabled after the cable is reseated. I was
looking for some sort of script or command to enable it after every boot.
Thanks again, Dave

 

[Chuck]

Hans-Georg,
Thank you very much for all of the information. You have been very helpful!
The reason I wanted to automatically enable the LAN is that sometimes the
ICS PC gets unhooked and not hooked up correctly the first time. The LAN then
gets disabled and must be manually enabled after the cable is reseated. I was
looking for some sort of script or command to enable it after every boot.
Thanks again, Dave

Dave,

If you're looking to script a network reconfiguration, try DevCon and Netsh:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=311272
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=242468

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.