Novice needs help with internet connection sharing

[Guest]

I'm just setting up a two PC home network and have no previous experience of networks. WinXP Pro is running on each computer. Things are OK at some level; e.g. I can see the shared folders in Windows explorer for both computers and I can send a file to the printer from either computer. The main PC has ADSL internet access, which is working fine. My difficulty is that I have not succeeded in sharing this connection with the other PC. I have gone through the Network Setup Wizard (several times) and don't seem to make any progress. I suspect that something is wrong because the main computer on the LAN has IP address 192.168.0.1 with mask 255.255.255.0 whilst the other one has been assigned a completely unrelated IP address (169.254.118.203) with mask 255.255.0.0; all of these were set up automatically by the Network Setup Wizard. I am at a loss as to what to try next. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Jerry]

You will have to turn off XPs ICF (Internet Connection Firewall) and get
ZoneAlarm www.zonelabs.com to get things to work as you expect.

I'm just setting up a two PC home network and have no previous experience

of networks. WinXP Pro is running on each computer. Things are OK at some
level; e.g. I can see the shared folders in Windows explorer for both
computers and I can send a file to the printer from either computer. The
main PC has ADSL internet access, which is working fine. My difficulty is
that I have not succeeded in sharing this connection with the other PC. I
have gone through the Network Setup Wizard (several times) and don't seem to
make any progress. I suspect that something is wrong because the main
computer on the LAN has IP address 192.168.0.1 with mask 255.255.255.0
whilst the other one has been assigned a completely unrelated IP address
(169.254.118.203) with mask 255.255.0.0; all of these were set up
automatically by the Network Setup Wizard. I am at a loss as to what to try
next. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

You will have to turn off XPs ICF (Internet Connection Firewall) and get
ZoneAlarm www.zonelabs.com to get things to work as you expect.

Yes, turn off ICF if it's enabled on the client computer's local area
network connection. Leave ICF enabled on the host computer's ADSL
connection unless you've installed another firewall program on the
host. That connection needs to be firewalled for protection from
Internet hackers.

If that doesn't solve the problem, try the steps shown here on the
client's network adapter:

Windows XP Network Troubleshooting - Problems with Network Cards
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/troubleshoot/networkcard.htm
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

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