Please help me set up internet connection sharing between an XP laptop
and a Windows 98SE main computer which accesses the internet via an
ADSL link.

I have so far done the following:

1. Set up the wireless connections using TCP/IP. Filesharing works.
2. Run the New Connection wizard on the XP laptop, and used the XP
system disk on the 98 machine (as in the Dell instructions) to set up
the access as shared on that PC.  I have also loaded the Internet
connection sharing component onto the main machine, from the 98 CD,
using Windows Setup.

I get a 'Cannot Find Server or DNS error' whenever I try to use
Explorer on the laptop. What do I need to do now?

Do I need to set up anything in Explorer Options|connection on the
laptop?

I note that the LAN settings on the laptop show 'Detect settings
automatically', and do not list a proxy server.  Are those settings
right?

The TCP/IP settings for the laptop wireless card are static (& seem to
work ok), but the fields for 'use the following DNS server addresses'
are blank.  Is that right?

In advanced TCP/IP settings, 'Enable NetBios over TCP/IP' is ticked. 
Is that right?

[you might have seen a similar question - 143097 - I asked a few days
ago.  All I need to do now is get internet sharing to work!]

Dear michael2-ga,

Okay, let's debug.

So far, most of this looks OK, with one notable exception - the laptop
wireless card. For Internet Connection Sharing, everything except for
the machine with the Internet connection should be set to "Obtain IP
address automatically".

Could you make that change, reboot the laptop, and see what results
you get then?

For your IE connection settings, on the laptop, you might as well
untick "Automatic detect settings". ICS itself doesn't provide a proxy
server, and while you might want to place your ISP's proxy, if any, in
there later, it's best to keep it simple until the connection itself
is working.

Apart from that, among the things you specifically list, you shouldn't
need to set anything in the IE connection settings, and yes, for
filesharing you do want 'NetBIOS over TCP/IP' enabled.

Hopefully that change will get it working for you; if it doesn't,
please come back to me with a clarification and we'll take this a
little further. If we need to do that, could you include the results
of an "ipconfig /all" run on the XP laptop?

Regards,

cerebrate-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by michael2-ga on 19 Jan 2003 13:49 PST

Hi

I've set things up as you suggested, but I still get the same 'Cannot
Find Server or DNS error' when I click on IE on the laptop.  Also,
I've now lost all filesharing; though the XP can still see the
wireless network OK, it can't see any files (nor vice versa).

IPconfig/all gives:

 Windows IP Configuration   
       
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : LATITUDE         
Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :          
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid         
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No         
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No  

Ethernet adapter Network Bridge (Network Bridge): 
         
Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :          
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : MAC Bridge Miniport         
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-08-74-22-C1-58         
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes         
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes         
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.167.16         
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0         

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

---

Clarification of Answer by cerebrate-ga on 19 Jan 2003 14:29 PST

Dear michael12-ga,

Not the results I'd have expected, but no matter, I shall do some more
digging. As I expect you want the quickest fix possible, though, I
have a preliminary suggestion/test that may help.

Could you try restoring the old static settings, but add the address
of the wireless card on the Windows 98 machine as both the DNS Server
address to use, and as the default gateway address?

This should restore your filesharing, at least, and will hopefully
make some progress for you on the Internet sharing front.

Let me know what results you get from this; in the meantime, I'll look
for more information.

Thanks,

cerebrate-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by michael2-ga on 20 Jan 2003 12:54 PST

Done. I have filesharing back now, but still the same message on
trying to connect to the internet. In my last message, I gave you the
wrong details - sorry.  Those details were with Network Bridge
enabled, which was wrong.  The actual listing for the XP laptop is as
follows:

Windows IP Configuration

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : LATITUDE

        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : 

        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid

        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Network Bridge (Network Bridge):

        Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : MAC Bridge Miniport

        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-08-74-22-C1-58

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : 

        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell TrueMobile 1150
Series Wireless LAN Mini PCI Card

        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-02-2D-70-59-A5

        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2

        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

And the corresponding listing for the 98 machine is:

Windows 98 IP Configuration

	Host Name . . . . . . . . . : MSTUDY

	DNS Servers . . . . . . . . : 158.152.1.43

	                              158.152.1.58

	Node Type . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast

	NetBIOS Scope ID. . . . . . : 

	IP Routing Enabled. . . . . : No

	WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . : No

	NetBIOS Resolution Uses DNS : No

0 Ethernet adapter :

	Description . . . . . . . . : PPP Adapter.

	Physical Address. . . . . . : 44-45-53-54-00-00

	DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes

	IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 62.49.29.233

	Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.0.0.0

	Default Gateway . . . . . . : 62.49.29.233

	DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255

	Primary WINS Server . . . . : 

	Secondary WINS Server . . . : 

	Lease Obtained. . . . . . . : 01 01 80 00:00:00

	Lease Expires . . . . . . . : 01 01 80 00:00:00

1 Ethernet adapter :

	Description . . . . . . . . : U.S. Robotics Wireless Access 802.11b
PCI Adapter

	Physical Address. . . . . . : 00-90-D1-06-55-7B

	DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

	IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

	Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

	Default Gateway . . . . . . : 

	Primary WINS Server . . . . : 

	Secondary WINS Server . . . : 

	Lease Obtained. . . . . . . : 

	Lease Expires . . . . . . . :

---

Request for Answer Clarification by michael2-ga on 22 Jan 2003 07:20 PST

cerebrate-ga

I wondered if you'd had a chance to look at this again?

Regards

---

Clarification of Answer by cerebrate-ga on 22 Jan 2003 08:20 PST

Dear michael2-ga,

Looking, that I have been. Unfortunately, the problem seems to be
mostly in the finding: I haven't found any articles which mention this
specific problem. (I have, on the other hand, found a whole lot of
articles about how nicely wireless and ICS work together in Windows
2000 and XP, on the other hand, which while rather irritating aren't a
lot of use in this situation.)

As you've got a 98SE host, one thing that might be relevant is:

"In order for the Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) host to function,
you must log on to the computer running ICS."
  - Microsoft KB article Q229971

which is a bit of an outside chance, but as it is peculiarly specific
to Windows 9x and you may well not be logging on to both machines
simultaneously, is probably worth my mentioning.

Beyond that, it gets tricky, because you're in the position of having
everything set up in a manner that should work quite happily. If that
doesn't work for you, I'm afraid my next suggestion will be to remove
ICS from the Windows 98 machine through "Add/Remove Programs", reboot,
double-check that the Internet connection is functioning on that
machine, and then reconfigure the two machines following this:

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/ics_98

set of instructions, which should hopefully get it to a working state
if anything went wrong the first time, or at the very least a known
state.

Sorry that this is taking so long, but it looks as if you've got a
tricky one there.

Regards,

cerebrate-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by cerebrate-ga on 22 Jan 2003 08:21 PST

Apologies, the link to that Microsoft KB article is:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q229971

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Request for Answer Clarification by michael2-ga on 24 Jan 2003 06:23 PST

Thanks.  I'll check this out (looks like a lot of work!) and I'll let
you know what happens.

---

Clarification of Answer by cerebrate-ga on 28 Jan 2003 14:30 PST

Glad we got it working for you eventually, and thank you for the high rating.

I've got round to this at long last.  After a couple of hours' work
(it never goes as you expect!), the instructions on the site you
mentioned have got things going properly now, and with "Obtain IP
address automatically" set on the laptop.  I think something was wrong
with the way ICS was set up on the 98 machine initially.

Even now, the network is pretty unstable, and sometimes I need to get
the XP machine to 'repair' the connection, but as I understand it
that's par for the course when using ICS via Windows 98SE, and I can
live with that.

Thanks for all your help on this.

Give a little more details:
- What type of wireless card?
- What type of wireless hub?

Sirossis

The cards are 802.11b.  See above for models.

No hub: this is an ad hoc (peer to peer) network.