Mixed Networks Problem

G

Guest

I have two Windows XP Pro SP2 PC's connected to each other via a crossover
ethernet cable. Each originally had only dial-up access to the Internet.
Recently purchased high speed access via cable, but had to use a wireless
(Linksys) router to get the access to these two PC's. Each PC now has a
wireless antenna and can see the wireless router; each can connect to the
internet as long as it's 'wired' ethernet connection is disabled, neither can
connect to the internet if it is enabled. Keeping the wired network is
important for some legacy applications I have from work, some processing jobs
run for an hour or so. Is there anything I can do to keep both, and use the
wireless only for Internet without shutting down the wired connections?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
 
S

Steve Winograd [MVP]

M said:
I have two Windows XP Pro SP2 PC's connected to each other via a crossover
ethernet cable. Each originally had only dial-up access to the Internet.
Recently purchased high speed access via cable, but had to use a wireless
(Linksys) router to get the access to these two PC's. Each PC now has a
wireless antenna and can see the wireless router; each can connect to the
internet as long as it's 'wired' ethernet connection is disabled, neither can
connect to the internet if it is enabled. Keeping the wired network is
important for some legacy applications I have from work, some processing jobs
run for an hour or so. Is there anything I can do to keep both, and use the
wireless only for Internet without shutting down the wired connections?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
Click to expand...

The problem could be one or both of these:

1. The wired and wireless networks use the same subnet (TCP/IP address
range). For the new setup to work, wired and wireless must use
different subnets.

2. The wired connection has a default gateway specified. Internet
access uses the default gateway, so wired could be overriding wireless
for that.

Please post a news group reply with a copy of the TCP/IP route table,
which will clarify the situation. To write the route table to a file,
open a command prompt window (Start > Run > cmd) and type this
command:

route print >route.txt

Then, copy and paste the contents of the "route.txt" file into the
news group message.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
 
G

Guest

Below is the route table when both networks are 'engaged'. I tried changing
the default gateway (only) on the wired connection to that of the wireless,
but still no connection.


===========================================================================
Interface List
0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface
0x10003 ...00 12 0e 24 19 65 ...... (ZD1211)IEEE 802.11b+g USB Adapter -
Packet Scheduler Miniport
0x40004 ...00 07 e9 d6 28 4f ...... Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection -
Packet Scheduler Miniport
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination Netmask Gateway Interface Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.120 25
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 199.129.209.1 199.129.209.208 20
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.120 192.168.1.120 25
192.168.1.120 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 25
192.168.1.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.120 192.168.1.120 25
199.129.209.0 255.255.255.0 199.129.209.208 199.129.209.208 20
199.129.209.208 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 20
199.129.209.255 255.255.255.255 199.129.209.208 199.129.209.208 20
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 192.168.1.120 192.168.1.120 25
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 199.129.209.208 199.129.209.208 20
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.120 192.168.1.120 1
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 199.129.209.208 199.129.209.208 1
Default Gateway: 199.129.209.1
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
None
 
S

Steve Winograd [MVP]

M said:
Below is the route table when both networks are 'engaged'. I tried changing
the default gateway (only) on the wired connection to that of the wireless,
but still no connection.

===========================================================================
Interface List
0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface
0x10003 ...00 12 0e 24 19 65 ...... (ZD1211)IEEE 802.11b+g USB Adapter -
Packet Scheduler Miniport
0x40004 ...00 07 e9 d6 28 4f ...... Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection -
Packet Scheduler Miniport
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination Netmask Gateway Interface Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.120 25
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 199.129.209.1 199.129.209.208 20
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.120 192.168.1.120 25
192.168.1.120 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 25
192.168.1.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.120 192.168.1.120 25
199.129.209.0 255.255.255.0 199.129.209.208 199.129.209.208 20
199.129.209.208 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 20
199.129.209.255 255.255.255.255 199.129.209.208 199.129.209.208 20
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 192.168.1.120 192.168.1.120 25
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 199.129.209.208 199.129.209.208 20
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.120 192.168.1.120 1
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 199.129.209.208 199.129.209.208 1
Default Gateway: 199.129.209.1
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
None
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting the route table. It shows two default routes
(lines starting with 0.0.0.0). The first one uses the wireless
connection to the Linksys router. The second one uses the wired
connection. With more than one default route, Windows uses the one
with the lowest metric value (last number in each line). Since
wireless=25 and wired=20, wired overrides wireless when both are
active.

To make wireless override wired, specify a metric value of less than
20 for the wireless connection:

1. Open the Network Connections folder.
2. Right-click the wireless connection.
3. Click Properties | Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
4. Click Properties | Advanced.
5. Un-check "Automatic metric".
6. Enter a number between 1 and 19 for the "Interface metric".

It's possible that some of the legacy applications from work will stop
working after making that change, because the default gateway no will
no longer point to the work network. If that happens, you'll have to
create static route(s) to one or more subnets on the work network.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
 
G

Guest

Problem Solved! Thanks a bunch, Steve. I changed the Metrics as described,
then ran batch jobs (the legacy ap) on each PC with no problems. Also can
connect to the Internet on both now, at the same time.
 
S

Steve Winograd [MVP]

M said:
[snip]
Below is the route table when both networks are 'engaged'. I tried changing
the default gateway (only) on the wired connection to that of the wireless,
but still no connection.

===========================================================================
Interface List
0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback interface
0x10003 ...00 12 0e 24 19 65 ...... (ZD1211)IEEE 802.11b+g USB Adapter -
Packet Scheduler Miniport
0x40004 ...00 07 e9 d6 28 4f ...... Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection -
Packet Scheduler Miniport
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination Netmask Gateway Interface Metric
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.120 25
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 199.129.209.1 199.129.209.208 20
127.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 1
192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.120 192.168.1.120 25
192.168.1.120 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 25
192.168.1.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.120 192.168.1.120 25
199.129.209.0 255.255.255.0 199.129.209.208 199.129.209.208 20
199.129.209.208 255.255.255.255 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 20
199.129.209.255 255.255.255.255 199.129.209.208 199.129.209.208 20
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 192.168.1.120 192.168.1.120 25
224.0.0.0 240.0.0.0 199.129.209.208 199.129.209.208 20
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 192.168.1.120 192.168.1.120 1
255.255.255.255 255.255.255.255 199.129.209.208 199.129.209.208 1
Default Gateway: 199.129.209.1
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
None
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting the route table. It shows two default routes
(lines starting with 0.0.0.0). The first one uses the wireless
connection to the Linksys router. The second one uses the wired
connection. With more than one default route, Windows uses the one
with the lowest metric value (last number in each line). Since
wireless=25 and wired=20, wired overrides wireless when both are
active.

To make wireless override wired, specify a metric value of less than
20 for the wireless connection:

1. Open the Network Connections folder.
2. Right-click the wireless connection.
3. Click Properties | Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
4. Click Properties | Advanced.
5. Un-check "Automatic metric".
6. Enter a number between 1 and 19 for the "Interface metric".

It's possible that some of the legacy applications from work will stop
working after making that change, because the default gateway no will
no longer point to the work network. If that happens, you'll have to
create static route(s) to one or more subnets on the work network.
Click to expand...

Problem Solved! Thanks a bunch, Steve. I changed the Metrics as described,
then ran batch jobs (the legacy ap) on each PC with no problems. Also can
connect to the Internet on both now, at the same time.
Click to expand...

You're welcome!
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
 

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