Goosemaster
Lifer
I tried ICS.
Fvk ICS. :|
I need constant and quick access to a server for a few days via a cross over (long story**) and ICS drove me up the wall the other day, so after a bunch of other attempts, rewiring my crossover cable to straight and using a switch and getting it to work but wanting to figure out how to do it without a switch, I decided to use the network bridge.
Here was the setup I was looking to achieve for this particular configuration.
LAN------- (wireless NIC) HOST (NIC) ------ (crossover cable) ----- (NIC) CLIENT
Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, there was no accurate documentation on network bridging that factored in any variables AT all. It either worked their way or it didn?t.
My goal is to fix that.
Step 1: Realize that you are alive. You are a calm person. You will not take out your aggression on passersby by strangling them with UTP. You are in the zone. You are ready to do this.
Step 2: Take inventory of the connections on your HOST PC and what they will function as. In my HOST, the wireless adapter is my connection to my LAN (very important) and my connection to my CLIENT, the server, is via regular NIC and a crossover cable.*
*Since many of you realize the futility of using a fileserver over wifi, a setup like mine might be similar to many of you.
Step3: Turn both computers on and make sure the HOST has internet access. Connect the crossover cable between the HOST and the CLIENT. On the HOST, in network connections, select both of your adapters, right click on them, and select ?bridge connections.? After the bridge is created, right click on the network bridge icon, go to the TCP/IP properties, and make sure it is setup for DHCP (set to obtain IP and DNS information automatically).
Step4 is only necessary if you are using a wireless adapter to connect to your LAN.
Step4: Here is where the entire set of guides failed me. I was getting multiple IP address conflicts on the network, with every computer yelling about the conflict, and I was going insane.
Here?s why: Both the wireless adapter AND the software network bridge were fighting over the same IP. Due to a variety of concerns, wireless adapters come in non-promiscuous mode, which forces them to listen only for packets addressed to them. This causes problems because with the bridge setup since the packets are read by the wireless adapter but passed on to the network bridge. Hence, they are not addressed to the wireless adapter per say. This is why you have to set them to Promiscuous mode.
This is how:
1. Open up the command line interface
2. type ?netsh bridge show adapter?
3. Your adapters will be displayed, and odds are that the status of the compatibility mode will be unknown for both of them.
4. Assuming that your wireless adapter is ?x,?
?type ?netsh bridge set adapter x forcecompatmode=enable? where x= the number that was listed before for your wireless adapter.
5. Assuming that your NIC is ?y,?
?type ?netsh bridge set adapter y forcecompatmode=disable? where y= the number that was listed before for your NIC.
6. type ?netsh bridge show adapter? and verify that the wireless adapter?s compatibility mode is enabled and that the NIC?s mode disabled.
Step5: Now that your bridge is up and running, everything should work. Your network bridge should be pulling an IP address via DHCP, and so should your CLIENT.
Odds are, however, that the CLIENT will not get an IP address. Every guide told me it would, and alas, it did not. This has an easy fix however.
Simply set the CLIENT address up with a static IP and with the same gateway and DNS info that your other pcs use. If you aren?t sure what they are, simply go to the HOST, right-click on click on the Network Bridge and click status, and then support, to find out what the gateway is. Odds are that it is simply the address of your router. The DNS server address is the same.
Well, that?s it. Both pcs should not only be able to access the internet, but themselves as well, with full IP and DNS-based names as well.
Keep in mind that this is not meant to be secure, but rather, a convenient alternative to ICS, which is, dare I say it, even more problematic sometimes.
**My reason for using this method was simply to have access to my server @ the normal 70Mb/s instead of plugging it into the switch upstairs and accessing it via wifi, which gets about 9Mbps?, while I wire the house.
Fvk ICS. :|
I need constant and quick access to a server for a few days via a cross over (long story**) and ICS drove me up the wall the other day, so after a bunch of other attempts, rewiring my crossover cable to straight and using a switch and getting it to work but wanting to figure out how to do it without a switch, I decided to use the network bridge.
Here was the setup I was looking to achieve for this particular configuration.
LAN------- (wireless NIC) HOST (NIC) ------ (crossover cable) ----- (NIC) CLIENT
Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, there was no accurate documentation on network bridging that factored in any variables AT all. It either worked their way or it didn?t.
My goal is to fix that.
Step 1: Realize that you are alive. You are a calm person. You will not take out your aggression on passersby by strangling them with UTP. You are in the zone. You are ready to do this.
Step 2: Take inventory of the connections on your HOST PC and what they will function as. In my HOST, the wireless adapter is my connection to my LAN (very important) and my connection to my CLIENT, the server, is via regular NIC and a crossover cable.*
*Since many of you realize the futility of using a fileserver over wifi, a setup like mine might be similar to many of you.
Step3: Turn both computers on and make sure the HOST has internet access. Connect the crossover cable between the HOST and the CLIENT. On the HOST, in network connections, select both of your adapters, right click on them, and select ?bridge connections.? After the bridge is created, right click on the network bridge icon, go to the TCP/IP properties, and make sure it is setup for DHCP (set to obtain IP and DNS information automatically).
Step4 is only necessary if you are using a wireless adapter to connect to your LAN.
Step4: Here is where the entire set of guides failed me. I was getting multiple IP address conflicts on the network, with every computer yelling about the conflict, and I was going insane.
Here?s why: Both the wireless adapter AND the software network bridge were fighting over the same IP. Due to a variety of concerns, wireless adapters come in non-promiscuous mode, which forces them to listen only for packets addressed to them. This causes problems because with the bridge setup since the packets are read by the wireless adapter but passed on to the network bridge. Hence, they are not addressed to the wireless adapter per say. This is why you have to set them to Promiscuous mode.
This is how:
1. Open up the command line interface
2. type ?netsh bridge show adapter?
3. Your adapters will be displayed, and odds are that the status of the compatibility mode will be unknown for both of them.
4. Assuming that your wireless adapter is ?x,?
?type ?netsh bridge set adapter x forcecompatmode=enable? where x= the number that was listed before for your wireless adapter.
5. Assuming that your NIC is ?y,?
?type ?netsh bridge set adapter y forcecompatmode=disable? where y= the number that was listed before for your NIC.
6. type ?netsh bridge show adapter? and verify that the wireless adapter?s compatibility mode is enabled and that the NIC?s mode disabled.
Step5: Now that your bridge is up and running, everything should work. Your network bridge should be pulling an IP address via DHCP, and so should your CLIENT.
Odds are, however, that the CLIENT will not get an IP address. Every guide told me it would, and alas, it did not. This has an easy fix however.
Simply set the CLIENT address up with a static IP and with the same gateway and DNS info that your other pcs use. If you aren?t sure what they are, simply go to the HOST, right-click on click on the Network Bridge and click status, and then support, to find out what the gateway is. Odds are that it is simply the address of your router. The DNS server address is the same.
Well, that?s it. Both pcs should not only be able to access the internet, but themselves as well, with full IP and DNS-based names as well.
Keep in mind that this is not meant to be secure, but rather, a convenient alternative to ICS, which is, dare I say it, even more problematic sometimes.
**My reason for using this method was simply to have access to my server @ the normal 70Mb/s instead of plugging it into the switch upstairs and accessing it via wifi, which gets about 9Mbps?, while I wire the house.
